Jeff Clement leads the pack in this week's top ten catchers.

The summer keeps rolling along, and so do the prospect rankings here at The Farm Report. In the last few weeks, I’ve broken down my top ten lefty and right-handed hurlers. This week I’ll examine the guys calling the pitches, the current class of catchers.

It’s not an extremely impressive list, and a lot of the guys with the most potential are in the lower levels of the minor leagues. This year’s draft class was notably deep at the catcher position with the likes of Matt Wieters, Devin Mesoraco, Mitch Canham, J.P. Arencibia, Jonathan Lucroy, Ed Easley, and Austin Romine to name a few, but it seems much to early to include any of them in the rankings. I’m also wary of including the Yankees’ Jesus Montero simply because I have a hard time believing he’ll stick behind the plate what with his weight and defensive issues; he projects to be a 1B/DH in the majors.

For argument’s sake, backstops currently logging time in the majors, such as Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Kurt Suzuki, Curtis Thigpen, Chris Iannetta, and Geovany Soto, are not included on this list because they’ll most likely rack up too many at-bats to retain their prospect labels.

1. Jeff Clement, Seattle Mariners

Clement is the undisputed top overall catcher in the minor leagues, even with his early struggles at the plate this year. His bat and his power are real and he has a great approach at the plate, but after a blistering June, he slid back into something of a funk. Still, the Mariners aren’t too worried about the offensive side of his game. Clement is batting .263 with 17 home runs, 63 RBI, a .357 on-base percentage and a .488 slugging percentage. The area of concern with Clement is his defense. With less than 40 games caught below Triple-A, Clement is sort of playing catch-up defensively. He has vastly improved since being drafted and he’s worked non-stop to improve, but he is still rough as a backstop. The general consensus is that he’ll never win a Gold Glove, but he should be good enough to stay behind the plate. He should be ready next season, but the question is what the Mariners will do with him, as they already have Kenji Johjima and Jamie Burke behind the dish. 

2. Bryan Anderson, St. Louis Cardinals

The 20-year-old skipped Single-A Advanced Palm Beach completely after an impressive spring training. Anderson is an offensive-minded catcher, an aggressive line-drive hitter who probably won’t develop much power but makes good contact. He is hitting .312 with five home runs and 46 RBI this season with a .365 on-base percentage and a .407 slugging percentage. Defensively, Anderson has a strong, accurate arm but needs to develop better footwork and also needs to work on handling pitches in the dirt. While some think the Cardinals may end up trading either Anderson or Yadier Molina once Anderson is major-league ready, they may choose to keep both and platoon them in much the same way the Atlanta Braves have done this season with Brian McCann and Jarrod Saltalamacchia; Molina is far better defensively, but Anderson has the superior bat. The Cardinals won’t look to rush him any more than they already have, so expect the young catcher to play out the rest of the year with Double-A Springfield and start out in Triple-A Memphis in 2008.

3. Hank Conger, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

The Angels’ first-round pick of 2006 has probably the most upside of all current minor-league catchers, though his defense still needs work. Conger’s real name is Hyun Choi, but he was given the nickname “Hank” by his grandfather after Hank Aaron. Not a bad choice. There were some doubts among scouts before the 2006 draft about whether Conger would be able to stay at the catcher position defensively, and many seemed to think a position switch was not too far off in his future. Those questions continue to float around, though Conger hasn’t been terrible behind the dish. He has continued to improve his footwork and skills behind the plate as well as his game-calling, and he has a good arm. But his most valuable tool is, without a doubt, his bat. The switch-hitting catcher has great power, especially from the left side. While he is currently on the 7-day disabled list for Single-A Cedar Rapids with a left hamstring injury, Conger was batting .295 with nine homers and 39 RBI for the Kernels before the injury.

4. J.R. Towles, Houston Astros

Towles has been on the fast track this season. He started out the year at Single-A Salem and hit just .200 there before being called up to Double-A Corpus Christi out of necessity. Once with the Hooks, he opened up many eyes in the Texas League by tearing up the league, batting .324 with 11 home runs and 49 RBI and a .425 OBP and earning a recent call-up to Triple-A Round Rock. Towles was also selected to the 2007 All-Star Futures Game. There have never been any questions about Towles’ defense, which is very solid, but now that Towles is developing power and continuing to show a patient approach at the plate, the Astros could have their 2008 replacement for Brad Ausmus.

