Baseball in Fort Wayne

Former Wizards catcher, George Kottaras has been added to the Boston Red Sox’s 40-man roster. This sets the stage for determining who will become the 75th and 76th former Wizards player to make his MLB debut; as well as the 13th and 14th player former Wizards debut during the 2008 season.

Pitcher, Michael Ekstrom was called up a few days ago, but has not yet appeared in an MLB game. So, will it be Kottaras, Ekstrom or perhaps someone else who is yet to be called up?

Kottaras is now one of four catchers that the Reds Sox are carrying, so there is no gaurantee that he will even see action. His offensive production leaves a little to be desired and I gotta wonder if he’ll ever be more than a “Four-A” player given the fact that he has spent pretty much two full seasons at Triple-A with this being his first taste of big league action.

My guess is that the Red Sox are thinking ahead to 2009 a little bit and want to see how he handles the pitching staff.

“How he gets into games, or if . . . I really don’t know,” Francona said. “The opportunity may present itself at some point. . . . You’re always trying to strike a balance and trying to stay ahead of everything so that if something comes up you don’t miss an opportunity to maybe get a Kottaras an at-bat. But I don’t know how you can game plan how to get four catchers in a game. Something’s either going to go wrong or terribly right . . . but even if he’s working in the bullpen with Tuck, it’s an exciting time for him” [source: The Boston Herald].

Related BBIFW Posts:

• Wizards Where R They: George Kottaras
• Macias & Ekstrom to Join Padres Roster
• Wizards’ Alumni (Page)