The Reds have released catcher Ryan Lavarnway, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. Lavarnway had been with the organization since signing a minor league contract July 18 – the same day the Yankees released him.
Now 32 years old, Lavarnway came through the ranks as a high-end prospect for the Red Sox, who grabbed him in the sixth round of the 2008 draft. Lavarnway hasn’t matched the hype he garnered during his younger days, though, and has been a member of several organizations as a result. Along with Boston and Cincinnati, Lavarnway has appeared at the major league level with Baltimore, Atlanta, Oakland and Pittsburgh, combining for a nonthreatening .211/.270/.343 line with nine home runs in 445 plate appearances.
The Reds actually received impressive production from Lavarnway, albeit over only 19 trips to the plate, as he collected five hits and a pair of homers in their uniform. But Lavarnway never seemed likely to stick for long in Cincinnati, as he came up just to fill in for then-injured catchers Tucker Barnhart, Curt Casali and Kyle Farmer. The club deemed Lavarnway expendable when it designated him for assignment to clear room for Farmer activation’s from the injured list on July 28. Lavarnway then wound up spending a few weeks with the Reds’ Triple-A team in Louisville, where he hit .225/.319/.500 and totaled three long balls in 47 PA.
Maybe this is the end for Lavarnway?
Interesting fact about Ryan Lavarnway: On August 6, 2013, he set the record for most passed balls by a catcher in the 2010s in a single game with four. Four passed balls!! He was catching Steven Wright (who is a knuckleballer) so he has that small excuse.
Varitek flat out couldn’t catch the knuckleball either.. if u feel like it” scour over some stats.. boston always had some other backup to catch him, whether it was Mirabelli, Hatteburg, even current rays manager kevin cash and varitek was a superb defender, except for throwing his entire career.
point being.. All plus defensive catchers are not good at blocking balls in the dirt. Add current sox catcher christian Vazquez to that list, tho not saying Lavarnway was ever close to even average as a defensive catcher, except for throwing.
Not sure that that is a small excuse.How many knuckleballers had he caught previously?
That is why years ago knuckleballers had their own catchers to catch them.
hitting .343 in the Majors since the end of the 2015 season…GOAT.
he was the best player in the game in baseball mogul 2012
He hit for the Pirates last year like he did for the Reds this year.
He is much better than who the Pirates had in AAA this year.
They have been very lucky that they have not needed an additional catcher but then again NH does not believe in having ML worthy backups in case of injuries.