Boston Red Sox: 3 stars of the 2019 MLB season’s first half
Christian Vazquez
The position of catcher was an interesting one to start the season. Sandy Leon was down in the minor leagues, while Christian Vazquez and Blake Swihart were set to split time at catcher.
That changed fairly quickly.
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Swihart and Vazquez struggled early. The choice was ultimately made to trade Swihart and bring Leon back to Boston, with Vazquez taking full advantage of getting more playing time.
Leon still gets his starts, but Vazquez has taken on the bulk of the load, cementing his spot as the top catcher. He’s played in 74 games, including some at Designated Hitter and has already reached career-highs in both home runs (14) and RBI (41). He’s hitting .299 in 2019, including a .373 mark in May.
The average dipped in June but through six games in July, Vazquez has already collected 10 hits.
He’s been doing some damage against the AL East as well, at least in games against the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays. Vazquez is 22-71 in these games, but only 10-44 against the New York Yankees and the Rays.
Vazquez continues to be solid behind the plate, throwing out 37 percent of base runners and committing only one error so far in 2019.