Christian Vazquez was supposed to start at catcher for the Red Sox on Opening Day, but his persistent elbow issues may require him to undergo Tommy John surgery. The next promising name at the position for Boston is prospect Blake Swihart.
However, it doesn't seem as if he'll get the chance to start the season on the team's 25-man roster.
"The view is that, with a young player like Blake, we'd prefer to get them on a little bit of a roll at the Minor League level before they come to us," manager John Farrell told Ian Browne of MLB.com. "There's also a need to continue to refine the receiving side of things. He's had quite a bit of opportunity here in camp. He's shown well.
"Just in the big picture, I think we can probably all benefit by playing every day and continuing to work on the areas, the developmental areas that are there."
It was pretty obvious Swihart wouldn't be the Opening Day starter after the team placed Vazquez on the 60-day disabled list and then acquired catcher Sandy Leon from the Washington Nationals on Monday. The 23-year-old Swihart has played in only 18 games above Double-A, but proved he's capable of competing with major league talent this spring. He batted .296/.345/.444 with five runs scored, one home run and five RBIs in 12 games (29 plate appearances).
Farrell did say last week that anyone wearing a Boston Red Sox uniform is being considered for the Opening Day roster and that the team was looking internally to fill the vacancy at catcher, but he did not indicate any of the team's backstops had a clear advantage. He still has yet to name a starter for Apr. 6. Boston also has veterans Ryan Hanigan and Humberto Quintero, so they're prepared to move forward with that experience on their roster.
Vazquez is scheduled to visit Dr. James Andrews on Wednesday and more will be known about his right elbow injury. If he has to undergo Tommy John surgery he would miss the entire 2015 season, which could pave the way for Swihart to make his debut at some point in the middle of the season.
If his progression at Triple-A Pawtucket goes as planned and the current cast of catchers can't seem to get it done, Red Sox fans can expect to see Swihart before September.
