Alex Cora and the Red Sox showed a lot of faith in Blake Swihart when they decided to designate Hanley Ramirez for assignment rather than part ways with the 26-year-old catcher.
The surprising move came not long after Swihart's agent asked the Sox to trade his client as he was getting little to no playing time. Cora opted to go in a different direction, and here we are today.
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Swihart is 9-for-55 on the season (.164 batting average) and has gone 6-for-34 (.176) since the Sox chose him over Ramirez on May 25. He has done next-to-nothing with his opportunity to carve out a role in a Boston lineup that so desperately needs more production from the bottom of the order.
This isn't to say Ramirez was setting the world on fire before his release. But considering how streaky of a hitter he is, you have to believe he'd at least be a more reliable option than Swihart at this point. Ramirez slashed .341/.412/.494 in April. Unlike Swihart, he has at least shown the ability to give you something at the plate.
Of course, Ramirez's ice-cold May isn't the main reason he's no longer with the team. There's the $22 million vesting option that would've triggered had Ramirez made 497 plate appearances this season. (Dave Dombrowski says the vesting option wasn't a factor, but if you believe that then I have a bridge to sell you.) Cora also has preached "versatility," an advantage Swihart most definitely has over Ramirez.
But versatility doesn't put runs on the board, as our own Evan Drellich wrote a week ago when Mookie Betts and Dustin Pedroia went down with injuries. The Sox offense without Betts was exposed in this past series vs the White Sox, one of the worst teams in the majors. Boston scored only seven runs in the three-game set and was 1-for-23 with runners in scoring position (including Swihart's inning-ending popout to the shortstop with the bases loaded on Sunday). J.D. Martinez and Andrew Benintendi can only do so much.
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Swihart absolutely isn't the only Red Sox hitter that deserves to be picked on. Jackie Bradley Jr.'s woes continue. Rafael Devers is hitting .230 with a meager .682 OPS. Mitch Moreland recently has come back to Earth. the list goes on.
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But what separates Swihart from the rest is he never had much of a role on this team in the first place.
It's still way too early to give up on Swihart. But the longer his struggles last, the more we'll be forced to question Cora's bold decision to stick with a third catcher (that wasn't seeing the field to begin with) over a proven veteran hitter and run producer.