JASON JARAMILLO

10/9/82; '04 2nd (Philadelphia); Oklahoma State Univ.
B/R; 6-0, 200

Level
BA
OBP
SA
AB
2B
3B
HR
BB
K
SB
CS
2004 A- (Phi)
.223
.299
.295
112
5
0
1
12
27
0
1
2004 R (Phi)
.667
.667
.667
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2005 A+ (Phi)
.304
.368
.438
448
28
4
8
44
72
2
3
2006 AAA (Phi)
.167
.143
.167
6
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
2006 AA (Phi)
.248
.320
.388
322
25
1
6
32
55
0
1
2007 AAA (Phi)
.271
.350
.361
435
13
4
6
50
79
0
1
2008 AAA (Phi)
.266
.340
.371
421
20
0
8
42
82
1
1
2009 NL
.252
.309
.364
206
14
0
3
17
33
1
0

The Pirates acquired Jaramillo from the Phillies for Ron Paulino.  Baseball America ranked Jaramillo as the 10th best prospect in the Phillies' system as recently as a year before the trade, but that probably says more about the lack of depth in their system than about Jaramillo.  He looks similar in some ways to another recently acquired catcher, Robinzon Diaz.  Both figure to be backup catchers but have the potential to hit a little better than the typical backup.  Unlike Diaz, Jaramillo will take a walk.  Like Diaz, he's considered to be good but not great defensively, with a slightly above average arm.  He threw out 36% of would-be base stealers in 2008.  He was hampered in 2006 by a broken hand.

Jaramillo went into spring training expected to battle Diaz to be Ryan Doumit's backup.  It was a reasonably good solution for the Pirates.  Doumit's injury history raises the risk that his backup will end up as the regular for at least parts of the season, and both Jaramillo and Diaz have the potential to be a little better than the typical good-field, no-hit backup like Raul Chavez.  Jaramillo is already 26, though, so he's not going to get a whole lot better.  He has two options left, which will give the Pirates more flexibility than they would have had with Paulino, who had none.  In spring training, Diaz dramatically outhit Jaramillo, but the Pirates consider Jaramillo to be the better defensive catcher so he won the backup job.  As it turned out, he was the primary catcher for nearly half the year due to Doumit's broken wrist.  He wasn't outstanding defensively, but he was probably a little better than Doumit.  He threw out 28% of would-be base stealers, a slightly lower percentage than Doumit.  At the plate he showed fairly good patience and some gap power.  His hitting tailed off after Doumit returned, especially his plate discipline for some reason.  Before Doumit came back, he had 16 walks and 23 Ks, after he had one walk and ten Ks.  Jaramillo had only 13 at-bats against LHPs, as the Pirates preferred to use Diaz against them.  He figures to go into 2010 established as the backup, as the Pirates are trying to turn Diaz into a utility player.  Jaramillo is probably good enough to start for at least a handful of teams.

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