Not pointing fingers at anyone…

can say that in hindsight, but you have to go back to 1997 before you find a guy with zero defensive versatility named BA’s minor league player of the year (Paul Konerko). Montero may have been the frontrunner in July, but that was before Heyward went absolutely apeshit on Double-A and cemented his status as the #1 prospect in baseball.

First you argue Marshall, who played first base exclusively when he won minor league player of the year, should not be considered a first baseman because he played a lot of major league games in the outfield.

Then you argue Konerko shouldn’t be considered a first baseman simply because he there almost the entirety of his major league career.

Which one is it?

In 28 years of the award, a position player has won 21 times including

- Greg Jefferies won twice and he was a butcher at second base at the time — I’m a big Mets fan and he won strictly for his hitting in the minors.
- Manny Ramirez was just as spacey an outfielder then as now, was scared to go back on balls and couldn’t hit a cutoff man to save his life (as a minor leaguer)
- Frank Thomas was a statue, as you say.
- As for Konerko, they were running out of position to try. It’s true they tried him at 3B the year he won and he was terrible; the only time a major league team tried him there was in 2000 when the White Sox tried in Spring Training and quickly gave up. While he ended up being a decent first baseman, when he won the award, he was Montero times two — he couldn’t field as a catcher of a third baseman.
- Mike Marshall was a first baseman when he won. He played a lot in the outfield later in his career not because he was good there but because his chronically bad back prevented him from playing first.
- Ron Kittle started off in the minors with the White Sox as a DH; while he later played left field he had an injury issue that left him less than adequate.
- Canseco and Young each had on impressive defensive attribute (speed and arm, respectively) but both struggled in the minors as well s the majors in the outfield)

So that’s nine out of 21 position winners (Jefferies twice) who either struggled defensively or played first base. That’s more than the number of stellar fielders who have won. A lot more.

As for Montero and talks of him as a future DH, that’s simply because of questions of whether he will stick at catcher bit because 1B is not available on the Yankees for obvious reason. While no one can say of he could play 1B well since its a moot point, it is wrong to say he is a future DH as if he can’t play any defensive position.