Chris Iannetta has been the Rockies primary catcher for the past 5 years, starting in 2007. In each year 2007-2010, another catcher has taken over sometime during the season, first Yorvit Torrealba and then last year Miguel Olivo.
This year he's playing without a veteran backup--and he needs to come through.
Ian Stewart has been the "3b of the future" for the past 3 seasons. After a productive 2009, Stewart fell off statistically in 2010. In the spring he got hurt on the first defensive play of spring training which set him back a little bit.
Face it, Neither player will hit better than .260, but both have more contributions on defense than offense and are both desperately needed to produce in 2011 to carry them to a NL West title and beyond.
So far, Iannetta is doing what he needs to do behind the plate. He needs to get much of the credit for handling the pitchers who have had an impressive starts. He calls the game with the best of them, and has thrown out 3 runners so far. He's only batting .188 but has 19 walks giving him an OBP of .388. And his hits have been productive, 8 of his 12 hits are for Extra Bases and he has driven in 12 already.
Stewart meanwhile is coming back from AAA Colorado Springs and is still only batting .097. Ty Wigginton and Jose Lopez are adequate as 3B, but Stewart is far and away the better fielder which he demonstrated again last night, leaping for a line drive. He also won't do any better than .260, but if his power comes back, and he can produce some runs, he will be a mainstay in the lineup, this year and in the future.
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