Boston Red Sox Extend Christian Vazquez
By Damian Dydyn
As Spring Training nears its end, the Boston Red Sox locked up defensive wiz Christian Vazquez. Will he be overpaid or is a breakout looming that will make this look like a smart move?
The Boston Red Sox announced the three year extension of catcher Christian Vazquez on Saturday. The deal guarantees the 27 year old $13.55M with the possibility of up to $8M more. There is a team option for $7M in 2022 which includes incentives for an additional million based on plate appearances.
This contract guarantees the Red Sox a solid floor at the position for the next three seasons, regardless of whether Vazquez remains the starter or another option emerges bumping him to the backup. While he isn’t flashy, Vazquez brings quite a bit of value to the field even if we ignore the intangibles.
The Bat In The Minors:
The biggest question with Vazquez was always his bat. He has no real power to speak of which limits his upside. But as he progressed through the minors he demonstrated a clear pattern. He would struggle at a level, repeat it and show significant growth. This happened in rookie ball, A, AA and AAA.
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His rookie level OBP the first time around was a paltry .266 in 2008, followed by a jump to .366 in 2009. The sample was fairly small, so it was tough to draw any conclusions at that time. However, we saw the same thing happen in his next stop.
Vazquez’s first run through AA in 2012 produced a .280 OBP. He followed it in 2013 with a .376 before moving to AAA Pawtucket in 2014. There, he continued to succeed for the most part posting a .336 OBP. He also made his major league debut that season but was overmatched at the plate, managing just a .308 on base percentage the rest of the way.
2015 was lost to a UCL tear and he began the long rehab process following Tommy John Surgery before the season even began. When he returned it was at AAA where he saw his OBP rise to .345 before finally returning to Boston. His bat still had a long way to go, unfortunately, and he finished the year with a .277 OBP.
The Bat In The Majors:
It was 2017 that opened some eyes with regard to Vazquez’s offense. In 99 games he managed a 93 wRC+ on the back of a .330 OBP and a .290 batting average. His .348 BABIP might suggest some luck, but he also had a 24.9% line drive rate. And it wasn’t a fluke, either. His 2016 LD% was 25.0 in a partial season at the major league level and 25.4% in AAA.
Additionally, his swinging strike rate of 7.2% would have tied for 29th in the majors (with Jose Altuve) last year if he had enough at bats to qualify. It was 7.4% in 2016. Vazquez is an excellent contact hitter who sprays line drives. That’s a good recipe for sustainably high BABIP’s.
I don’t know if he’ll ever develop power, but he’s shown no real signs of it yet. Even if he doesn’t, he has the tools to be a league average hitter and that’s quite valuable because it’s not where the bulk of his production comes from.
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Vazquez has always had a reputation for being an excellent defender. He was touted as an excellent pitch framer, had a cannon for an arm and was a great game caller to boot. It’s really difficult to measure catcher defense accurately, though. So that we aren’t seeing gaudy figures from him in stats like UZR, there are some indications that he’s bringing the goods.
The Catcher Report at Stat Corner has a few metrics that are worth pointing out. In 2017, of catchers with at least 2500 pitches received he ranked 2nd in balls called within the zone. He was 13th in strikes within the zone but was within a percentage point of Martin Maldonado who ranked 6th.
That puts him 6th in +Calls, or calls he framed well enough to change the outcome of. He also slots in at 6th in RAA and 3rd in CS% at 42.0% for the year.
He’s got the glove and now he might have the bat. While comparisons to Yadier Molina are still premature, the development of that elusive power could change that. And with new hitting coach Tim Hyers in town to tweak some swings and generate some more loft throughout the lineup, maybe Vazquez will see a little bump in home runs and doubles. Vazquez was fairly middle of the pack for balls hit in those productive power ranges of launch angles, but has a little room for improvement.
This Is A Good Deal For The Red Sox:
In the end, the Red Sox are paying Vazquez little enough that if he ends up a backup it’s not going to hurt them. If he breaks out, however, this contract could look like a steal. And that’s before the possibility that we are vastly under-rating what he does best.