Red Sox catchers Christian Vázquez and Kevin Plawecki both are eligible for free agency after the 2022 season.
Vázquez has expressed a strong desire to remain with the Red Sox for the rest of his career. It wouldn’t be surprising at all if both Vázquez and Plawecki return in 2023.
But it’s also a good time to examine the depth in the system and other directions chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom could go after this season.
Christian Vázquez
Vázquez, who turns 32 in August, has said multiple times he would like to spend his entire career with the Red Sox, as mentioned above. Boston would be the frontrunner to re-sign him in free agency next offseason.
Vázquez had a .798 OPS in 185 games (710 plate appearances) combined between 2019-20. His OPS dropped 139 points to .659 in 138 games (498 plate appearances) in 2021.
He needs to focus more on hitting line drives than hitting for home runs.
“When you start chasing power, sometimes there’s a lot of empty fly balls,” manager Alex Cora said about Vázquez during the 2021 season. “When Christian is going well, he’s hitting line drives all over the place and sometimes he’ll hit the ball out of the ballpark.”
His defense hasn’t always been great at times either, although it’s difficult to quantify a catcher’s value simply by looking at stats. He had the second most passed balls (10) among major league catchers in 2021. He was 40th in catcher framing (negative-1.2, per Fangraphs) among catchers who caught 300 or more innings. His 25% caught stealing percentage ranked sixth out of 11 qualified catchers.
Kevin Plawecki
Plawecki has shown upside at the plate in his two seasons with the Red Sox. He’s batting .305 (73-for-239) with a .364 on-base percentage, .414 slugging percentage and .778 OPS in 88 games.
But Plawecki, who turns 31 in February, has had difficulty controlling the running game and that limits how much he can be used. He threw out just 3-of-40 (8%) base stealers in 2021. He’s at 21% caught stealing for his major league career.
Someone not in the organization
Bloom also could look outside the organization for his starting catcher in 2023 and beyond.
The Miami Herald reported the Red Sox came close to acquiring Gold Glove catcher Jacob Stallings from the Pirates before he was traded to Miami in late November.
Top catching prospects
Connor Wong
Baseball America ranks Wong, a 25-year-old right-handed hitter, as the top defensive catcher in the Red Sox’s farm system. Wong transitioned to the one-knee stance like several other minor leaguers and MLB Pipeline wrote, “He projects as an average thrower and receiver.”
He is Boston’s third catcher behind Vázquez and Plawecki.
He had six passed balls in 372 ⅓ innings for Worcester in 2021. He threw out 28% of base stealers (12-for-43) after throwing out 52% (16-of-31) at Double-A in 2019.
Wong played well in limited time with Boston this past summer. He went 4-for-13 (.308) with a double and triple in six games. He also threw out the only base runner who attempted to steal against him.
He received inconsistent playing time with Worcester because of an early-season hamstring injury and time spent on Boston’s taxi squad. He finally got into an offensive groove in Worcester during the final two months of the season. He went 32-for-98 (.327) with six homers, six doubles, 16 RBIs and 11 runs in his final 24 games in August and September/October. Still, he needs to cut down on strikeouts. He had just three walks compared to 28 punch-outs over the final two months.
Ronaldo Hernández
Hernández is one of four catchers on the 40-man roster with Vázquez, Plawecki and Wong.
Hernández went 65-for-198 (.328) with a .368 on-base percentage, .591 slugging percentage, 10 homers, 20 doubles, one triple, 43 RBIs, 33 runs, eight walks and 38 strikeouts in his final 56 games for Portland beginning July 1. He finished the season at Worcester.
He just turned 24 in November. His offensive upside, including power, makes him an interesting prospect, but he still needs to improve a lot defensively, especially receiving.
He has a strong arm. He has thrown out 42% of base stealers in the minors. But he had 14 passed balls in 493 innings for Portland in 2021. Passed balls have been an issue throughout his minor league career. He has 77 passed balls in 2,651 ⅔ innings.
The 6-foot-1, 230-pounder also has transitioned to the one-knee catching stance. The Red Sox worked to get more physically fit so he could be an everyday catcher.
“The ability to increase mobility and movement in the lower half has been very beneficial for him once he was able to kind of get physically in a spot where that was able to be done on a consistent basis,” Red Sox director of player development Brian Abraham said in September. “So that really freed up his lower half. I think it allowed him a lot more ability to handle pitches around the strike zone and just be a better receiver overall.”
