Loading ...Redleg Nation editor Bill Lack had a chance to catch up with Mark Fleury, the 21-year old catcher selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the fourth round of this year’s amateur draft. He’s a great kid, and we hope he’s headed for big things…despite the fact that I felt the need to give Mark a hard time about his college choice. (Forgive us, Mark!)
You can listen with the player at the bottom of this post or right-click here to download the mp3 file to listen at your leisure. For links to all previous episodes of Redleg Nation Radio, check out the podcast’s home page.
To subscribe via iTunes, click here: 
For the RSS feed, click here: 
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Sounds very well spoken and mature for a 21 year old athlete. I’m willing to overlook that he grew up a Braves fan, IF he can develope into a ML catcher.
Mark sounds like a good kid. I got to see him a lot this past season, after McMurray got promoted. As the rosters stand, I’d be surprised to see him leap-frog Dayton. IMO, he really needs to improve by this spring, before he deserves to leap-frog Coddington, McMurray, or Wideman. Coddington will start in Lynchburg.
I was surprised to hear that Mark’s only instruction in catching was from Pat Kelly thus far. Does Kelly even have a history as a catcher? Seems like there should be more involvement for such an involved and integral position. Perhaps lack of staff/instruction is a major reason why this organization has failed to produce many quality catchers in recent history.
Other than the yet unproven prospects (Hanigan, Tatum, etc.), it’s sad when your team’s best success from drafting and developing catchers, over the course of the last two decades, comes in the form of Paul Bako and/or Dan Wilson.
I found this interesting also. I’d think that, at the least, the organization would have a “catching coordinator” that moved around the minor league organization working with the catchers. Seems like a pretty specialized position to me.