The Boston Red Sox made some roster moves on Tuesday placing Sandy Leon on waivers. This leaves Christian Vazquez as the top catcher in Boston and he’ll get his chance to shine in 2019.
As reported by Evan Drellich of WEEI.com, the Red Sox have placed catcher Sandy Leon on waivers. We all knew something needed to be done as Boston made it clear they wouldn’t be bringing all three catchers back for the 2019 season. Over the weekend it came out that the Red Sox were listening to trade offers for Leon. With the move they made on Monday it seems they didn’t like what was being brought to the table.
Source: The Red Sox have placed catcher Sandy Leon on waivers. They're still carrying three catchers, wanted to break with two.
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) March 24, 2019
The news of Leon being placed on waivers comes as a bit of a shock as the Red Sox just signed ace Chris Sale to a contract extension. Leon is the favored catcher of Sale and is beloved by much of the pitching staff for his dedication to their craft. But baseball is still a business and moves like this happen regularly. One man that instantly benefitted from Leon being moved is secondary catcher Christian Vazquez.
Vazquez has been in the system for years and split time behind the plate last season with Leon. Neither are known for their offensive prowess but both do offer a solid arm behind the plate. With Leon effectively removed from the picture, it’s now up to Vazquez to step up and take the top spot. With Blake Swihart being the only other catcher on the roster, this is now the Christian Vazquez Show.
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Last season wasn’t one that Vazquez was going to be writing home about, besides that awesome World Series trophy. He saw a decrease in games, 99 down to 80, due to some time on the IL and his natural workload split with Leon. He also saw massive drops in his offensive stats in 2018, .207/.257/.283/.540, compared to .290/.330/.404/.735 in 2017. Again there was a 19 game difference that cut into his at-bats but more at-bats doesn’t automatically mean an increase in stats.
So now that he’s number one on Alex Cora’s speed dial when it comes to running the game from behind the plate, he needs to seize this opportunity. Vazquez made good on his time on the field last season as he posted an impressive .996 fielding percentage by completing 650/680 chances for an out. The Red Sox are paying Christian for his defensive abilities but to make this move beneficial he’s going to need to repay them at the plate.
As I mentioned above the batting average was a nightmare for Red Sox Nation in 2018. In 269 plate appearances in 2018 Vazquez was only able to gain 52 and 13 walks while striking out 41 times. So by looking at that stat line the biggest thing that Vazquez can work on for 2019 is patience at the plate. He had almost as many strikeouts as hits, not good.
Taking out the above numbers, this means he was responsible for 157 outs (he was hit 4 times with 1 sacrifice and 1 IBB). Once again, patience at the plate and really waiting for the pitch to be right could be a massive boost to his stat line in 2019. One guy that could be instrumental in some improvements at the plate for Vazquez is J.D. Martinez. J.D.’s work ethic when it comes to his mechanics in the batter’s box is gaining legendary status, Vazquez could learn from this.
Now, I’m not looking for Christian Vazquez to become a .400 average hitter, but I’d like to see his average climb up to be closer to his 2017 performance. If he can creep back up closer to the .300 BA mark and continue his strong play behind the plate, this will prove to be the right move for the Red Sox. With Opening Day just days away, the eyes will be on Vazquez right away. With a golden opportunity right in front of him, it’s up to him to seize it and make 2019 his year.