MN Twins Catcher Nearing Long-Awaited Return

By    |  
Updated:
Follow Us
Christian Vazquez, Minnesota Twins
Credit: Matt Blewett-Imagn Images

For the past two years the only catchers to play for the Minnesota Twins have been Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vazquez. At the moment Rocco Baldelli has neither of them.

Ryan Jeffers has been on the concussion injured list and looks like he’ll end his season there. Christian Vazquez developed an infection from a cut and needed emergency surgery to address the issue.

Over the last couple of weeks it has been the Mickey Gasper and Jhonny Pereda show. That appears as though it will change in the coming days.

Christian Vazquez starts rehab assignment for Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota Twins season is all but over. At 66-86 they are 20 games below .500 for the first time since 2021. The team has just four home games left, and ten in total. That isn’t stopping veteran backstop Christian Vazquez from wanting to return.

Triple-A St. Paul is on the road in Memphis. They have a day game on Thursday and then just three more contests to follow. Whether Vazquez gets behind the plate for any of them remains to be seen, but he should have a week with Minnesota if he can prove ready. It would be his first big league game action since August 5.

Across 61 games this season Vazquez owns a paltry .174/.251/.247 slash line. He has just nine extra-base hits, of which two are homers. His 38 OPS+ is a career low.

Related: Size of MN Twins’ New Limited Partners Confirmed

Vazquez is in the final year of a three-year, $30 million contract with the Twins. This offseason, at 35 years old, he will again be a free agent. It’s possible someone gives him a guaranteed deal due to his defense and veteran presence. If they do though, it will be substantially less than he was paid by Minnesota.

Tale of Vazquez tape not pretty for MN Twins

It’s admirable that Vazquez wants to finish his Twins tenure on the field. Given the state of their play, there’s little reason to believe he can drag them down further. Not to mention, both Pereda and Gasper have looked horrendous behind the plate.

As a whole, the Vazquez contract will go down among the worst in Twins history. In three season with Minnesota he has batted .212/.262/.305 across 256 games. After posting 1.6 fWAR in his first two seasons, he has been worth -0.1 fWAR this year.

Each season Vazquez has been worth positive DRS (defensive runs saved) while profiling positively in framing, blocking, and caught stealing.

The defensive value alone hasn’t been enough to save the contract though. He was worth $6.9 million in 2023, $5.9 million last year, and -$1.1 million this season. The $30 million outlay will have generated just $11.7 million in value.

Related: MN Twins Axe Scouting Department

Minnesota has more questions than answers behind the dish next season. Vazquez won’t be back. Gasper and Pereda are likely good as gone as well. That leaves Jeffers, assuming he’s not traded, and a whole lot of nothing. Derek Falvey has plenty of work to do on that front, and he’ll need a better answer than another boat anchor of a contract.

Mentioned in this article:

More About:
0What do you think?Post a comment.