Nathan Hickey
The Red Sox selected Hickey, a 22-year-old catcher/third baseman, out of Florida in the fifth round in 2021.
MLB Pipeline grades the 6-foot, 210-pounder’s power a 55 (plus). He slugged .522 with nine homers, 15 doubles and two triples in 60 games (278 plate appearances) for the Gators in 2021. He went 6-for-28 (.214) with two doubles in 11 games between the Florida Complex League and Low-A Salem after signing.
MLB Pipeline.com, which lists him as Boston’s No. 19 prospect, wrote, “His receiving and blocking will have to improve significantly, and his solid arm strength plays down and resulted in 39 steals in 41 attempts against him during the spring.”
Kole Cottam
Cottam, a fourth-round pick out of Kentucky in 2018, enjoyed a strong offseason season in 2021. The 24-year-old is a gap-to-gap hitter who batted .278 with a .371 on-base percentage, .500 slugging percentage, .871 OPS, 10 homers, 18 doubles, two triples, 33 runs and 33 RBIs combined between High-A Greenville (46 games) and Double-A Portland (25 games). He then posted an .866 OPS with three homers and three doubles in 15 games (59 plate appearances) in the Arizona Fall League.
He has transitioned to the one-knee catching stance after he began working on it during spring training 2020. He said as a bigger catcher (6-1, 230 pounds) it allows him to stay low to the ground and use his flexibility while freeing him up to be more athletic.
Cottam was named Boston’s top defensive catching prospect in the 2021 Baseball America Prospect Handbook. He threw out 16% of base stealers (8-for-50) at Greenville and Portland combined.
Enderso Lira
Boston signed the 18-year-old out of Venezuela last January. He batted .246 (30-for-122) with a .414 on-base percentage, .336 slugging percentage, .750 OPS, seven doubles, two triples, 16 runs and 15 RBIs in 41 games in the Dominican Summer League as a 17-year-old this past summer. He also had more walks (32) than strikeouts (18).
He threw out 27-of-70 (39%) base stealers.
He has above-average arm strength and “moves well behind the plate,” according to his SoxProspects.com scouting report. SoxProspects.com also wrote, “Has all the tools you look for in a catching prospect of his age, but is a long way from actualizing them.”
The 23-year-old, who Boston selected in the fifth round out of Kansas in 2019, started off strong with Low-A Salem. He hit .298 with a .417 on-base percentage, .454 slugging percentage, .871 OPS, five homers and seven doubles in 40 games (175 plate appearances).
His batting average and OBP dropped while his slugging percentage increased after his promotion to High-A Greenville. He slashed .262/.316/.459/.775 with four homers, six doubles and three triples in 34 games (133 plate appearances).
He threw out 13-of-45 base stealers (29%), including 6-of-15 (40%) at Greenville.
Elih Marrero
The 24-year-old batted .287 with a .376 on-base percentage, .397 slugging percentage, .773 OPS, 14 doubles, one homer and one triple in 57 games at High-A Greenville in 2021.
Baseball America ranked Marrero “the best defensive player in the Red Sox system” in its 2019 handbook. His SoxProspects.com profile notes, “Does a good job getting down and blocking balls in the dirt. Potential above-average defensive profile.”
He was an eighth-round pick in 2018.
His father Eli Marrero appeared in 724 major league games over 10 seasons (1997-2006). He caught 2,327 innings during his big league career. He also made starts at all three outfield positions and first base.
Stephen Scott
The versatile 24-year-old made 18 starts at catcher this past season. He also started 39 games at first base, 17 games in right field, eight games in left field and 14 games at DH.
He slashed .291/.400/.514/.915 with 16 homers, 29 doubles and one triple in 100 games between Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville. He posted a .338/.430/.606/1.036 line with eight homers, 12 doubles and one triple in 39 games. Abraham discussed here if Scott can become a full-time catcher or if he’s most valuable as a super utility player.
Others: Yorberto Mejicano, a 21-year-old who signed out of Venezuela in January 2019, slashed .415/.460/.683/1.143 in 18 games in the Florida Complex League last season. ... Naysbel Marcano, a 19-year-old who signed out of Venezuela in 2018, had a .296/.345/.370/.715 line in 13 games in the Florida Complex League.
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