PHOENIX -- When the best hitting prospect in the organization says he wants to change positions, people listen.
Which is why the Diamondbacks are taking Peter O'Brien's decision to opt out of catching seriously. It came out of the blue. A few days after the D-backs called up Jarrod Saltalamacchia to replace injured Tuffy Gosewisch, news filtered out of Reno via Twitter that O'Brien did not want to go behind the plate any longer.
"We were shocked by it, too," D-backs general manager Dave Stewart said.
Whether the move was precipitated by Saltamacchia's promotion or by other factors is unclear. Stewart has not spoken to O'Brien about it yet, only to Reno manager Phil Nevin.
"He expressed that he is not really comfortable doing it," Stewart said, "that he he feels his value will be better playing more games, 162, nobody does that any more. But he feels that that he wants to be more of an every-day player than a guy who plays 135-140 games."
Regardless, the D-backs will have no knee-jerk reaction.
O'Brien is a valuable commodity, and his offensive numbers are among the best in minor league baseball. He is slashing .333/.375/.624 with 15 doubles, 12 home runs and 47 RBI. Granted, the Pacific Coast is full of hitter's parks, but that does not diminish the fact that O'Brien is tied for second in RBI in the minor leagues, tied for fourth in homers and is seventh in OPS. This after 22 and 34 homers in first two full minor league seasons. He can hit.
"We are just going to let him take a breath and figure it out," Stewart said. "We haven't as an organization had an opportunity to really talk about it. There is so much other stuff going on here that whether Peter O'Brien catches today or catches a year from now really hasn't been a topic for us."
O'Brien had throwing issues while catching late in spring training, so the D-backs gave him a soft landing in Reno and played him in the outfield for the first three weeks before putting him back behind the plate. O'Brien has done a little of everything, making 16 starts in left field, 13 in right, 11 behind the plate, five at DH and three at first base.
One thing the D-backs do not want to do is force O'Brien to play a position where he is uncomfortable.
"Obviously, if you have an athlete who doesn't want to do something, then you are not going to get his best effort, so it is a factor," Stewart said of O'Brien's thinking.
"What we want is the best effort we can get from the player. If that means that playing another position, then it will probably have to be at another position."
Trouble is, the D-backs are rather locked in at the other spots, even with the trade of Mark Trumbo on Wednesday. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt is under contract through 2019, and third baseman/outfielder Yasmany Tomas can stay through 2020, depending on how he uses his player options. A.J. Pollock has three years of arbitration remaining, Ender Inciarte is under control for four more years and David Peralta for five.
"We have a surplus of outfielders, so we don't really know where he is going to play," Stewart said.
The D-backs have less depth behind the plate, another reason O'Brien fits well there, but there are other ways to address the problem. Included is the draft, where the D-backs are considering high school catcher Tyler Stephenson as the first pick in the first round.
"There are other ways that we can get this thing done, whether it is through signing a free agent or a progression of the people that we have internally," Stewart said. "We can still solve that problem."
Reno (AAA, Pacific Coast)
--Outfielder Todd Glaesmann hit a two-run homer and also singled in his Triple-A debut last Friday. His homer tied the game at 2 in the seventh inning and the Aces went on to win, 4-2. Obtained in the Heath Bell trade, Glaesmann started the season at Visalia but was quickly promoted to Mobile after hitting four homers in five games from April 11-15. He has six homers and 17 RBI in 37 games at three levels.
--Right-hander Kevin Munson, a fourth-round draft pick out of James Madison in 2010, has been scored on in only one of his 15 outings, and he converted a save chance last Friday in New Orleans. He is 2-0, giving up eight hits and eight walks in 16 innings. He has 19 strikeouts.
--Outfielder Danny Dorn is still hitting. He leads all minor leaguers with a .436 batting average among players with at least 100 at-bats.
Mobile (AA, Southern)
--Right-hander Braden Shipley, the D-backs' first pick in the 2013 draft, struck out five in six scoreless innings for a victory over Pensacola on Wednesday. He gave up only three hits in his most efficient start of the season.
--Outfielder Zach Borenstein has taken off in his month at Mobile. He is hitting .356 with six doubles, two homers and 18 RBI in 27 games with the BayBears after opening the season at Reno. Borenstein, who hit a three-run homer Wednesday, was acquired in the Mark Trumbo deal two winters ago.
--Right-hander A.J. Schugel has given up one earned runs in 16 innings in his last two starts, winning both.
Visalia (A, California)
--Right-hander Daniel Gibson, a seventh-round pick in the 2013 draft, is 2-0 with a 1.31 ERA and has been scored upon in only three of his 20 relief appearances. He has 26 strikeouts in 20-2/3 innings.
--Right-hander Nickolas Sarianides has converted his last eight save opportunities since taking over the closer's role in late April. Sarianides, 24, was signed out of an independent league last year after being released by Cleveland in 2012.
Kane County (A, Midwest)
--Catcher Stryker Trahan, the D-backs' first pick in the 2012 draft, has hit safely in nine of his last 11 games with three home runs to raise his batting average to .234.
--Outfielder Victor Reyes, obtained from Atlanta in the Trevor Cahill deal, is hitting .301 with four doubles, five stolen bases and 21 RBI after three mulitple-hit games last week.
--Right-hander Markus Solbach, in his first full season in the organization, has won his last three decisions and has given up four earned runs in his last five starts over 30-1/3 innings.
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