Blake Swihart says he’ll be ready for spring training
The catcher lost his age-24 season after running into the wall when the team moved him to left field.
The Red Sox have been carried this season by David Ortiz and a trio of young talents in Jackie Bradley, Xander Bogaerts, and Mookie Betts. But the team lost a fourth potential “Killer B” in Blake Swihart when he ran into the left-field wall while tracking a fly ball, costing the erstwhile catcher his second MLB season after a promising rookie campaign.
Swihart had surgery on his left ankle in the middle of August, more than two months after his surgery at the start of June. Now, the youngster is targeting a return to playing condition by spring training with the possibility of fall or winter baseball all but out of the question.
“I’ll be ready by spring training,” he said. “I think by the middle of the offseason, I’ll be able to get back into baseball shape.”
Swihart’s comments came before the team’s 10-4 drubbing at the hands of the Royals, the team’s fourth loss in the last five games.”It’s hard,” he said. “I want to be out there with them.” Swihart also said that he will begin lifting weights soon, after meeting with doctors to map out the next phases of his recovery.
“He’s in a pretty delicate phase right now,” John Farrell said of Swihart, who is using a rolling knee walker to get around, and is also outfitted with a cast to immobilize the injured lower-leg. “Once he comes out of being immobilized, then the next phase of that rehab and that range of motion starts to kick in,” Farrell said. The manager called it an “unfortunate injury.”
Swihart was the team’s catcher on Opening Day, but was demoted in favor of Christian Vasquez when the starting pitching struggled. After just 11 games at his new position in left field, the team recalled Swihart. He played in 12 more games before the injury.
In a month in which the rotation has improved and pitched to a 2.93 ERA, it has been the offense that has slowed down, though it did jump start with the promotion of Andrew Benintendi – who recently suffered his own injury.
After settling into the major league roster, Swihart hit .303 with an .805 OPS in the second half of his rookie year as a 23-year-old. The team surely misses his offense as it pushes through the dog days of the summer, now two games back of the red-hot Blue Jays.
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