Potential Red Sox starting catcher Blake Swihart’s transition back behind the plate has been a tad bit rough to say the least. The 24-year-old was once a top catching prospect in Boston’s system and started last season behind the plate before the club experimented with playing him in left field.
The team has chosen to move him back behind the plate for the 2017 season to compete for the starting job. One slight problem with the transition…
He can’t throw the ball back cleanly to the pitcher.
Here's video of an example of the issues Blake Swihart had this morning in throwing back to the pitcher. pic.twitter.com/ceKkBHbtqn
— CSN New England (@CSNNE) February 17, 2017
To make matters worse — that’s Swihart airmailing the 2016 Cy Young award winner Rick Porcello.
Awkward.
Swihart doesn’t seem to be too concerned about not being able to throw it back to the pitcher yet and claims his time in the outfield is the cause for him over throwing the pitcher.
“In the outfield you have a longer arm swing, a longer arm movement,” Swihart told Drellich. “I’m just trying to shorten it back up. They are misfiring, but I’m not too worried about it. … The last time I caught was, what, the first six games of the season last year.”
Well Blake, seeing that the season starts in a little over a month you may want to try and get this figured out sooner rather than later.
The ‘yips’ strike again.
