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Right Idea to Send Christian Bethancourt Down to AAA?

By John Buhler

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Before heading to Fenway Park to take on the Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves President of Baseball Operations John Hart decided to send C Christian Bethancourt to AAA Gwinnett in favor of veteran C Ryan Lavarnway.  Bethancourt came into the 2015 season as the Braves starting catcher with veteran AJ Pierzynski as a mentor/backup for the young Panamanian backstop.  However, Christian has struggled mightily at the plate, hitting .208 with a .231 on base percentage.

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Atlanta knew that his bat would be a work in progress for the Braves this season, but his defensive lapses in the field have many concerned.  In what became a catching platoon with Pierzynski, Bethancourt allowed many passed balls and committed many throwing errors in limited action with the Braves.  With the highly touted defensive backstop’s struggles at the plate and in the field, did Atlanta shatter his confidence by sending him down to AAA Gwinnett?

Even with his struggles this season, I couldn’t imagine Christian Bethancourt spending any more time in the Minor Leagues.  I thought our catcher of the future, the guy we let Brian McCann walk and traded away Evan Gattis for, would come into his own in 2015 at some point.  I had no problem with him learning on the job in Atlanta this season.

The front office gave Bethancourt a great opportunity to seize control of the starting catcher job this spring and he now he’s going to AAA.  No knock on Lavarnway, but I’m shocked that it came to this for Christian Bethancourt this season.  I thought he was ready for the Big Leagues this spring.

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    • John Hart equates sending the young catcher down to AAA as Kansas City sent down Mike Moustakas and St. Louis optioned Kolton Wong to AAA early last season.  Both rebounded nicely for their championship contending teams after a brief stint in AAA in 2014.

    Perhaps it’s what Bethancourt needs.  He just needs to get back to what got him to the Big Leagues: playing great defense at catcher.  Bethancourt needs to work on receiving the ball better behind the dish and framing pitches to make his staff look better.  No need to mess with that Howitzer arm of his.

    It pains me to say this but Christian Bethancourt could benefit from one last stint in AAA Gwinnett.  I hope he embraces the opportunity to work on his craft so that he can help the Braves win ball games later on this summer.  If not, then the Atlanta front office made some costly decisions in letting McCann and Gattis go.

    Next: The Curious Case of Christian Bethancourt

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