BOSTON - The message was clear for Blake Swihart when he was called up earlier this season: worry about catching, not hitting.
And Swihart did just that, working with a new group of starting pitchers that he wasn't too familiar with, trying to find out what works best for them and when, and adjusting as needed.
The No. 1 catching prospect in baseball coming into the season according to Baseball America, Swihart wasn't expected to play much or at all in the majors this season. Injuries forced the Sox hand, but Swihart has done a commendable job behind the plate in his first big league season.
And on this homestand, he's shown why he's becoming more comfortable at the plate, too.
Swihart finished Friday's game 4-for-4 with two doubles, three runs, and two RBI. He's reached base in 14 of 20 plate appearances this homesteads (10-for-16, 4 walks) and Friday marked his third three-hit performance of the season, all of which have come in his last eight games (Aug. 8). Swihart's average is now up to .274 this season.
In the second inning, Swihart ripped a Johnny Cueto cutter down the left field line for a double that drove in the first run of the game and sent another run in on an error on the play. He'd drive in another run in the fourth inning, too.
Swihart has caught Owens plenty of times throughout their minor league careers, so the learning curve wasn't very big once Owens joined the Sox. But regardless, Swihart is able to focus a bit more on his offense now that he's had more experience catching the pitchers in this rotation.
"Getting more and more comfortable," Swihart said. "Catching these guys for the first time this year I just wanted to make sure I was on the same page as they are. Try to go out there and do my best to do everything I can to help them out. I'm getting a lot more comfortable every day catching these guys and hitting is a little easier now."
We're just now starting to see why Swihart is considered a top prospect among scouts. He's just beginning to tap into his offensive potential.
Prior to Friday's game, Torey Lovullo was asked if there was a No. 1 catcher and No. 2 catcher. For most teams, that's the case, but not for the Sox this year. Swihart and Ryan Hanigan pretty much share the duties.
But what about next year? Christian Vazquez will have returned from Tommy John surgery and be ready to go. That means the Sox will have two young catchers they're very high on.
The options are: 1) Split up the catching duties, favoring offense with Swihart and defense with Vazquez. 2) Turn Swihart into a first baseman as to take advantage of his bat every day. 3) Trade one of them - though Swihart would garner much more in a trade right now.
Whatever path the Sox choose, Lovullo wasn't ready to go there.
"I'm sure we'll have a lot of discussions over the course of this offseason about what to do with our catching situation," Lovullo said. "We're very lucky to have two young guys who are very capable of handling the workload. So we'll move forward as a group. I think that Dave [Dombrowski] will probably want to see these guys perform each and every day. Make that decision moving forward, but that's not anything we can predict right now. We've got to wait it out, see what happens this offseason."