David Ortiz knows a thing or two about hurting the New York Yankees with a late-inning home run.
The Boston Red Sox designated hitter did just that Friday night against star Yankees reliever Dellin Betances, flipping a first-pitch breaking ball into the Green Monster seats for what proved to be a game-winning homer.
On Sunday night, however, it was someone else playing Ortiz’s role of hero, as Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez jumped all over a Betances fastball and hit it to the next zip code.
Ortiz was impressed, and he expressed his approval in a very Ortiz-like matter.
“That (expletive) ended up on the moon,” Ortiz told reporters after the game, per the Boston Herald. “He’s been working extremely hard. Trust me, I believe that the same thing that happened with (St. Louis Cardinals catcher) Yadier (Molina) is going to happen with him because he works extremely hard on his hitting. At some point I wouldn’t be surprised he figured it out and started hitting on a daily basis consistently.”
If Vazquez continues to improve and even approaches Molina’s level, the Red Sox will have a franchise catcher at their disposal. Molina, like Vazquez, broke into the majors at a young age as a defensive-minded backstop. Vazquez is constantly compared to Molina from a defensive standpoint, but one thing that made Molina an All-Star was his improvement at the plate. Molina hit .238 with a .632 OPS over his first three seasons but is hitting .293 with a .758 OPS since the start of the 2007 season.
If Vazquez is able to do that, or even something close to it, everyone will know who he is before too long.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
