Christian Vazquez

[Kimmi]

I Agee. Vazquez is starting to hit more consistently. I believe it is because he splits time with Leon and is fresh for this time of the year. If he caught more games I think he would run out of gas and you wouldn't see the bat that we saw in August. The walk off hr against Cleveland was outstanding. The catching position is the least of the Sox problems. Moving forward I wouldn't mess with the catching position.

Good point about both catchers being able to stay somewhat fresh by not being a 'full time' starter. I agree that they are the least of our worries.

On a related note, pitch framing stats to date, courtesy of StatCorner:

Vazquez - Ranks 7th among all catchers with 6.3 runs above average

Leon - Ranks 12th among all catchers with 3.5 runs above average

Our catchers have been worth roughly 1 WIN in terms of pitch framing.

[southpaw777]

"He's likely to "come down to earth" at some poinT" -Moon
Come down to earth? Hes been pretty consistent. His offensive game is getting better every year as long as Farrell gives him the bulk of the load. Do I believe hes a 280 hitter? Yes, ive said it for a coulle years now. Coming back to earth was leon. Vaz can hang where hes at 280 320 400. I think those numbers were what I thought he was capable of. His bat is better than most people still believe apparently...

[cp176]

"He's likely to "come down to earth" at some poinT" -Moon
Come down to earth? Hes been pretty consistent. His offensive game is getting better every year as long as Farrell gives him the bulk of the load. Do I believe hes a 280 hitter? Yes, ive said it for a coulle years now. Coming back to earth was leon. Vaz can hang where hes at 280 320 400. I think those numbers were what I thought he was capable of. His bat is better than most believe still apparently...

I still love the fact that we have two very capable catchers but there is not much question in my mind that Vazquez is the better of the two. There is nothing that I don't like about him.

[moonslav59]

"He's likely to "come down to earth" at some poinT" -Moon
Come down to earth? Hes been pretty consistent. His offensive game is getting better every year as long as Farrell gives him the bulk of the load. Do I believe hes a 280 hitter? Yes, ive said it for a coulle years now. Coming back to earth was leon. Vaz can hang where hes at 280 320 400. I think those numbers were what I thought he was capable of. His bat is better than most people still believe apparently...

I'm a huge Vaz fan and always have been.

I wanted to trade Swihart away long ago.

I agree on him being able to hit .280, and feel his power may improve over time.

However, .280 is not .336, which is Vaz's 2nd half BA. That's what I meant by "coming back to earth".

Now, .280 can mnean hitting .336 some stretches and .206 in others. I'm fine with that, too. Just give me .280/.330/.420/.750 every year and I'll be super happy.

BTW, I love to see him hitting righties (.746) better than before. I can see us using Leon as just one pitcher's caddie next year and allowing Vaz to catch 4 out of 5 starts.

[mvp 78]

If CV can hit .250, that's more valuable than Swihart hitting .300 considering the vast difference in their defensive capabilities.

[a700hitter]

If CV can hit .250, that's more valuable than Swihart hitting .300 considering the vast difference in their defensive capabilities.

We should have traded Swihart once it became obvious that we were going to move ahead with the superior defensive player. He still had good trade value. Now, he is just a busted asset.

[mvp 78]

We should have traded Swihart once it became obvious that we were going to move ahead with the superior defensive player. He still had good trade value. Now, he is just a busted asset.

Hey let's move him to LF to boost that trade value a bit (even though his highest value comes at C). What could go wrong?

[Bellhorn04]

If there was a right time to trade Swihart it was probably when he was still just an untested prospect. Aside from a good year with Portland in 2014, his offensive numbers at all levels have been mediocre to bad, and his defensive skills at catcher have always been a work in progress.

[mvp 78]

If there was a right time to trade Swihart it was probably when he was still just an untested prospect. Aside from a good year with Portland in 2014, his offensive numbers at all levels have been mediocre to bad, and his defensive skills at catcher have always been a work in progress.

???

He was a 1.5 WAR player in half a season in 2015.

[Bellhorn04]

???

He was a 1.5 WAR player in half a season in 2015.

Depends who you ask. His bWAR was only 0.4, which seems more reasonable. Some of those odd fielding results for Fenway's left field perhaps?

[moonslav59]

If CV can hit .250, that's more valuable than Swihart hitting .300 considering the vast difference in their defensive capabilities.

Totally agree. Maybe even .220 would beat Swi's .300.

[moonslav59]

We should have traded Swihart once it became obvious that we were going to move ahead with the superior defensive player. He still had good trade value. Now, he is just a busted asset.

Yes, his highest value was as a projectable catcher. Now, he's pretty much not that.

[Kimmi]

"He's likely to "come down to earth" at some poinT" -Moon
Come down to earth? Hes been pretty consistent. His offensive game is getting better every year as long as Farrell gives him the bulk of the load. Do I believe hes a 280 hitter? Yes, ive said it for a coulle years now. Coming back to earth was leon. Vaz can hang where hes at 280 320 400. I think those numbers were what I thought he was capable of. His bat is better than most people still believe apparently...

Credit to you southpaw, you have been on the Vaz bandwagon since before the season started. Good call.

[southpaw777]

Credit to you southpaw, you have been on the Vaz bandwagon since before the season started. Good call.

Thanks kimmi 😊
When i saw him in AA the year they told him to pay more attention to offense, his BB went up and the Ks went down. Took more pitches and usually made solid contact. Add in the passion hes has for the game and position and who he works with in the off season (Jose Molina) and i saw a great all around catcher in the making. Of course his was just an opinion, but he had that “IT” factor that made him stand out...to me anyway.
So happy to see him back to full speed this year and able to help the Sox on BOTH sides of the game. I still believe hes a 280 320 400 hitter moving forward.
Looks like were about to clinch the division
GO SOX!!!

[SoxHop]

Thanks kimmi ��
When i saw him in AA the year they told him to pay more attention to offense, his BB went up and the Ks went down. Took more pitches and usually made solid contact. Add in the passion hes has for the game and position and who he works with in the off season (Jose Molina) and i saw a great all around catcher in the making. Of course his was just an opinion, but he had that “IT” factor that made him stand out...to me anyway.
So happy to see him back to full speed this year and able to help the Sox on BOTH sides of the game. I still believe hes a 280 320 400 hitter moving forward.
Looks like were about to clinch the division
GO SOX!!!

Remy has been saying all year he saw something in Vaz's hitting. Especially the way he went the other way with the ball.

Good call...