The Boston Red Sox received bad news on Wednesday when it was announced catcher Christian Vazquez would need Tommy John surgery following his visit with Dr. James Andrews. However, this could expedite the promotion of the organization's No. 1 prospect.
Catcher Blake Swihart was reassigned to Triple-A Pawtucket last week despite an impressive spring training, during which he batted .333/.375/.533/.908 with six runs scored, one home run and eight RBIs in 13 games (31 plate appearances). The 22-year-old has played in only 18 games above Double-A and general manager Ben Cherington wants him to get more development, reiterating it was "absolutely not" a move relative to service time.
"At that particular position, given the responsibilities of that position, he just barely got to Triple-A last year," Cherington told ESPN's Gordon Edes. "We feel it's in his best interest and our best interest to let him get a little more time there, polish up the [defensive] part of his game.
"Again, we know there are no hard or fast rules on this, because if there are we've broken them. There is some history here, when we've called young players up during a season we've had some success doing that, or maybe comparatively more success, than we've had having guys making the team somewhat unexpectedly out of camp. So it was very clear coming into spring training this was going to be Blake's opportunity to go to Triple-A and play at that level, catch more veteran pitchers, and that's not going to change due to injury.''
Although he clearly won't start the season on the 25-man roster, there's a chance Swihart still gets time at the major league level in 2015. Last season the Red Sox encountered a similar situation when their veteran backstop, A.J. Pierzynski, was underperforming through July. Cherington then called up Vazquez, who was batting .279/.336/.385 with 35 runs scored, 3 home runs and 20 RBIs in 66 games with Triple-A Pawtucket. The rookie finished the season with the Red Sox and was slated to be the starter in 2015.
Being that Vazquez spent a total of 67 games at Triple-A for his entire minor league career before earning a spot on the Red Sox' roster, that gives Swihart hope that the same could happen to him in 2015. Boston has a fairly weak cast of catchers, including Ryan Hanigan, Humberto Quintero and the recently acquired 26-year-old Sandy Leon. It's hard to believe one of these three will last the entire season as the team's starting backstop.
This foreshadows Swihart's promotion. After slashing .300/.353/.487 with 47 runs scored, 12 home runs and 55 RBIs (on top of improving his defense) at Double-A Portland last season, he was moved up to Pawtucket, where he batted .261/.282/.377 with six runs scored, one home run and nine RBIs in 18 games.
If he logs a successful first half of the year - both offensively and defensively - at Pawtucket, don't be surprised if he's with the Red Sox at some point in the summer.
