Christian Vazquez was selected by the Boston Red Sox as a ninth-round pick in the 2008 MLB Amateur Draft. Since then, he’s had quite the rollercoaster of a career, but has seemed to settle in this season.
In 2014, he was called up in the second half of the season after his solid performance in Pawtucket. This move was made due to his predecessor, A.J. Pierzynski being designated for assignment.
With a fairly impressive end to that season, Vazquez was first in line to be the number one starter behind the plate the next year.
An elbow injury during the 2015 spring training lead to season-ending Tommy John surgery. Meaning he had to be sidelined for a year before he could become the everyday guy.
For a good chunk of the 2016 season, Vazquez was platooning with veteran catcher, Ryan Haningan. That was until late June when Sandy Leon received a call-up, and took over Christian’s catching spot due to his bat being on fire and never having his average dip below .300.
Fast forward to 2017, Vazquez is now sharing catching duties with Leon. Both backstops have had fairly good seasons so far, but the more impressive year thus fat has undoubtedly been coming from Vazquez.
In 35 games this year in games that have taken place at Fenway Park, he has absolutely tore the cover off of balls, racking up 39 hits and boasting a .381 average. He’s hit seven doubles, two triples and a pair of home runs in front of his home crowd.
So far during the month of August, Vazquez has put up impressive numbers. He’s been hitting .387 and been getting on base almost five out of every ten at-bats.
If you that this month is just going to be a fluke and he’s going to cool off, you’d (probably) be incorrect.
During April, he had numbers that managed to be significantly better. In his 34 at-bats, he slashed an average of .412, an on-base percentage of .444, and a slugging percentage of .588.
Not only is he a stud at the plate with a bat, but he also is a polished defensive player too.
Since July 22, he has picked off runners on two separate occasions. A catcher picking a runner off is a pretty rare play in this sport.
He has accumulated 575 put-outs, and has assisted in 35 outs. Before his miscue Wednesday night against the St. Louis Cardinals, you’d have to go back to May 31 to find his last error. After all the math, Vazquez has a fielding percentage of .989. He’s even played two games at third base this season.
