Maybe Vaz was just having a defensive slump. Those do happen.
I refuse to believe Vaz is no longer a more than plus defensive catcher. He may not be "elite", but I think he's close, despite his 2018 blip.
I agree Swihart shows more versatility, and I've been arguing we try Swihart at different positions from before we actually started doing it.
I definitely feel Swihart has way more upside on offense than Vaz & Leon combined, but he has yet to prove it. Both Leon and Vaz have had longer stretches of hitting better than Swihart's one longer glimpse of good hitting back in 2015 (.712).
Swihart hit .840 way back in 2015 at AA. For that, everybody has been all gah gah for years.
.539 in 2017 in AAA 9212 PAs)
.575 in 2017 in Gulf (38 PA)
.720 in 2016 in 74 PAs MLB
.655 in 2016 AAA
.738 in 2015 in AA/AAA
.649 in 2014 in AAA after his promotion from AA
Am I missing something other than his last 32 PAs?
Leon
.845 MLB (283 PA) 2016 Longer good hitting stretch than any of Swihart's
.644 MLB (301 PA) 2017
.604 MLB (188 PA) 2018
Vaz
.585 (184 PAs) in 2016
.735 (345 PAs) in 2017 Longer good hitting stretch than any of Swihart's
Again, I'm not arguing Leon or Vaz are better hitters than Swihart, but both have longer and better sample sizes of doing well than Swihart has had on OFFENSE.
Swihart has yet to prove he's a better hitter, and he has a long way to go to show he's better defensively.
.548 (218 PAs) in 2018