it was pretty much a unanimous opinion that he would hit.

Montero had a special bat throughout the minors, and in 2010 he seemed ready for The Show with a .289/.353/.517 triple slash and 21 homers in 123 Triple-A games. If Torres does that in 2017, fans will be understandably screaming for a promotion, and as someone around Pinstripe Alley in 2010 and 2011, that definitely happened with Montero.

Inexplicably, he never really hit after his briefly exciting September debut in 2011. The Yankees shocked their fans by trading him to the Mariners for Michael Pineda the following offseason. He was a terrible catcher but had a modest 94 OPS+ in his first full season. While it wasn’t the debut people expected, he was a mere rookie. Surely he wouldthrow a strike when he was a starting pitcher. He had the same pitches that make him so exciting out of the bullpen these days, but he never got into a rhythm starting in the minors, save for a strong stint in High-A Tampa in 2010. Subsequently, he received his highest prospect ranking from Baseball America in 2011, only to stumble that year and slip to number 63 (despite a September cameo on the MLB roster).

By 2012, Betances had completely lost the plate, finishing the year with a horrible 6.44 ERA in 27 games between Scranton and Trenton. His walk rate in Triple-A was 8.3 BB/9, and even Double-A batters crushed him. So the Yankees shifted him to the bullpen in early 2013, and it finally clicked. Now