re: Neal at C, or only DH?

No, I want to know exactly what you want to discuss.

In the report I read from Johnson’s press conference, the infield starters were set but no mention was made of cataher. Travinski was mentioned but as a hitter.

Johnson has said he has 12 guys to play 8 spots.

And 3 of them are catchers.

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He is good not great defensively

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Here’s a link to a throw that Milazzo made in today’s scrimmage in which he threw sidearm from his knees around the batter and still threw the runner out.

Twitter Video

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300 with no power, no speed, no walks, and Ks a lot in college baseball is pretty bad imo. I just looked Milazzo’s stats and he was 29/97 last year with 23ks. 28 of the 29 were singles. .289 avg and .299 slg. That is pretty bad.

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At least we’ve come along way from people betting it would be impossible for him to hit .250

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He out hit several players on the roster in Omaha. I've also seen Jay call for him to bunt on 2 outs and 2 strikes twice last year. So I don't know how much him being asked to execute those plays factors into his batting average.

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He has 58 career hits and 50 of them are singles. Sac bunts are really not the % play unless you have a hitter than only hits singles, Ks a good bit, and is slow.

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Trav had a better % throwing out runners than Milazzo. Like someone else said, Milazzo’s defense somehow obtained mythical status.

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There is so much more that goes into the catcher position than thrown out percentage. If you want to think that Travinski, who regularly drops pitches that hit him in the mitt, is comparable defensively to Milazzo, that’s fine. There’s a reason that guys like Ben McDonald, Jay Johnson, and others whose job it is to watch college baseball for a living say that Milazzo is one of the best defensive catchers in the country. If you want to choose not to believe that, go for it