Although most fans and the national media are curious if Matt Wieters will find himself in the majors; however, if the Orioles (mainly, Andy MacPhail) have their way the highly touted catcher will begin in 2009 in the minors (more than likely Triple-A, rather up in Baltimore).
From the Orioles.com: Andy MacPhail, Baltimore’s president of baseball operations, has gone on record as saying that he’d prefer that Wieters begin the season at Triple-A Norfolk and progress to the Majors sometime before the All-Star break. That’s MacPhail’s mind-set, though, and Wieters prefers to think in terms of doing whatever he can to prepare himself for the long haul.
“We’ll never know until it’s that time. All you can do is work hard and play hard where they put you,” Wieters said of his ultimate destination. “I think you come to every Spring Training trying to make the team. But more important than that, you’re trying to work hard and you’re trying to get better yourself. That’s my goal for Spring Training.”
At this point, there’s no need to rush him to the majors. He’ll be probably kept in Triple-A to get comfortable calling a game, and to further hone his skills at the plate (ok, they are probably fine enough) and dominate down there.
It’s a foregone conclusion he’ll be an Oriole in 2009, but the team signed veteran Gregg Zaun to probably be the starting catcher for Opening Day, but when Wieters comes up, he’ll be his mentor.
Pretty much all of baseball knows that Wieters is a special talent and, barring injury, people will be looking forward to seeing him in his major league debut.
