By: Peter Alves
Blake Swihart was once the top catching prospect in all of baseball and now he is fighting to make a roster spot. Out of minor league options, he only can make the team, or is put on waivers. His career has been all over the place. He was first called up on May 5, 2015 from AAA after Ryan Hanigan went on the DL and Christian Vazquez already out for the rest of the year from TJ surgery. He caught all that time and did well hitting .274. Then his career went down. He got optioned on April 15, 2016 because of Vazquez return from TJ and Hanigan not having any options. 2016 was the year of no one in LF, everyone getting hurt. Chris Young’s hamstring injury and Brock Holt’s concussion, the Redsox asked him to go into LF to get some time in the majors. He agreed to this and got called up again on May 20, 2016 playing LF. This prompted him to getting hurt with a ankle injury in LF ending his season in 2016. Then in 2017 he had the “yips”. He was seen not being able to throw back to Porcello, so he started the year in AAA and only played 9 games in 2017 from being blocked by Leon and Vazquez. Now he is playing the super utility role in Spring Training, saying he could play catcher, 1B, 2B. SS, 3B, or LF. He has now played 6 of the first 8 Spring Training games playing two at catcher, three at DH, and one at 1B. Although it is only Spring Training he is off to a hot start, (12 AB) hitting .417 with 1 HR and 5 RBIs. Are the Redsox playing him so much so that other teams can get a look at him for trade bait, are they serious to give him a shot at a utility role, or are they going to start the year as a third catcher?
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