BALTIMOREIdeally the Sox would have accomplished it about two weeks ago, but Tuesday afternoon they finally cleared space of their roster to give Ryan Lavarnway a proper shot.
The Sox placed Kelly Shoppach on August waivers and he was claimed by the Mets, so the two sides worked out a waiver deal for a player to be named later headed back to Boston. Shoppach was a thoroughly serviceable backup catcher given his .250 batting average (35-for-140), with 12 doubles, two triples, five home runs, 17 RBI and 16 runs scored in 48 games with the Sox.
Kelly was claimed by the Mets. He had a nice season for us, said Bobby Valentine. Hes going to finish the season for them, and Ryan Lavarnway will get a little more of an opportunity to play after waiting for us.
But he was also a well-traveled veteran on a team going nowhere fast, and the Sox have Lavarnway ready to take over the catching duties along with starter Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
Any opportunity I can get to show what I can do is appreciated," said Lavarnway, who was hitting .295 with 8 home runs and 43 RBIs in 83 games for Triple-A Pawtucket in 2012 before being recalled to Boston. "Kelly Shoppach was a good teammate. I tried to learn what I could from him while he was here. Now its time for me and Salty to kind of take the reins.
The young backstop managed only 20 at bats in sporadic duty since being recalled to the Red Sox on Aug. 1, and was hitting .100.182.150 with one double while watching Saltalamacchia and Shoppach do their thing. His impressive year of development was capped off with Baseball American naming him the Best Defensive Catcher in the International League this season after months of hard work.
Its just about smoothing out the edges. Its tough having worked in the past without a catching coach, so Gary Tuck, Chad Epperson and Rob Leary have done a great job putting in the extra time with me, Lavarnway said. It was hard-earned. Sometimes it takes a long time for people to notice defensive improvement and some people did.
Boston Red Sox
At the very least Lavarnway will be the Sox backup catcher for a few years to come provided he continues his current trajectory, but the ceiling is high for him given his age, intelligence, ability to swing a powerful bat and newfound defensive proficiency behind the dish.