UPDATE: After catcher Ryan Hanigan suffered a broken knuckle on Friday night, the Boston Red Sox will call up prospect catcher Blake Swihart from Triple-A Pawtucket and he will start on Saturday, according to Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com.
The current cast of veteran catchers on the Boston Red Sox 25-man roster isn't getting the job done, while top prospect Blake Swihart continues to impress at Triple-A Pawtucket. Will general manager Ben Cherington promote the young catcher in the near future?
Swihart is batting .338/.392/.382 with seven runs scored and 11 RBIs in 18 games so far in 2015. Interestingly enough, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe notes most of his success has come from the left side of the plate (.368/.415/.421) although he's naturally a right-handed hitter. In 18 games with Pawtucket in 2014, Swihart was batting .261/.282/.377 with six runs scored, one home run and nine RBIs.
He's also improving his defense behind the plate.
"Sox catching coordinator Chad Epperson said Swihart - who had a very limited catching background in high school - is now in the advanced stages of his minor league apprenticeship. Swihart's focus is on 'attention to detail and the small things,' said Epperson, as he tries to progress in his game-calling," Speier noted last week.
"The Sox used to wait until Triple A to introduce game-calling to their catchers. Now, the team starts to incorporate that element in a player's first full season, so Swihart represents one of the first Sox catchers to navigate the entire minor league system with game-calling on his plate."
Boston knew the 23-year-old was a gifted hitter. Their concerns were with his defense because he's logged only 31 games above Double-A and was converted to a catcher after he was drafted out of high school in 2011. He was originally a third baseman and outfielder, but debuted as a catcher at Class A Greenville in 2012. Since then, he's become the top catching prospect in the game.
"He's more advanced than he was last September right now," said Epperson. "I think that the organization would feel comfortable with him behind the plate."
This is something Cherington has his eye on, considering he promoted fellow prospect catcher Christian Vazquez last season after the 24-year-old compiled only 67 games at Triple-A and batted .275/.335/.381 with 35 runs scored, three home runs and 20 RBIs. Vazquez also had much more experience as a catcher (441 minor league games) than Swihart (279 games), but the Red Sox clearly need some sort of a change with their starting rotation, which has the worst ERA in baseball. Maybe a young catcher with a fresh perspective such as Swihart would help.
Boston could also use his offense. Hanigan is their best hitting catcher right now and he's batting .216/.355/.294 with 11 runs scored, one home run and five RBIs in 18 games.
Don't be surprised if Swihart becomes a major leaguer before the middle of the season.
