D-Backs prospect Peter O'Brien used to catching flak

The skeptics are not new, and Diamondbacks prospect Peter O'Brien has heard what they have to say. They don't think he can catch in the major leagues. O'Brien answers their doubts with an anecdote from his past.

"You're talking to the same guy that didn't have a Division I scholarship anywhere up until two weeks before the college season started," O'Brien said.

In four years, he went from going undrafted out of high school to being a second-round selection of the New York Yankees. He then developed into one of the better power-hitting prospects in baseball and is now playing in the talent-heavy Arizona Fall League, smashing home runs that leave vapor trails and showing why the Diamondbacks wanted him in exchange for Martin Prado at the trade deadline.

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But he's perhaps also shown why the Yankees were willing to part with him. He has struggled with his throws from behind the plate, and scouts have also raised questions about his blocking and receiving skills.

O'Brien doesn't deny he has improvements to make. He also doesn't doubt he'll be able to make them.

"I definitely view myself as a catcher," he said. "I'm going to work as hard as I can and do everything I can to be back there."

In many ways, this is a familiar script for the Diamondbacks. Since Miguel Montero reached the big leagues in 2006, the organization has struggled to develop another frontline catcher despite spending several high draft picks on them and targeting them in trades.

Stryker Trahan, the team's top pick from 2012, has a similar back story to O'Brien. Few have doubted Trahan's offensive potential, but his ability to stick behind the plate is in doubt. This season, he bounced from catcher to the outfield and back to catcher.

O'Brien did the same during his time with the Yankees. With an advanced bat and others in the organization ahead of him at catcher, O'Brien was introduced to first base, third base and right field over the past two years.

Like Trahan, O'Brien sounds determined to reach the majors as a catcher, and the Diamondbacks sound willing to give him every chance to do so.

"He just needs to catch more," Diamondbacks farm director Mike Bell said. "He needs more consistent reps behind the plate. With his bat, that would be a nice weapon to have (playing catcher)."

At a time when offense is down throughout the game, O'Brien stands out. In just 399 at-bats this season, he hit 34 home runs, the sixth-highest total in the minor leagues, and he already has three homers in 31 at-bats in the fall league.

He credits the hard work he put during the summer after his sophomore year of high school, a time when he said he fully bought into the idea of being a baseball player.

But not everyone bought into him. Lightly recruited out of high school in Miami, he secured a baseball scholarship at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla., in a tryout only weeks before school started.

So this idea that people don't believe in him? It's nothing new, and it's something he's learned to embrace.

"I've always felt that even though I've done everything that the big guys have done and put up numbers, I've always felt like the underdog," said O'Brien, who played three years at Bethune-Cookman before transferring to Miami. "I think that's what has given me my work ethic and the drive I have to reach my goals and be where I want to be."


(azcentral.com)