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Hamels Deal May be Contingent on Blake Swihart

By Chris Rodriguez|

With Cole Hamels being placed on the trade market by the Phillies and coming off an excellent season where he pitched 200 innings for sixth time in his career, multiple teams including the Padres, Cardinals, and Red Sox have shown interest in the left-hander.  With Boston searching for an ace to anchor their rebuilt staff, Philadelphia will be setting their sights high on the talent they receive in return.  As part of that return the Phillies should be looking at Boston’s top catching prospect, Blake Swihart. Bob Nightingale recently tweeted:

Swihart, a switch-hitter, who has demonstrated the potential to become Boston’s future starter behind the plate for the next decade, has shown rapid improvement as he has progressed through the minors.  A former first-round pick, he is now considered a Top 10 Prospect in all of baseball. He has shown natural power from the right side of the plate and an above average ability to make consistent contact and square up pitches.  His swing is compact from the left side, but he’s learning how to create leverage and generate more power with lower body torque.  With above average bat speed, the ball explodes off his bat. 

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On the defensive end, Swihart has been a work-in-progress over the past few years.  He’s made leaps and bounds towards becoming an adequate defensive catcher.  He has shown great rapport with his pitchers and the type of reflexes and reaction time that will allow him to block balls behind the plate.  Add that to his cannon for an arm and smooth release and it is understandable why Boston would be reluctant to trade him and Philadelphia would insist on including him in any trade involving Hamels.

Hamels’2.46 ERA,  8.7 strikeouts per nine innings, and .62 home runs per nine across 2014 have to be tempting for Boston as they attempt to make one last splash to their eventful offseason and a major push towards a World Series in 2015.

In addition, Swihart’s brief stint in Triple-A where he hit .261 with a .282 on-base percentage and struck out 21.1% of the time may also give them some cause for concern.  Yet with a combined 52 doubles in 195 games between High-A and Double-A and an on-base percentage over .350, Swihart’s value will likely be based on his previous production.

It’s because of that value that the Red Sox will likely do what they can to retain Swihart while acquiring Hamels with another batch of high-quality prospects.  The issue for Boston, however, is the Phillies may not have a need or desire for the position prospects Boston will be offering.  With top third-base prospect Maikel Franco on the brink of being promoted to the majors Philadelphia would have no opening for Boston prospects Garrin Cecchini or Rafael Devers.  On the same side of the infield, Philadelphia also has JP Crawford who many view as the future shortstop of the organization. Hence, an offer involving Boston shortstop Deven Marrero wouldn’t be as enticing.

As a result, all roads towards Hamels may lead back to Swihart.  If the Red Sox believe that current starting catcher Christian Vazquez can produce enough at the plate with his bat as he does behind the plate with his glove, they may be more willing to deal Swihart. However, if they see Swihart as the undeniable future at the position, they’ll likely keep trying to combine prospects until they find a match with Philadelphia. If the Red Sox can convince Philadelphia that Marrero’s talent is translatable to second base it could be the beginning of a satisfactory package that could eventually include left-hander Henry Owens and right-hander Matt Barnes.

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