Jason Bartlett has probably attracted more attention and more emotion from the Twins blogosphere than anyone since his late March assignment to AAA Rochester. I have a feeling that Bartlett may get the call pretty soon, so I wanted to write once more about Jason Bartlett before it happens. I believe Bartlett deserves (and has earned) a shot to play on this team. I'll be the first to admit that his addition isn't going to radically turn the team around, but it will make a difference. Bartlett may not be a long-term answer at SS, but he's the answer for the rest of this season and probably next season. Maybe he'll even be suitable for the Twins long-term plans; we'll never know unless he's given the chance.

Bartlett's Numbers

What has Bartlett done in AAA to this point? In 229 at-bats he's batting .306 (10th in the International League) with 23 doubles (1st in the league). As far as I can tell, the International league is a pitcher's league, which leads me to believe that his offensive numbers wouldn't drop off too drastically in the big leagues. One downside to note in Bartlett's numbers are his lack of walks, with just 8 on the season. He does, however, have a pretty low strikeout number (26) which means that he's at least putting the ball in play. If he's batting in the low end of the lineup (presumably #9), his numbers are adequate.

Castro's Numbers

The case for Bartlett is only strengthened when you look at his Major League counterpart, Juan Castro. Minor league stats aren't good enough to give a decent comparison of their defensive skills, so I'm forced to resort to Errors. Juan Castro has the same number of errors as Bartlett, but in fewer games and surely on nicer fields. From observation, Juan Castro has also been given a number of free passes this season when it comes to errors. On the offensive side Castro is sitting with a .234 batting average and .261 OBP. He's drawn just 6 walks in 154 at bats and struck out 22 times. Even Bartlett's poor numbers from last season are better than what Castro's done this year.

For the sake of argument, I'll say that defensively the two players are comparable. When it comes to offensive ability, an argument cannot be made for Castro. Also, keep in mind that Castro is 33, an age when most careers begin to decline. Bartlett is 26, and should be entering his peak years of athletic ability.

The departure of Castro may not be the only possible opening for a Bartlett call-up. Patrick Reusse, of the Star Tribune, mentioned (scroll to end of story), that Bartlett at third could be an option. Batista isn't helping this team and Gardy would probably be more willing to part ways with Batista than Castro, so I certainly like the prediction.

Update (06/13/06 10:07 AM): The Strib reports on the situation that will soon be facing the Twins, noting that they're losing patience with White, Batista and Castro.