The Boston Red Sox had no choice but to throw Blake Swihart directly into the deep end after both Christian Vazquez and Ryan Hanigan went down with injuries.
The rookie catcher has kept his head above water from the start, but there’s now a little less splashing, a little less gasping for air and a little more ground being covered in the 23-year-old’s quest to reach a point where his feet firmly touch the bottom of the pool.
Swihart collected two hits Saturday against Felix Hernandez as the Red Sox defeated the Seattle Mariners 4-2 at Safeco Field. His second hit, an RBI double into left-center field, gave Boston a 3-2 lead with one out in the sixth inning.
It was a strong effort — his two strikeouts notwithstanding — as Hernandez is hands-down one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball. Very few hitters outside of David Ortiz, who added to his track record with a solo homer Saturday, can say they’ve had any success against Hernandez, yet Swihart hit the ground running in his first showdowns with King Felix to help spark Boston’s struggling offense.
“David’s always swung the bat well against him. Pablo (Sandoval) gets the first-pitch fastball that he drives out of the ballpark (in the second inning). Even Blake, a couple of first-pitch fastballs he gets a couple of base hits on,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said, assessing his team’s offensive performance. “But I thought (we excelled) particularly in the sixth inning, where we didn’t expand (the strike zone), where we forced the pitch count to be driven up a little bit and (where) we took our base on balls when it was there.”
Swihart’s two-hit performance against a former Cy Young winner suggests the young backstop is becoming more comfortable at the plate two weeks into his big league career. But it’s Swihart’s work behind the dish that is equally as impressive when one considers that his receiving skills and his game-calling have been points of emphasis this season, both at Pawtucket and with Boston.
“I was just trying to change eye levels with the fastball — move it up and down and try to stay out of the same place,” Red Sox starter Rick Porcello said Saturday after outpitching Hernandez for 6 2/3 innings. “(Swihart) did a great job of calling the game out there. It was a good win.”
This isn’t the first time Swihart has received praise from a Red Sox starter. In fact, Porcello also tipped his cap to the rookie following his May 5 start, in which the right-hander fired seven shutout innings against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Clearly, there’s some trust forming between Swihart and the pitching staff. And it could have something to do with the Red Sox’s improved mound work over the last week or so.
“I take those kinds of things to heart,” Swihart said after Saturday’s game on WEEI when informed that an All-Star catcher recently praised his receiving skills. “I pride myself on working on it all the time — receiving, game-calling, blocking, all that has to do with catching.
“I take that to heart and I love what I do.”
Transitioning from Triple-A to the majors is a tall task for most players. Swihart’s case, however, has been even more complicated because he was thrust into a starting role with a team that had a struggling rotation, that had a new backup catcher (Sandy Leon) and that fired its pitching coach less than a week into his call-up. And oh yeah, Swihart is a switch-hitter, which essentially doubles his offensive workload.
But Swihart hasn’t drowned. Instead, he’s quickly learning he can swim with the big fish.
Thumbnail photo via Jennifer Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports Images
