Getting help down the stretch from players with multi-position eligibility can be a huge asset as you push for a championship. You get the opportunity to plug them in spots when your regulars are getting a day off, nagging injuries keep a player out, or when the elite teams start sitting their players after clinching a playoff spot.
How many Catchers right now are getting regular ABs in the 3 hole? The answer is none. But one player with catcher eligibility has been hitting in the 3 hole for over a week now. That player has both C and 3B eligibility. That player is Jordan Pacheco for the Colorado Rockies.
Pacheco, 25, has spent the entire 2011 season at Triple-A Colorado Springs playing mostly catcher (86 games) but also seeing time at third base (5 games). Pacheco hit .278 with 21 doubles, 3 triples, 3 home runs, 50 RBI to go along with 57 runs in 97 games for the Sky Sox this season. Now he is getting time at 3B and 1B for the big league squad. To date he is hitting .296 with a HR and 6 RBI.
He was named the Rockies 18th best prospect prior to the 2011 season by Baseball America. Here is what Rockies skipper Jim Tracey said about the kid: “This kid has tremendous poise. He has a tremendous sense of awareness. And nobody on this team would argue the fact that he can flat out hit. “He can situational hit, he knows how to play the game … he’s ready to play every single pitch. That, in my mind, is what connotes a championship-caliber player.” From that quote it looks like he gets everyday at bats for the rest of the season. That’s everyday at bats with Cather eligibility folks. Hard not to have that type of playing time sitting idle while your everyday C is only playing 4-5 days a week. I picked him up in a couple of leagues and you should too.
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