There is a lot of talk about the dearth of catching prospects in the Twins system. The Twins hit a gold mine with Joe Mauer, a once in a generation catching prospect. While it is true that the organization has had trouble developing many viable MLB catchers, you only need one or two to actually develop into good major league players. Chris Herrmann may be the next viable option for the Twins moving forward (perhaps with a Sept. callup).
Herrmann is doing extremely well in limited playing time in Arizona. His OPS is over 1.100 right now. For all of 2011:
.280/.392/.423 in 558 plate appearances. The .815 OPS is impressive across A/AA and the prospect-ridden AZL. His isolated discipline is a fantastic .112. He is above average defensively behind the plate and in the corner OF positions. Herrmann provides evidence that the Twins need to sign only a one-year stop gap player to fill the role as Mauer's platoon/rest counterpart. He hit 10 homers and stole 13 bases in 2011. If he was a RH hitter, I think he would be the Twins backup catcher going into 2012.
I will be dismayed if Drew Butera is on the Twins roster at all next year. He is essentially the worst hitter in all of MLB and his defense is not stellar and only truly stellar defense could justify taking up a roster spot as even a third catcher on the team (not even if September). If the Twins want a solid defensive third catcher, Danny Lehmann is right there in Rochester and there is no way he would suck at the plate as much as Drew Butera does. 2011 was embarrassing for many reasons, but the main one is that Butera got 254 plate appearances with a sub .450 OPS.
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