This is going back aways but as soon as I started looking more at this kid he has reminded me of this guy…

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sanguma01.shtml

Sanguillen is listed as 6-0 but I remeber him being shorter and his hitting lines sure resemble Solome’s, albeit in the big leagues. If he can play I dont think he’ll have ANY trouble getting some looks.

Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, and Smoky Burgess are listed at 5’8". The last catcher listed at 5’7" or shorter was Jim French in 1971, and the shortest catcher ever was 5’4" Tony Rego, who played in 44 games in 1924-25.

Josh Kalk recently saw Salome play and wrote about it for THT:

He has a somewhat open batting stance with his front leg pointing out to shortstop and a pronounced crouch. When the pitch is in flight, Salome steps in the bucket before he swings. You would think this would hurt him going the other way, but in the two games I saw him he did that with authority several times. The crazy thing is that in batting practice Salome has almost no step at all.

Defensively, Salome has improved his throwing but it still is somewhat of an issue—not arm strength, but, Money said, footwork. He threw out one of three runners in the two games, with one of the two steals completely off the pitcher; Salome smartly just ate the ball. On the runner he did get, the throw short-hopped, but Escobar made a nice pick and tag. That throw took just 1.90 seconds, so he clearly has the tools to be successful.

Blocking pitches is another issue. From what I saw, Salome relied on his glove a little too much and didn’t always get in front of the ball. On one wild pitch, Salome asked for the curve in the dirt, then had it bounce off his glove and the runner advanced. The roving catcher instructor was in town, so before the game on Wednesday Salome got plenty of work with balls in the dirt. Here, he was very effective keeping the balls in front of him and blocking them with his body. So again, the tools are there; he just needs to put it together.

Awesome post! Seems as of Kalk didn’t know exactly what to make of Salome either.

I remember hearing a number of years ago that the pretty awful Mike Gallego was about the same size as Mickey Mantle.

I find it difficult to compare players from different eras since baseball has changed so much. While Berra, Campy, and Burgess were obviously great players, what would happen if they played today? To hear that it has been 37 years since a 5’7" catcher caught in the bigs isn’t exactly comforting.