Browse entire “40-man, Player by Player” series here.
Previous entry: Rob Johnson.  Next up, Dustin Ackley.

Adam Moore has been one of my favorite minor leaguers in the Seattle Mariners organization for a little while now.  I was already an established fan when he finally made his way to Tacoma last season, but once I got to see him play in person I was head over heels.

The first time I saw that swing of his in person I knew I was going to be a fan for a long time.  It’s simple, compact and quick, allowing him to hammer line drives all over the place and occasionally knock one out of the park.  The photo stationed at the top right of the site is a shot I took of him going deep on a laser beam to left field (with Eliezer Alfonso behind him, by the way.  I can’t believe I never noticed that until now).

Barring something completely unexpected, Moore is on the 2010 Seattle Mariners Opening Day roster, and with Rob Johnson continuing to recover from double hip surgery Moore could have an opportunity to entrench himself as the primary backstop.  With Johnson easing back into things, Moore has a chance to build a rapport with the pitching staff and let his bat push Johnson into more of a backup role.

And the bat is definitely an upgrade over Johnson.  As you know, I’m a little more optimistic than most about Johnson’s offensive upside than some others, but Moore should be head and shoulders above Johnson once he gets settled in the big leagues.  Moore is a line drive machine, as already noted, and those line drives will carry over the fence to all fields fairly regularly.  He’s a double digit home run threat right now, and isn’t that far off from being a 15-20 home run guy.  Still, his power will come mostly from his ability to drive pitches into Safeco’s gaps.  I believe it was the first USS Mariner/Lookout Landing event with the new front office where they talked of Moore as a middle of the order hitter.  He’s going to be a good one.

As recently as last season, Moore was known as an offense first backstop, but has continued to peel off that label.  I wrote in the 2010 Mariners Annual about how Moore has progressed from a guy that wasn’t expected to stick behind the plate to a guy who is decent enough to allow his offense to carry him, but now it appears that he’s progressed to the point that defense isn’t much of an issue at all.  By the end of last season he didn’t look like much of a liability, and after working through the offseason and shedding a few pounds, I have a hard time believing he’s worse defensively than  Johnson (even the newly healthy Johnson). Given his physical tools, I can’t imagine why he couldn’t be a plus defender in the near future given the progress he’s made.

Fewer balls are getting by him and his footwork has improved to the point that his canon arm is getting put to much better use on steal attempts.  He’ll have his share of passed balls and wild pitches I’m sure, but I don’t think he’s a liability back there anymore.

And I don’t think he’s far behind Johnson in the intangibles that have allowed Johnson to make a name for himself.  Even back with High Desert in 2007 Moore was known to be a favorite target for pitchers, and after manager Don Wakamatsu challenged him to put less focus on his offense and more on his defense and relationships with the pitching staff in AAA Tacoma he’s really stepped it up.

He’s definitely caught the attention of Wak this spring.  I don’t think Wak envisioned Moore on his Opening Day roster.  But he has the attention of at least one big league pitcher as well.  Ian Snell has been quoted twice now– late last season and earlier this spring– that Moore calls the best game of any catcher he’s every thrown to.  Sure, Snell hasn’t exactly thrown to the who’s who of catchers.  Ronny Paulino and Ryan Doumit have been his primary catchers in the big leagues and he’s only thrown to a handful of veteran backstops, but that is still high praise from a big league pitcher.

Is Moore going to be a star?  Perhaps not, though I wouldn’t completely rule it out.  The word that comes to mind when trying to sum up Moore is “solid.”  There are no major weaknesses in his game.  Health permitting, he’s going to be calling pitches for the Mariners for quite a while.

For more on Moore, check out my article in the Annual.  If you haven’t bought it yet, you are a fool.  It shouldn’t be tough to find in the northwest, and if you can’t find it where you are, order it online.  Best 12 bucks you’ll ever spend.