2011 South Atlantic League All-Stars: C Christian Vazquez

After three honorable mentions, three interesting prospects to talk about, we’re finally ready to actually start naming Seedlings to Stars’ 2011 South Atlantic League All-Star team. We start at the catcher position with Christian Vazquez, who played 2011 at the Boston Red Sox’ Sally League affiliate, the Greenville Drive.

Name: Christian  Vazquez
Height: 5’9″
Weight: 195 
Bats and Throws: R
Age: 21
2011 Team: Greenville Drive
Basic Batting Stats: .283/.358/.505, 27 doubles, 18 homers, 84 RBI in 105 games
Fielding Stats: 97 games at catcher, .991 Fld%, 15 passed balls, 33% CS%

Background: 

Vazquez was a 9th round pick by the Red Sox in 2008 out of the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy. After signing for $80,000, Vazquez was sent to the Rookie-level GCL Red Sox before being promoted to Short Season-A in 2009 and then to Greenville in 2010. 2011 was Vazquez’s second go-around at Low-A.

General Thoughts: 

After posting a combined .233/.310/.312 line in 131 games in his first three minor league seasons, Vazquez really broke out in 2011. According to Minor League Central, Vazquez showed outstanding power, with 42.9% of his batted balls being flyballs to the outfield compared to the league average of 29.2%, leading to quite a few extra-base hits, and 13.4% of his flyballs to the outfield went for home runs, well above the league average of 9.1%. That’s the scouting report on Vazquez- he has shown nice power and bat speed in the past, but the problem for him has always been making solid contact. Just 12.2% of Vazquez’s batted balls were line drives compared to the league average of 16.4%, but just 4.8% of his batted balls were pop-ups compared to the 7.2% league average and his great ratio of flyballs to the outfield more than offset that. Vazquez has always been pretty good at making contact, and he continued that in 2011, posting a 18.9% K% (among his plate appearances) compared to the league average of 20.1%, and posting an overall 63.1% contact percentage (among pitches) compared to the league average of 59.2%. He also walked at a nice rate, 9.2% of his plate appearances not counting 2 intentional walks compared to the league average of 8.3% not counting IBB’s. Vazquez really had an excellent offensive season in 2011.

Defensively, Vazquez used his strong and accurate arm to post a .991 Fld%, well above the league average Fld% for starting catchers, and his 33% was a bit above the league’s 30% mark as well. He does need to work on blocking balls, but Vazquez has the tools to be a good defensive catcher. In fact, a Perfect Game Crosschecker once compared Vazquez to the Molina Brothers behind the plate.

The Future:

Vazquez is a catcher with nice power potential and good defensive ability, and if he can continue to show his ability on both sides of the ball, he’s an interesting prospect going forward. However, every prospect evaluator is still waiting to see how Vazquez does next season at High-A before considering him a good prospect. Vazquez doesn’t turn 22 until August, but you have to wonder whether his great numbers in 2011 were a product of just being familiar with the league- if not the pitchers themselves, the way the pitchers in the Sally League pitch. The Red Sox definitely liked what they saw from Vazquez in 2011, and he’ll look to prove that he really as good of a player as his 2011 numbers would indicate with another great season in 2012.

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For more on the Red Sox, check out Bosox Injection. 

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