Red Sox Predictions: Blake Swihart to Stay in Left Upon Brock Holt’s Return

Boston Red Sox catcher Blake Swihart has excelled while playing in left field for the team

This past week, Boston Red Sox resident utility man Brock Holt began to slowly ease his way back into baseball after landing on the disabled list on May 20 with a concussion. Even though there is still no timetable for his return, it is a positive sign that he is starting to participate in baseball activity again. However, his now somewhat imminent return stirs up questions regarding left field.

This season, Holt quickly became Boston’s everyday left fielder because his offensive production spiked when he received more regular at bats. So, when Holt landed on the DL, the Red Sox needed another left fielder. They called up catcher Blake Swihart. Even though Swihart had never played in the outfield during his time in the minors and majors, he had started taking reps in left after he was demoted to the minor leagues in mid-April of this year.

Despite the lack of experience, Swihart quickly learned how to play in the outfield and excelled. Manager John Farrell has told the press that Swihart has done a good job at learning the position from a defensive standpoint. Swihart has yet to make an error in left even though the Green Monster is a notoriously hard wall to field, and has even made some replay worthy catches such as this one against the Toronto Blue Jays:

Interestingly enough, this is not the first position change experiment Boston has dealt with this year. They moved Hanley Ramirez from the outfield to first base. Now, Ramirez had spent the majority of his MLB career in the infield, but first base is entirely different from shortstop. Thankfully, he has successfully made the transition and has become a quality first baseman for the Red Sox. With one successful experiment out of the way, the Red Sox are ready to make another seemingly impossible position change for Swihart.

However, a catcher playing in the outfield has been done before by other teams, so it is not that uncommon. Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, who started his baseball career as a catcher, moved to the infield and also played over 350 games in the outfield. Former Red Sox hitter Carlton Fisk made occasional appearances in the outfield throughout his career despite being an everyday starting catcher. More recently, the Oakland Athletics had their now everyday starting catcher Stephen Vogt in right field for a portion of the 2014 season due to outfielder Josh Reddick landing on the DL and Vogt nursing a right foot injury that inhibited him from catching regularly.

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So, even though it seems like a big change for Swihart, it is not unheard of. However, Swihart has had a slow comeback offensively since being called back up to the major leagues. He needs to start batting as well as he did during his rookie season last year if he wants to take left field from Holt.

If Swihart can demonstrate that he still has a powerful bat, he will stay in left once Holt returns from the disabled list. Holt is better utilized as the ultimate utility man for the Boston Red Sox especially as the seasons goes on and players begin to get worn down. Despite all of the experimental position changes this season for the Sox, they all seem to be working out for the better – even Swihart.