Red Sox Rankings: Top 10 catcher performances from this decade

The 2014 Red Sox, fresh off winning the World Series, lost their starting catcher and center-fielder in Saltalamacchia and Jacoby Ellsbury. To prevent a dip in production at the catcher position, A.J. Pierzynski, the longtime White Sox star, came over to Boston.

The year before, Pierzynski had a 95 OPS+. The year prior it was 120, but he was a below league-average hitter in 9 of the previous 10 seasons, dating all the way back to 2004. That trend would continue in the 2014 season.

Pierzynski hit just .254 with 4 homers in 72 games. With the Red Sox out of contention in 2014, and Pierzynski apparently disliked in the clubhouse, he was released and eventually signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. Quite an ending to an awful tenure in a Boston uniform.

The failure he was exposed to with the Red Sox was to be expected as he had been consistently below average for the decade prior. He was entering his age 37-season and did not follow up on his 2012 Silver Slugger award in his 2013 season.

Pierzynski by far had the worst season of any catcher (69 OPS+), but luckily he only signed a 1-year contract with the Red Sox and they were able to release him. Let’s just be happy A.J. didn’t stay around after the dreadful 2014 season.

Blake Swihart had a very interesting tenure in Boston, to put it lightly.  He was picked as the prize of the 2011 draft and was a top-prospect coming up through the Red Sox farm system. He caught his only full season with the Red Sox in 2015 before he was later forced to play other positions and he hurt himself while playing the outfield.

He slashed .274/5/31 with a .712 OPS. That production isn’t terrible, especially as a catcher, but Swihart was meant to be a top catcher, not below average.

When you’re drafted number one in a loaded 2011 draft, a 90 OPS+ is not the expectation. Swihart didn’t get to play a whole season in 2015 – only 84 games, but his numbers still are not great.

On the defensive side of the ball, Swihart was even worse with -28 Defensive Runs Saved Above Average/year. That is absolutely atrocious and could be a part of Swihart’s major league decline. Due to his incompetence behind the plate, the Red Sox moved him around to other positions. If he was a better catcher, perhaps his career wouldn’t have been turned into flames.

Overall, this was definitely not a year to remember as the numbers were just not good. Swihart had a lot expected of him and unfortunately, he just couldn’t meet the expectation.

He is an example of how prospects can quickly turn from highly coveted into busts and that your farm system’s number of top prospects does not always indicate the success of your future.

Back to the Red Sox, the 2014-2015 last-place era was due partially to a result of bad catching.

Leon had a far worst season in 2018 offensively than Swihart’s 2015. Going into 2019, this debate popped up again as Leon was demoted to Triple-A to start the season while Swihart was in the majors.

Ultimately they had to recall Sandy as Chris Sale, one of the best pitchers in baseball until 2019, apparently needs a personal catcher. Despite that, Leon’s 2018 was superior to the previous two choices because of his great game-calling and defensive capabilities.

His offensive capabilities were abysmal with a 37 OPS+ as a result of .177/5/22. Leon wasn’t supposed to be the primary catcher as demonstrated by Vazquez getting the majority of the playing time in the postseason. Vazquez broke his finger in the early part of the summer, and Leon took over as he played 89 games.

Now, Leon’s numbers are far worse than Swihart’s in 2015, but he gets the nod over him for one reason – defense. He has a reputation as an amazing game caller and this was fully on display when Sale needed him.

He was able to manage a pitching staff throughout the majority of the season that ultimately went on to win the World Series. Also, his Defensive Runs Saved Above Average/year was 21 in 2018, Swihart’s was -28 in his only season as the primary catcher.

Leon may have ended up having the worst offensive season of any catcher on the list, but his defense is what keeps him out of the dungeons (9 and 10) on this list.

Christian Vazquez missed all of 2015 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. After a successful rehab, he managed to come back and play 57 games for the 2016 Red Sox. He re-established himself as Boston’s main catcher in the 2017 season.

