On Wednesday, the 22-year-old catcher learned that he was promoted to the major leagues and joined the Blue Jays in Detroit the next day. By Friday afternoon, he had already caught a lot of bullpen sessions, attended pitchers meetings and settled down next to his teammate Alejandro Kirk in the Comerica Park closet. He had dialed a new number – 55, a nod to Russell Martin – and sued the Toronto media for 15 minutes in his second language. He had also heard from his mom no less than 10 times. A consensus perspective of the five, Moreno reaches out to the big companies with impressive tools on the plate and in the field. But even now that he is here, more challenges are coming, starting on Saturday, when he is expected to catch Kevin Gausman in his big league debut. Such is life as a highly publicized prospect of success that must also be adapted to the demands of the sport’s most demanding position. “When I was 12, I realized I wanted to,” Moreno said with the help of interpreter Hector Lebron. “This is my dream: to become a professional baseball player. And here I am. “ “I feel amazing right now,” he added. “The first thing was a kind of shock. “And I started laughing because I prefer to laugh than cry.” At his best, Moreno is a high-average winner who throws baseballs consistently and rarely hits out. These skills emerged as soon as Moreno made his debut, scoring just 3.7 percent of the cases in 2017, at the age of 17 (for the context, the MLB average is 22.2 percent). He has since added a little strength, but his bat to-ball skills still stand out more. “It has a lot to do with the ability to do damage,” said Andrew Tinnish, vice president of international scouting and baseball operations, who oversaw Moreno’s $ 25,000 signing with South American scouting coordinator Francisco Plasencia and Latin America’s director of operations. Sandy Rosario. “He can lead the ball to all the pitches. He is tough outside. If you look at its numbers historically, you can say that it does not stand out much. The swing rate of the blow is always very low. Its contact rates are always very high and they combine it with a fairly stable output velo. “ Asked to describe his new catcher, Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo kept his description simple. “Happy,” Montoyo said. “He always beats, so it’s hard not to be happy. But everyone loves him. This is the best compliment I can make.” In 36 triple-A games this year, Moreno scored 0.324 / .380 / .404 with one at home and eight doubles. But as impressive as these numbers are, there is no doubt that the opposing pitchers will be the planning of the game. Just ask Blue Jays Pitching coach Pete Walker, who does the same thing every time the junior champions are called up to face the Blue Jays. “Is” what does he do, what has he done, where does he hit the ball? What are its strengths? Does it have power? Does it clog? Is running; “You can not hide,” Walker explained. “You can not hide. If there is a weakness that someone has, it is a very accurate statement to say that the team would have it. “ In other words, the opponents will plan the game for Moreno from day one. To prove it, look no further than other top contender Adley Rutschman (0.451 OPS this year) or Tigers Spencer Torkelson’s first key player (0.606 OPS). They are both talented players, but the design of the game has become much better in recent years. When did Walker play from 1995-2006? A different story. “It was” Okay, who is this guy? What’s the matter with him; Is he right-handed? “Walker recalls. Of course, as a catcher, this design of the game goes in two ways. Part of the reason Moreno joined the Blue Jays taxi team before his official launch was to be able to attend pitchers meetings. He says building relationships with Toronto pools is his top priority and he has already completed side sessions with Ross Stripling and Yusei Kikuchi to that end. Speaking to the media on Friday afternoon, Moreno sounded confident. “I’m ready,” he said. “I had it in my mind, but I just wanted to keep working hard, doing the things I do. I was not thinking, ‘I’m ready and I have to leave now.’ I made the most of it and I was ready for whenever the move took place “. To some extent, PitchCom technology facilitates the transition to large categories for young collectors who no longer have to rely so much on traditional sign sequences. In addition, as Montoyo noted on Friday, the Blue Jays rotation includes many veteran pitchers who are fully convinced of what they want to throw. In any case, Moreno will have to prove himself once again from Saturday. He has no guarantee of playing time once Danny Jansen returns from injury list, no assurance of DH games to keep his bat in the lineup and just zero hits in the big category. Again, this would not be the first time that people have been surprised on a baseball field. “Sometimes it’s maybe a little more special when it’s not someone who came in as a very popular draft pick or signed up for a huge bonus,” Tinnish said. “Maybe someone whose journey was a little more difficult because he did not enter with the same level of advertising campaign, so to speak.”
