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2007 There was a good instinct behind the Astros` decision to move Munson back to catcher, the position he played in college. Munson`s not a great hitter, and his bat can`t carry first or third base, but as a reserve catcher who bats lefty with home run power, he makes a nifty asset off the bench. The results weren`t great, but it was definitely an experiment worth trying, and perhaps one that should be repeated in other organizations with their own suboptimal first and third basemen, in the same way that teams now habitually give poor hitters with good arms a chance to show that they can throw fastballs. 2005 Munson got off to an awful start at the plate, hitting .222 in April and .196 in May and striking out in about a quarter of his plate appearances, and quickly found that he had lost his everyday job to Brandon Inge. As ugly as those numbers are to look at, they're even harder to watch every day, so it wasn't surprising that he fell out of favor with the Tigers, who non-tendered him after the season. Obscured were the improvement to his defense at third base, which was never as bad as advertised to begin with, and the continued growth in his isolated power, which shot up 35 points on the year. Munson is perceived as a tweener, lacking the glove to be an everyday third baseman or the bat to be a regular at first. But as a cheap waiver-wire find, he represents almost pure upside. 2003 Munson had a good but not great year in 2002, bookended by a slow April in Toledo and a miserable September in Motown. In between, he managed to restore his tattered reputation as a power prospect. The problem is that he has no position other than first base, and he isn’t likely to push Carlos Pena out of a job. Like many young hitters with big power, he can hit almost any fastball, but he’s pull-happy and has trouble with breaking pitches. The departure of Robert Fick bodes well for him, as it cleared up a potential logjam at DH. The Tigers need to give Munson 1,000 at-bats in the next two years to see if he can mature into the hitter they projected him to be when they drafted him with the #3 pick in 1999. 2002 How you perceive Munson depends on your expectations. If you expect Munson to live up to his past—the #3 overall pick in 1999, with the potential to become one of the best-hitting catchers in the game—then he’s an abject disappointment. If you base your expectations on what he has become—a marginal defensive first baseman with a low batting average and good secondary skills—his upside might just surprise you. He projects as a poor man’s Tony Clark, which fits, because the Tigers want him to replace Clark on a poor man’s salary. 2001 This isn’t what Randy Smith envisioned when he took Eric Munson with the third pick of the 1999 draft. Though the ex-Trojan has buffed up his body, his numbers still sag like an auto worker’s midsection. Unless Munson has a breakout season, Smith may have to find a makeshift solution at first base in 2002, since he had planned on Munson being ready to inherit Tony Clark’s job. In my opinion, the organization was too hasty in stripping Munson of the tools of ignorance; catcher is the only position he can handle at which he projects to be much of an asset offensively. 2000 He certainly looks like he has a major-league bat, although his debut was not nearly as impressive as that of, say, Pat Burrell, the first collegian taken in 1998. But will he catch? He was used almost exclusively as a first baseman and DH in his debut, although Tiger officials blamed that on a nagging shoulder problem. If Munson is kept at first base, he’s going to be no more than a modest improvement over the likes of Tony Clark. As a catcher, he has a chance to be the new Darren Daulton, the best-hitting catcher in the league.
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