Blake into account
Sox look at Swihart as success
MIAMI — Mike Piazza hit .232 one year.
It was his first in the majors, and he only played in 21 games as a 23-year-old in 1992, but even the best-hitting catcher in baseball history struggled at the beginning.
Johnny Bench hit .163 in his first taste of big league action in 1967, when he played 26 games with the Reds as a 19-year-old. Yadier Molina hit .267 his first year. Jonathan Lucroy hit .253. Miguel Montero hit .224.
Catching a major league staff as a rookie is hard enough. Hitting, too? It often comes later. All the catchers listed above turned into All-Stars.
Blake Swihart eventually could join that group.
The Red Sox have seen nothing to indicate otherwise after the 23-year-old played in his 55th game in the majors yesterday. And while he was once just a prospect who found his name next to Cole Hamels in trade rumors almost daily in the offseason, Swihart has made significant progress.
“First off, I didn’t think he was ready to catch in the major leagues (in spring training) when I saw him just come in, having been off all winter, being away from doing all the fundamentals,” said Red Sox bullpen coach Dana LeVangie. “Really, it was my first look at him playing a lot, that was my first taste. He had a lot of work to do to where he is today. And he’s done a whole lot more.
“Not only is he learning himself, he’s learning a position, learning a league and he’s doing it at the highest level. What he’s accomplished from that time to where he is now is really, really good. Are there hiccups? Sure. But is there a perfect player? I don’t know. He’s come a long way. He ought to be proud of himself. And we are too.”
As far as development goes, the Sox front office is convinced that Swihart is making tremendous strides. They knew he wasn’t a finished product when they called him up in May, and yet he’s become the 22nd most valuable catcher in the majors, considered above replacement-level according to fangraphs.com. Ask the Sox’ leaders about Swihart’s trade value, though, and they aren’t interested in talking about it.
Maybe it’s the elephant in the room, that the Sox have three catchers under contract next season who are deserving of a roster spot. They value Ryan Hanigan so highly as a backup they unloaded Will Middlebrooks to get him. And then there’s Christian Vazquez, who could be the best defensive catcher on the planet if his arm makes a full recovery from Tommy John surgery.
Swihart has proven that he belongs.
“You don’t know anything about a player until they come and play at this level,” said Sox manager John Farrell, who has begun using Swihart as the everyday catcher while Hanigan recovers from what Farrell described as being “beat up.”
Early on, the Sox “could only catch (Swihart) a couple days in a row because he was mentally exhausted,” Farrell said. “We’ve learned he’s got some toughness, we’ve learned he’s obviously got intelligence and how that’s applied. But there’s still some work to be done, clearly, on the receiving side of things.”
Again we’re reminded that Swihart isn’t a finished product.
“It’s hard to play at this level especially if you’re not up to the potential you want to be,” LeVangie said.
Yet even the numbers are starting to look good. Swihart is hitting .280 over his last 27 games while pushing his caughtstealing percentage from around 15 percent in the first few weeks all the way to 32 percent (league average) as of yesterday.
“Blake has a really good arm,” LeVangie said.
Consider that Swihart was ranked the No. 17 prospect by Baseball America prior to the season. The No. 18 prospect, Daniel Norris, was traded from the Blue Jays to get David Price from the Tigers at the trade deadline.
Perhaps the Red Sox could’ve traded Swihart for a rent-a-pitcher before this season. Instead they hung onto him. And with every day of major league experience, Swihart’s value is only going up.