According to Jon Morosi, the Boston Red Sox have promoted Christian Vazquez to the Major League club while optioning Blake Swihart to Triple-A Pawtucket.
It has been widely speculated that this move would be made as soon as Vazquez was healthy to return, large in part due to Swihart's struggles defensively so far this season.
Many forget that the catching job was Vazquez's to lose last season until undergoing season ending Tommy John surgery. Although he does not posses the same offensive skills as Swihart (Vazquez hit only .240/.308/.309 in 55 games for the Red Sox in 2014), Vazquez has been heralded as a great game caller and has one of the strongest arms in the league (caught 52% of attempted base stealers in 2014). The Red Sox hope the move will help add some stability to a starting rotation that has struggled to go deep into games.
Swihart has showed promise with the bat hitting .275/.324/.386 over his first 90 Major League games, but at this point it is evident the 24 year old needs more seasoning in Pawtucket before managing a big league rotation.
(Photo Source: Christian Petersen/Getty Images North America)
With two swings of the bat on Friday night, Colorado Rockies' shortstop and former member of the Hartford Yard Goats (then New Britain Rock Cats) Trevor Story continues to rewrite the history books.
After last night's two home run gem in his first game at Coors field, Story becomes the first person in the last 100 years to homer in his first four major league starts and only the fifth player to accomplish the feat in his teams first four games.
“Special,” Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez told CBS Denver. “Never seen anything like this before.
Every day, a new record. It’s nice to see a teammate of yours play the
way he [has played]. Hopefully, that’s just the beginning.”
Story spent the first 69 games of last season with the Colorado Rockies' Double-A affiliate the New Britain Rock Goats, who have relocated to Hartford and changed their name to the Yard Goats for the 2016 season. While he looked impressive in New Britain hitting .281/.373/.523 with 10 home runs and 40 RBIs - it hardly forecast his historic MLB start.
In fact, Story was not even slated to become the Rockies' starting shortstop until it was announced that Jose Reyes would serve an indefinite suspension for his involvement in domestic abuse allegations. Nonetheless, Story has taken his opportunity and ran with it.
“I’m just excited to get there and get out on the field and get familiar
with and play in front of the Rockies fans,” explained Story.
As far as the home runs go, it's not something he is worried about.
"I've said it before, I'm not trying to hit home runs, sometimes it kind of happens," Story said.
Story will have a chance to continue his historic streak tonight when the Rockies take on the San Diego Padres in the second game of the three-game series at Coors Field. Unfortunately for him, the Padres will send lefty Drew Pomeranz to the mound. In 71 at-bats against left-handed pitching last season, Story hit just .197/.284/.338 with a single home run and eight RBIs.
It seems as though if any pitcher is going to cool down Story's white hot bat, it will be a southpaw.