Vazquez wasn’t anything special in the 2017 season, posting a 92 OPS+. He had a .291 batting average and he is being ranked seventh on this list, which shows how the Red Sox have quietly been receiving solid production over this decade. Catchers posting an OPS+ between 90 and 100 will be a common trend for the middle part of these rankings.

He was fine behind the plate, producing 0 Defensive Runs Saved Above Average. He was slightly below average offensively and okay defensively. This lands Vazquez towards the bottom of the list, but there is a clear separation between the bottom three and the rest.

Vazquez’s 2017 season acts as the dividing line between atrocious seasons and average to above-average seasons. While his season won’t go down as something for the Red Sox to hope for from the young catcher, it does represent that even at his worst he isn’t that bad of a player.

Overall, Vazquez definitely has more to show than he displayed in 2017, which will be shown by some of his more recent seasons later on this list. But even at his worst, Christian won’t collapse to rock-bottom as Pierzynski or Swihart did in years prior.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia was traded from the Texas Rangers to the Boston Red Sox during the 2010 season.  He only played 10 games with Boston, but he came back with a vengeance in the 2011 season.

He demolished 16 homers with a .450 slugging percentage. He hit slightly below league average, but for his first season with more than 100 games, it wasn’t terrible. Especially for the ever-difficult catcher position, Salty didn’t falter in his first season in a Boston uniform.

He wasn’t bad, he was actually very good, behind the plate – earning 6 Defensive Runs Saved Above Average/year. He had a good mentor to learn from on the team in the aging veteran Jason Varitek. Jarrod ultimately took over the majority of the playing time in 2011 as he played more than 100 games and Varitek played fewer than 70 (Saltalamacchia also spent some time at DH in 2011).

This season was the first of three pretty good Red Sox seasons that would see him grow on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. In his following two seasons in Boston, he would grow a little every year, but stay generally the same player – strong offense, average defense.

He ultimately laid the ground-work in his 2011 season by showing that he can be a solid defensive catcher while also having lots of pop in his bat.

Building off of his 2011 season, Salty improved in 2012. They were very similar, but he made slight improvements the following year. His on-base percentage, slugging percentage, strikeouts/PA, and Defensive Runs Saved Above Average were nearly the same.

The reason this season is superior to the prior season is because of two reasons, home runs and games played. Saltalamacchia took over as the primary catcher in the dreadful 2012 season. He played 104 games at catcher, 13 games at DH, and 1 at first base, for a total of 121 games. Jarrod only played 103 games in the 2011 season.

He proved to be much more durable for the Red Sox in 2012 while keeping his offensive production relatively similar. Except for the fact that he nearly doubled his home runs from 2012 to 2011.

Yes, he played more games, but Salty still vastly increased his homers in 2012. Hitting 25 in 2012, he only cranked 16 in the 2011 season. Despite his increase in homers, his number of extra-base hits basically stayed the same, rising from 42 to 43. This could actually be shown as a bad thing as his extra-base hits barely increased despite playing in 18 more games. His slugging percentage barely moved the needle from .450 to .454.

Overall, Saltalamacchia nearly replicated his 2011 season in 2012 which made them very hard to give one the nod over the other. However, because of the rigor it takes to be a catcher, I will reward Salty’s durability in 2012 and rank it number five.

Now, after reading the number 8 slide, you probably think that you can hit better than Leon. You might have been able to hit better than him in most seasons – except for 2016. Sandy’s 2016 season actually ties him for the highest OPS+ on this list.

After two last-place finishes in 2014 and 2015, the Red Sox took back the AL East crown in 2016 by scoring the most runs in baseball. Catcher, Leon’s position, was actually one of the more productive spots in the batting order.

Sandy hit 22 percent better than league average while hitting .310 with a .845 OPS. If only he could still produce those numbers today!

He only played in 78 games, still the most on the team at catcher. His defense was not nearly as good in 2016 as the years ahead of him. He posted a -1 Defensive Runs Saved Above Average, not awful.

All in all, this was Leon’s finest offensive season by a lot. A career OPS+ of 63, he had a 2016 season in which he had a 122. This was a teaser of Sandy’s offensive capabilities, but ultimately it wasn’t sustainable.

