Christian Vázquez no longer is a member of the Boston Red Sox, but his bond with the team remains alive and well.
Members of the Red Sox hosted a Super Bowl watch party for Sunday's Philadelphia Eagles-Kansas City Chiefs clash, and several coaches and players gathered with Vázquez in attendance. The 32-year-old catcher spent eight big-league seasons in Boston before winning his second World Series with the Houston Astros in November and then signing a three-year deal with the Minnesota Twins in December.
Yet, despite the friendly gesture, the Red Sox took a precautionary measure which Red Sox star Kiké Hernández joked about.
"There was a lot of giving him a hard time because AC (Alex Cora) told us to show up at 4 and he told him to show up at 5," Hernández said Monday at JetBlue Park, according to MassLive's Christopher Smith. "He was like, 'Well, he told me to show up at 5.' I was like, 'Well, you're on another team now. We were talking about signs and staff and you can't know the signs now.'"
Vázquez, who will reunite with Hernández and represent Puerto Rico in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, became one of Boston's more beloved homegrown talents. That feeling clearly was mutual as Vázquez reached out to the Red Sox to check Boston's interest before signing with Minnesota.
"It was just asking him who's there already and what's different from there and here," Hernández said of their conversations. "There's not much he can say yet because camp hasn't started but it was just good seeing him. We kept in touch in the offseason. But seeing each other in person is just good."
Vázquez will make his return to Fenway Park on April 17 when the Twins visit the Red Sox for a three-game set.
