Why Christian Vazquez is a solid upgrade for the Twins
Christian Vazquez signing a reported three-year, $30 million contract with the Twins marks the first splash into free agency for Minnesota – and it might be a bigger splash than most might think at first glance.
The 32-year-old is both an upgrade at the plate and behind the dish compared to Gary Sanchez and Ryan Jeffers were last season for the Twins. Vazquez ranked fourth among catchers in defensive runs saved in 2022, and he slashed .274/.315/.399.
His .714 OPS in 119 games – 84 with the Red Sox and then 35 with the world-champion Astros – was superior to both Sanchez and Jeffers. Line them up and you can see the offensive superiority Vazquez had over Sanchez and Jeffers.
- Vazquez: .274/.315/.399 (.714 OPS), 9 HR, 52 RBI
- Sanchez: .205/.282/.377 (.659 OPS), 16 HR, 61 RBI
- Jeffers: .208/.285/.363 (.648 OPS), 7 HR, 27 RBI
Twins catchers combined in 2022 to hit .197 with a .630 OPS.
Vazquez has also shown the ability to put up even better numbers with the bat in his hands. In 2019 and 2020 combined, he slashed .278/.327/.472 for a very good .799 OPS. And if the baseballs were indeed juiced in 2019, when Vazquez slugged a career-high 23 homers, it didn't seem to impact his overall ability to hit. His OPS in 2019 was .798 and he followed that up in 2020 with an .801 OPS.
Jeffers is still with the Twins and at just 25 years old he could be an ideal trade chip moving forward. But if he sticks with Minnesota, he's a solid backup to Vazquez and will have the opportunity to learn under one of the best defensive catches in the league.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post was the first to report Vazquez's deal with the Twins.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.