Blake Swihart wants to play, and no one can blame him.
The Boston Red Sox catcher/utility man has struggled to find his way into the lineup so far this season, and his agent revealed he has asked the Red Sox for a trade.
The 26-year-old once was thought of as Boston’s backstop of the future before suffering an ankle injury in 2016. Swihart’s agent, Brodie Scoffied, noted Swihart did not ask for the trade himself but he felt a change was needed.
Swihart made sure to make it clear that while his agent does speak for him, he still is apart of the Red Sox and will continue to work hard to help the club.
“Uh yeah, I think he’s just looking out for me that’s his job,” Swihart said about his agent, via WEEI’s Rob Bradford. “I just want to let everyone know that I’m still here. I’m focused on being here. I’m going to work my tail off to keep doing what I can do to help this team win.”
As for the timing of the trade request, Swihart noted that he just wants to play.
“I think he’s probably thinking about a bunch of different things that could happen in the next couple weeks,” Swihart said. “I want to play. He wants me to play and so that’s what we decided to do.”
Swihart has only logged 29 at-bats so far this season, but still has a ton of promise, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Red Sox get some offers for him.
