Heard that he cant hit for sh*t. Heard that he can hit righties decent but cant hit a pennys worth on lefties. Dudes numbers show he doesnt have much power. Heard that hes decent defensively. Saw some interviews, seems like a good guy. Anything else yall can tell me about him. Maybe go into a bit more depth. If the trade goes through, hes pretty much Dickeys personal catcher, has this been the case the whole time in New York. Thanks in advance.

Dont know what kind of effect D'arnauds injuries are gonna have on his performance, but if healthy, this guy should be one h*ll of player and im still kicking myself we made that trade. Good luck bro's, best of luck!

Also, hypothetically if everything goes right for this guy, what kind of player can he be? Thanks yall.

He's had some moments where he looked like he would be a decent hitter but he hasn't been able to put it together consistently with the bat. Some of it may have something to do with a pair of concussions that he suffered which may have hindered his performance. He has gap power but not home run power. He could get completely healthy and be a 270, 6 HR 60 RBI type guy but that's his ceiling IMO. Worst case.....220, 2 HR 35 RBI type hitter. Defensively he's good but not great. Pitchers like throwing to him, he calls a good game and he's decent defensively but not a star.

He's a good back up catcher who can catch Dickey's knuckler. He's cheap and it makes sense for the BJ's to want him rather than Buck. It makes sense for the Mets to be willing to take a shot on Buck (who has a higher upside and more power) than Thole.

I forgot about the concussion (did he really have 2 of them?),
but one thing the Mets did wrong with him last season is they had him try to hit more HRs
he started pulling the ball more and his BA went way down (and he didn't hit more HRs either)
so basically he should go back to his old style (opposite field hitting) and then he may hit .300+ again (of course not a sure thing but worth a try, obviously the pull the ball more experiment totally failed).

Josh Thole actually has a better chance of playing well with the Blue Jay than the Mets IMO. He is a slap hitter who relies on singles to carry his BA/OBP. His defense still needs to improve to become league average, and he has gotten better (but yikes). Over the course of an entire season, his flaws become readily apparent. However, in a split time platoon with JPA, he may have value as a back up Catcher/R.A. Dickey caddy. The Mets needed him to be much better than he is to justify his playing time the past two years.

Actually he is not that good defensively, to call him average is being polite. He is in my opinion a backup that can get a base hit here and there. No HR pop, mostly a singles hitter when all is going right.

I think if he plays on a more limited basis his production pace can pick up. I think he suffers when delegated to a starter role.

My guess is the Jays picked him up to have someone who is familiar catching Dickey. Thole did get better at catching the knuckle which would be a learning curve for any catcher, so his 1 redeeming quality is that experience.

Just call him slappy

Also yes, he is a very good guy. Likable, class act, all that is true.

he is a singles hitter. no power, might hit 3 hr a yr... if he gets in 100 games. mediocre arm, but his overall catching skills have shown improvment. he is a converted 1baseman. he does a very good job catching dickey. a decent backup catcher.

He doesnt throw out to many base runners

If he is catching Dickey, that gets mitigated very easily by Dickey's superior pick-off move.

Mostly runners just wait for a passed ball anyway.

Thole can hit..He like all the lefties in the Mets lineup struggled in part due to an overly lefty heavy lineup. No reason he cannot contribute to winning in the right situation. On the Mets you have an offense that saw its best players being removed, rookies and role players replacing them, key guys not producing, and very little power and balance from the right side of the plate and overall..In other words if the guys who you looked to do the heavy lifting did just that, Thole could quietly go about his business..Also the Mets tried to work with Thole to hit for more power..That was likely something the GM wanted to try and push and it is everything Josh Thole is not..That just had him more sc*wed up at the plate..Not sure how he adjusts to the AL but when Thole just sticks to his game he keeps things simple and just tries to put the bat on the ball he can be productive..And as thers have mentioned he has a reputation for being a great kid and teammate.

No guarantee he will come out of his concussion syndrome. Look at Wright he has never been the same since he had his.

Yeah Wright really suffered in the first half last year. Hitting .400 for the first 6 weeks of the season and having a .350 BA going into the AS break is because he had the concussion. I guess if he was healthy he should have been hitting .600. IDIOT!

Honestly, people here overvalue him immensely.

He's a slap hitter who can't hit from one side of the plate, has average defense and an average arm. Actually scratch that, below average D.

He doesn't get on base much. Has zero power, and no gap power either.

I have no idea why anyone would want him. He's useless. Congrats.

Thole is a better hitter than her showed last season, but his best value is his ability to catch Dickey. Don't underestimate the importance of this. Remember a few years ago when Boston traded Tim Wakefield's personal catcher, Doug Mirabelli. They were not able to find another catcher to catch Wakefield and a couple months later traded for Mirabelli again. Thole does a good job catching Dickey and that and the occasional start against righthanders is where his vaue lies.

Thole has been known to bring his dog on road trips sometimes, so he must be a decent guy. As for his playing ability, if ou can't say something nice about someone.... Seriously, I would say he will never give you any power but could hit .275 in a career year. Defense is below average, but he handles Dickey well. Don,t expect Arenciba to lose his starting job.

Thole is an average catcher and cheap. He can hit for average...remember he was coming back from a concussion last year. He doesn't have power. His throw out rate is average. He is not consistently good in handling his pitchers...maybe with more experience he will grow into that. The positive is that he catches RA well, though I think he still led the league in passed balls. You will need him to be RA's catcher. He's insurance and a very decent backup.