The Astros should really consider signing Rod Barajas or Yorvit Torrealba because they can’t possibly go into a season with J.R. Towles and Humberto Quintero at catcher could they? Maybe the Astros are going to bite the bullet and give 25-year old righty swinging J.R. Towles one more chance to prove himself. He played in 16 games for the Astros last season and he was 9 for 48 (.188 avg, .604 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 2 homers and 3 RBIs. Towles also played in 56 games in AAA-ball last year and he was 40 for 145 (.276 avg, .841 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 4 homers, 22 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Towles is starting to look like a AAAA-player as he has a career average of .188 with a .609 OPS in the majors and he has a .299 average with a .864 OPS in his six years in the minors. Towles didn’t make any errors and he had 1 passed ball in 114 innings behind the plate for the Astros last year. His defense wasn’t all good last season though as he only threw out 9% of base stealers while pitchers had a 5.61 ERA with him behind the dish.

30-year old righty swinging Humberto Quintero projects out to nothing more than a so-so back-up in the majors. He played in 60 games for the Astros last season and he was 37 for 157 (.236 avg, .662 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 4 homers and 14 RBIs. I don’t think he can do much better than that as a hitter in the show. He made 5 errors and he had 5 passed balls in only 59 games behind the plate and that’s way too many of each. But, he does have a great throwing arm nailing 39% of the runners trying to steal against him while Astros’ pitchers had a 4.34 ERA with him behind the plate.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CATCHERS IN 2010: D-