The agent for Red Sox third-string catcher Blake Swihart has seen enough.
In fact, he’s put in a formal request for his client traded out of Boston, according to NBC Sports Boston.
“We’ve had conversations with the team, and they’re aware of how we feel,” Brodie Scoffield of The Legacy Agency admitted to NBC Sports Boston on Tuesday night. “Blake’s in a really difficult position.
“We’ve got a switch-hitter, offensive impact player, and his bat deserves a chance to be in the lineup.”
Scoffield’s frustration is understandable, as Swihart’s role has been… well, not a real thing.
Since Apr. 18, the 26-year-old Swihart has had just 18 at-bats in eight appearances, and is hitting .138 with a single RBI in total this season. The numbers are not enough to wow you, but even when Swihart had a 2-for-3 night with a double and RBI in an Apr. 14 win over the Orioles, Red Sox manager Alex Cora didn’t go back to him until pinch-hitting appearances in three games from Apr. 17 through Apr. 21.
Swihart has also played just 24 innings in the field this season, including just a single inning behind the plate, all while Christian Vasquez and Sandy Leon have contributed almost nothing at the plate.
But Cora has said that his current plans behind the plate are not going to change.
Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, meanwhile, essentially said ‘tough’ in an email to NBC Sports Boston, saying that the club does not have a set policy on players that request trades out of town.
“He’s a protection, third catcher for us. He gets in the lineup every so often, and it’s just up to him to be in a position to try to do the best he can,” Dombrowski said of Swihart’s current role prior to Scoffield’s public comments. “It’s a tough role, we know it. But it’s not like if we went and moved him off and put somebody else on that that other person would be playing a great deal. They really wouldn’t be playing at that point.”
And Swihart’s camp is obviously frustrated with the fact that Swihart — a semi-natural catcher (the Red Sox converted him to catcher early in his career) — has been putting in work all around the diamond in an attempt to be the ‘super-utility’ player Cora wanted him to be, but has not been given the chance to be exactly that with legitimate playing time.
“We’re talking about Blake being the Marwin Gonzalez of the Red Sox. We’re talking about ground balls at second base, we’re taking ground balls at third base, we’re in the outfield, we’re catching. But none of that’s materialized,” Scoffield revealed. “And so it’s mixed messages. It’s an undefined role for a player that can catch, that can hit, and whose athleticism allows him to move all around the diamond.”
Scoffield also made it a point to say that Swihart is not pitying himself or his situation.
“Blake’s not the type of player that’s going to ask or demand a trade [on his own]. He’s focused on what’s in front of him and happy having a positive impact on the team and the situation at hand,” Scoffield said. “That being said, I don’t think we’re building any type of trade value, nor helping him progress as a ballplayer, nor is the team really being served by him in this role.”
With Dustin Pedroia nearing a return to the big league roster and with the Sox most definitely needing another bullpen arm to help address the club’s greatest weakness, Swihart’s request could be coming at the right time for all parties involved.