5. Taylor Teagarden, Texas Rangers

Teagarden missed almost all of last year recovering from Tommy John surgery, so the Rangers are being very cautious with him. He doesn’t throw between innings or during infield practice, and he is catching in only about one-third of his games, getting in the lineup as a designated hitter otherwise. His defense doesn’t need that much fine-tuning however, as it is easily his most attractive attribute. Teagarden has excellent blocking skills and a great arm; he’s gunned down over 40 percent of attempted base stealers. At the plate, he’s been accused of being a bit stiff with a slow bat, but he seems to have improved his approach this season. Between Single-A Advanced Bakersfield and Double-A Frisco, Teagarden is batting .326 with 22 homers and 76 RBI, as well as a .450 OBP and a slugging percentage of .610. Teagarden should have a good career strictly based on his defense alone, but he’ll be even better if he can keep up his improved approach at the plate.

6. Angel Salome, Milwaukee Brewers

Salome, selected in the fifth round of the 2005 draft, was coming off a major ankle injury he suffered last August, but he hasn’t seemed to slow down since spring training. The Dominican-born backstop is short but very strongly built, and the Brewers feel that might even be an advantage. His cannon of an arm can shut down the opposition’s running game, and he is quick and athletic behind the pate. Offensively, Salome is a line-drive hitter with power to all fields. He is batting .318 with six home runs and 53 RBI. He has drawn comparisons to Ivan Rodriguez because of his build and offensive prowess. One minor glitch, however—Salome was suspended for 50 games on July 24 for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug, so he’ll miss a good chunk of time.

7. Max Ramirez, Texas Rangers

Ramirez has always hit for average and drawn walks (he’s batting .340 at Single-A Advanced Bakersfield), but he’s just starting to develop more power with 15 home runs overall this season. The question mark with Ramirez is his defense, which is why Teagarden is a much better prospect than Ramirez. His arm is below-average and his receiving skills are well below-average, so much so that there are questions about whether he will be able to remain at the position. However, his bat should be able to carry him pretty far, especially if he can improve defensively.

8. Landon Powell, Oakland Athletics

Powell would be higher in the rankings if not for the fact that he’s out for the season following ACL surgery. Before the surgery, however, Powell was batting .294 for Triple-A Sacramento with three homers in just four games; before the promotion he was batting .292 with 11 home runs and 39 RBI for Double-A Midland. He has great power and if he can stay healthy, he should be in the big leagues soon after he comes back from surgery.

9. Francisco Cervelli, New York Yankees

Cervelli signed with the Yankees in 2003 as an undrafted free agent out of Venezuela and spent two summers in the Dominican Summer League before the Yankees decided to push him to Single-A Advanced Tampa. The jump showed in his offensive performance; he had been in a protracted slump since June, but that isn’t much of a surprise. He has turned it up a bit recently, however, and is currently batting .279 with two home runs and 32 RBI in the punishing Florida State League. Cervelli used to be a switch-hitter but now hits exclusively from the right side, his natural side, and that also improved his offense. He’s a line-drive hitter and will spray it to all fields, but he hasn’t shown a lot of power. Defensively, he is very agile and athletic behind the plate and has a strong arm. As a former second baseman, he has impressed with his early skills as a backstop, though he still needs to improve. A lot of potential here; the Yankees like him as Jorge Posada’s eventual successor, perhaps serving a long apprenticeship as Posada’s backup just as Posada did with Joe Girardi when he was first called up.

10. Brian Jeroloman, Toronto Blue Jays

Jeroloman was drafted in the sixth round of the 2006 draft as an all-glove/no-hit catcher, and he’s mostly lived up to that label with Single-A Advanced Dunedin. He is hitting .254 with three home runs and 32 RBI this season. However, there is one small quirk in his offensive game: Jeroloman is a walk-machine. While his slugging percentage is only .338, Jeroloman has an on-base percentage of .427. That coupled with his excellent defensive skills should earn Jeroloman at least a long, solid career as a backup.

Questions and comments may be sent to shannonmccarthy@sportsgrumblings.com.