Treanor Hurt, John Baker Up

Matt Treanor looks like he'll be going to the DL. He injured an abdominal muscle last night while trying to avoid being hit by a ground ball...the outcome? The ball hit him and he hurt himself. Double whammy.

This puts the Marlins catching situation in an interesting spot. Treanor's hitting may have been mediocre (at best), but his fielding was spectacular. His presence behind the plate will be sorely missed.

I thought Mike Rabelo might be recalled, but it seems the Marlins want him to work things out. That's the right move. Instead, the popular John Baker will get his big shot. I'm not sure what the distribution of starts will be between Hoover and Baker, but I wouldn't be surprised if Baker gets a good number.

Matt Birnbach - a longtime Baker proponent - provides us with some commentary on John Baker:

"John Baker trained hard this off season trying to get in shape for Marlins camp and maybe an outside shot at making the team. He didn’t see too many at bats in Spring games as he lost out to Matt Treanor and Paul Hoover (Mike Rabelo had to rehab in the minors first.) As of his calling up, he was hitting .316/.394/.492 with 21 extra base hits (6hr) in 193 at bats. Against lefties, he was hitting .382/.443/.455 in 55 at bats.

It will be interesting to see what the 27 year old rookie can do. It’s been a long time coming for him, and if he gets off to a hot start, he might have himself a job for awhile."