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Why the Sox aren’t yet considering a call-up for Ryan Lavarnway 07.20.11 at 2:06 pm ET
By Alex Speier

BALTIMORE — There is no denying what Ryan Lavarnway has done offensively this year. His stats are beginning to look freakish.

Between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket, Lavarnway has a .322 average, .396 OBP, .602 slugging mark and .998 OPS with 25 homers and 69 RBI in 87 games. He has been even more outrageous since his midseason promotion to Triple-A, hitting .388/.460/.760/1.220 with 11 homers and 23 extra-base hits in 32 games.

In short, Lavarnway — who led Division 1 with a .467 average and .873 slugging percentage as a sophomore at Yale — has been enjoying one of the best offensive seasons of anyone in the minors this year.

And yet, it would not appear that he has positioned himself for an imminent call-up.

It is virtually a foregone conclusion that he will be called up in September (when major league rosters expand from 25 to 40, and just a couple months in advance of when the Sox would have to place him on their 40-man roster in order to protect Lavarnway from the Rule 5 draft). But Sox manager Terry Francona said that, as impressive as Lavarnway’s offense has been, the opportunity for him to get regular work behind the plate in the minors is too significant for him to be squarely on his radar.

“I know he’s been raking,” said Francona. “[But] the catching part…, he’s gotten pushed already. Obviously offensively he’s doing great. [But] I probably don’t look as much when I figure a guy’s there to play as opposed to come help us.”

An injury could change that. According to team sources, Lavarnway’s offense is sufficiently advanced and his defense has shown enough improvement that the Sox would feel comfortable calling him up.

And team officials insist that Lavarnway’s defense has improved to the point where he can be a major league catcher, at least in some capacity — whether as a backup catcher/DH or, if he continues to advance, perhaps more than that.

Even so, Lavarnway has just 171 games behind the plate in his minor league career, as he’s typically split time between the catcher and DH positions. That is in part by design, since the Sox like to have their minor league catchers do drill work to improve mechanics and fundamentals on days when they are not starting behind the plate. That said, while Lavarnway has some solid indicators of improving defensive work (a 35 percent caught stealing rate, for instance, and just one error all year), he is still learning to call the game and to get a feel for what how to use a pitcher’s repertoire in a way that maximizes his comfort level.

That is in part simply a matter of repetition and game experience, something that Lavarnway is best suited to gain right now in Triple-A. Nonetheless, his offense will eventually clear a path for him to the majors — likely by September, if not sooner.

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  • Joe

    Was at the Paw Sox game last night. He hit an absolute bomb to dead center field…. well over the 410 sign and off the top of the roof of the building behind the wall. He is legit.

  • tim

    Would the Sox consider letting Papi go after this year in favor of Lavarnway?

  • Osvoldo

    “bomb to center”
    ——-
    I don’t think that was the one but supposedly he hit the deepest drive in longtime Pawsox observers mem recently.

    He is legit”
    ———
    Hope so!

  • jmbrown

    The kid went to Yale… give him a month with Varitek and he’ll have the game calling thing down.

  • lavarnway4president

    In 8+ years working in Minor League Baseball I have not seen a player come through with this type of hitting talent. I understand he’s facing triple-a and 4A pitching, and people are always quick to say he’s only hitting fastballs out. Well he crushed a hanging curve to left last night that only Brandon Moss’ glove web prevented from leaving the park, which would have tied the game. I just can’t wait to watch him at the Major League level.

  • Bubba

    Is there a long tradition of Yale producing ML catchers? What does his school have to do with anything? He still doesn’t sound prepared for the basic physical aspects of the position, let alone calling games. Lots of players can hit the ball 9 miles and never come close to sticking in the majors. I would think twice about cutting loose Papi and plugging in a guy with 0 MLB experience into the middle of the lineup.

  • http://Enteryourwebsite... Soxgal

    I say bring him up now and let him learn from Tek that way he is primed for the off season push.

  • Steve_in_MA

    We need to put away the Rays and pick up some space on the Yanks. Let Ryan get maximum defensive work for all of August at Pawtucket while we do that.

    I’ve seen his defensive game improve dramatically in the last 2 months. His lateral movement and ball-blocking are now solid. His natural rocket arm has been harnessed to throw mostly pinpoint throws to the corner of the bag. Almost no one steals on Ryan. If they successfully steal, its usually on the pitcher with too long a delivery time. No doubt that working with Tek will improve his game calling, preparation and framing skills. But we can do all of that in September.

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