David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports
So, it turns out that the “Devin Mesoraco as the catcher of the future” plan still has some legs for the 2013 Cincinnati Reds yet.
Long a top prospect who looked like he’d all but squandered his opportunities as a regular starter by the time the All-Star break hit, that Mesoraco was the regular backstop for Cincinnati was starting to become a product of a lack of option rather than him being an ideal choice, with Ryan Hanigan having been shelved on the DL twice already and nowhere near returning.
As he’d done in limited opportunities in 2012, the 25-year-old carried a disappointing line — this time at .234/.308/.345 into the break, showing little of the pedigree that was supposed to make him the option of the future.
Well, perhaps watching the league’s best do their best was just the motivation he needed.
In short, Mesoraco has come out firing on all cylinders since the second half of the season began. Coming out of the hiatus with hits in each of his first six games started (there were some hitless non-starts filled in) with four of them being multi-hit performances, the young backstop quickly began to make a case for him to be the long-term solution for the Reds, even if Hanigan somehow manages to return to full health this season.
No, his defense is still not what it should be at -2.3 fielding runs above average, but when a catcher is hitting .315/.327/.611 (yes, that’s an elite .938 OPS) in 54 games, defensive liability becomes a whole lot easier to take.
All of this culminated into what can only be described as Mesoraco’s coming out party this weekend, when he managed to smash a pair of homers in a 2-for-4 performance in a 8-3 winning effort against the divisional rival St. Louis Cardinals.
Though his offensive prowess hasn’t exactly been a game-changer for the Reds, who are 3-7 over the last 10 games, that they’re perhaps finally able to make the shift into having a younger backstop can’t be understated because … well, let’s just say that transitioning into youth hasn’t always been Dusty Baker‘s strongest suit.
All of this, of course, depends on Mesoraco’s ability to show that his emerging bat is in fact for real — and at this point of his development, you’d also have to say that he has little choice, no?