A possible reason for why he never replicated this offensive showing is because his defense improved greatly over the next few seasons. With his steep offensive decline, if he never improved his defensive abilities then he would definitely not be on the Red Sox today.

The most recent season on this list is Vazquez’ 2019 season. He took major strides from 2018 to 2019. He played many more games, 80 to 138, while also playing a variety of positions, showing his versatility.

From 2018 to 2019, he improved his OPS from .540 to .798, OPS+ from 46 to 104, home runs from 3 to 23. There was an improvement all across the board from Vazquez.

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His defense also greatly improved – a league-average defender in 2018 to a +5 Defensive Runs Saved Above Average in 2019. Vazquez showed that he took serious steps forward in 2019 and headed into 2020, the starting catcher may take another step forward.

He built on his 2018 season and if he can build off of his 2019 season into 2020, he can become an absolute force.

Nonetheless, Vazquez had a disgustingly good 2019 season. Even though some cold stretches, he managed to be an above-average hitter and defender in 2019. He was even one of the finalists for the Gold Glove at the end of the season.

This past year represents when Christian used all of his potential and morphed into the player that he had the talent level to be. Putting his defense and offense together, Vazquez lands number three on this list. The American League should watch out heading into 2020.

Saltalamacchia’s final season with the Red Sox was definitely his best. He was the primary catcher on a roster that went on to outlast the Cardinals and win the 2013 World Series.

He hit 18 percent better than league average, a 20 percent improvement from 2012. However, his defense faltered, posting -5 Defensive Runs Saved Above Average. His offensive improvements definitely made up for his decline in defense.

Jarrod also caught the most games in his career that season at 119. He showed off his durability and was instrumental in the run-up to the postseason. However, he was not very effective in the postseason.

Salty declined as the Red Sox went deeper into the postseason. He was pretty good in the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays – .764 OPS to pair with a .300 batting average. It looked as if Saltalamacchia would have a good postseason at that point.

In the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers, he wasn’t very good – .375 OPS in 5 games. His biggest moment in that series was hitting a walk-off single after an amazing Game 2 comeback. Despite his struggles, Boston still advanced to its first World Series since 2007.

The Red Sox were met by the St. Louis Cardinals and because of Jarrod’s struggles in the previous round, he only played 2 games out of the 6-game series. He lost playing time to the veteran David Ross. Even in his limited playing time, Salty wasn’t effective, counting zero hits in 8 at-bats.

Despite his postseason struggles, Saltalamacchia was key and helped secure the bottom of Boston’s order. Because of his offensive showing this season, he ended up signing with the Marlins with a 3-year, $21 million dollar contract after the 2013 season.

Now, the best season by a catcher of this decade goes to Victor Martinez. Martinez only played in Boston for one season this decade, but boy was it a good one.

He had an OPS+ of 122, no one on this list has done better, and he made the All-Star team. In 127 games, he sent 20 missiles over the wall, leading to a .844 OPS. Martinez hit well above-average that season. The Red Sox haven’t received consistent production like this since Victor departed after the 2010 season.

He wasn’t a great defender (-8 Defensive Runs Saved Above Average), but his offense was the reason he was Boston’s everyday catcher. He had a very similar season to Saltalamacchia’s 2013 except that he played on the All-Star team, was a little better offensively, and ultimately didn’t struggle in the postseason. Despite his defensive struggles, it is safe to say Martinez has the best season by any Red Sox catcher this decade.

Because of his offensive prowess, he was outside the Red Sox budget and landed a 4-year, $50 million dollar contract with the Detroit Tigers. He would eventually clash against the Red Sox in the 2013 ALCS.  Martinez was with Boston for less than two seasons, but he did damage at that time.

Overall, Martinez lacked the defensive abilities of some of the other catchers on this list (Leon specifically), but he had a bat that could be compared to no other on this list. Because of that, Martinez will go down as the best single-season of any Red Sox catcher this decade.