SATURDAY: The Red Sox have formally announced that they’ve promoted Swihart and placed Hanigan on the disabled list.
FRIDAY: The Red Sox will promote top prospect Blake Swihart, Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com reports on Twitter. Swihart will fill in for Ryan Hanigan, who went down tonight with a broken finger.
Boston will continue to look for external candidates behind the plate with both of its top two options (Hanigan and Christian Vazquez) now out for the foreseeable future. The team is still not interested in bringing back Jarrod Saltalamacchia, however, McAdam says.
It remains unclear, then, whether Swihart will end up sticking in the bigs for the rest of the year. But he’ll certainly have a chance to do so; certainly, the club could add another catcher and chose to move Sandy Leon rather than Swihart. If he can avoid an optional assignment, Swihart will line up to qualify for Super Two status down the road.
Things probably hinge on the 23-year-old’s defense, the main limiting factor coming into the year. It isn’t that Swihart lacks athleticism or promise; it’s that he is still working out the finer points after converting to the position late in his high school career. His offensive upside for an up-the-middle bat is undisputed, and is the cause for his consensus top-20 prospect rating.
Though Swihart struggled somewhat in his first Triple-A action last year and has not hit for power there this season, the bat seems about ready. All said, he owns a .287/.341/.428 slash over five minor league seasons since being taken late in the first round back in 2011.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
let’s see how Swihart is able to adjust to MLB pitching this could be a great move or ill advised. Also according to multiple red sox beat writers sox still looking at external options
Blake is already on the 40man and he can replace Hanigan right now without taking someone off the 40 man. Quintero is not .
Blake isnt done with his development so I dont expect him to stay up long unless he absolutely rakes, which im not counting on.
I’m excited and scared at the same time.
Good luck to the next Johnny Bench (I kid of course. As much as I don’t want the Red Sox to do well, I hope the kid turns out alright).
Please, Carlton Fisk. Bench never played for the Red Sox.
I’d be happy with the next Jason Varitek lol
Likewise.
That’s good because if he did he would have two fewer World Series rings.
Blake Bench and Mookie Mays. A dream team!
Swihart’s Time.
Best of luck to Blake. I always enjoy seeing prospects succeed and I hope he continues the trend.
Pretty bold move, certainly risk involved in doing this but I hope it works out well for the kid.
Hamels/Ruiz for Swihart, Margot, JBJ and E-Rod
No way. Swihart is the top catching prospect in baseball, Margot is an up and coming prospect and Rodriguez is a dynamic young stud. In return the sox would be getting an old catcher who is well past his prime and Hamels who I do not see translating to the American League well. Face it, the Sox won’t get Hamels as long as the Phillies keep asking for Swihart and Rodriguez. Simply put, you want top prospects in the game for a guy who has a 4.61 career ERA against American league opponents with an 8-14 record in 30 inter league games. I don’t think he would be that bad so i’ll say even if he has a 3.80 ERA he is not wory h Rodriguez or Swihart alone nevermind both of them, Margot who is one of the rising prospects in the majors as well as a young Jackie Bradley who still has hope. Ruiz would be a nice stop gap but I would rather give swihart the job or bring back saltalamaccia than give something worth value up for ruiz
Well I can go through why that would not be a good idea from the Red Sox point of view but I’ll just leave a neat stat from the early season…..Margot has 8 walks and 1 strikeout in 85 Plate Appearances at high A Salem this year.
Give it a break. The Swihart to Philly train has left the station and one of the reasons just shown why Cherrington wasn’t about to let him go.. Under any conditions..
Margot and E-Rod for Hamels and call it a day. If the Phillies have to eat a few million for each remaining year on the contract they should and get this thing put to bed already.
Welcome to the big show Blake
I guess we will get to find out early if he was worth hanging onto instead of getting Hamels.
No we won’t. It will take years to find that out
If he doesn’t homer on his first AB, he’s a bust!
Not necessarily. I’m not saying if he isn’t great out of the gate then he’s a bust. What I am saying is that you will able to tell if he can face MLB pitching, handle an MLB pitching staff, and perform his catching duties at the highest level. That won’t take years to find out.
No, that’s exactly what takes years to find out. You think you’re going to be able to judge if Swihart will be good 5 years from now based on what you’re going to see in the next 1-2 months from him? You must be an amazing scout
Why yes I am an amazing scout. Thank you for noticing. Pass that info along to your favorite (or least favorite) MLB team in your spare time.
you cant tell in what will probably be a SSS. that, and you need to give these kids time to make the adjustments needed. with catchers that might take a bit longer because their main focus is defense.
its been a month and Mookie is just starting to make adjustments. you cant tell anything from a month or two.
Most hitting prospects come up and do really well in the beginning. Then the pitchers adjust to them, and they start doing poorly. This is the crucial point that determines if they can make their own adjustment to major league pitching or if they cannot.
That junction usually determines the success or failure of a prospect. But that happens a few months into their major league career.
Not at the very start.
Well, obviously the answer is that he was worth hanging on to. Otherwise, the Red Sox wouldn’t even have a guy capable of being a starting catcher.
Just need to bring up Rusney Castillo and they’ll be all set offensively.
You realize he is coming off of an injury and that they don’t have a roster spot really for him. Yes Victorino is on the DL but there is no need to use up an option on and more importantly rush Castillo to the majors
Use up an option on? That’s not how options work. And how do you rush someone to the majors when they already played in MLB the previous year?
I think this is a great move for the Sox. At worst, you find out he is not ready, which gives the team some time to work on acquiring a catcher for the short term while Hanigan and Vazquez recover. And at least he gets a taste of major league pitching and games in general. On the flip side, he lights it up and stays for the entire season.
Exactly. I don’t have a problem with this move under the circumstances at this point in the season
People need to stop saying “Hamels to Boston”. It isn’t going to happen. The Phillies want way too much for a guy that has a poor track record in inter league play. (30 games 8-14 4.61 era).. and overall the sox rotation is poor. It would not be correct to say that acquiring an ace is goung to put them over the top. Not right now at least, as the other 3 or 4 days are going to be very horrifyingly bad and that is even if you get lucky and have another starter than your ace pitch well. So if the ace isnt going to put you over the top then why trade half your farm for him like the sox would be doing for Hamels. (I made it clear up top I dont think he would be an ace in the AL. I don’t think he would be 4.61 bad but I can see a high 3.000 or low 4.00s. But assuming he worked out and was a stud, it still wouldn’t make sense for boston and I explained that in the second part.)
He wont be traded to Philly for hamels though because the rangers will get him
Texas should rebuild
Texas should not rebuild go after hamels
So what happens when Beltre departs, Andrus never lives up to his contract and Profar turns out to not be their answer? Somethings gotta give eventually and we know Prince can’t come close to living up to that contract. Then there’s the rotation and bullpen…
You forgot Sinn Soo Choo’s contract too.
One step closer to the heralded “next great Red Sox team”
I don’t think he is ready on the defensive side, but he brings more to the table over Humberto Quintero who is not even on the 40 man roster. Best of luck to Swihart and praying for a speedy recovery for Hannigan.