Minnesota Twins Say that World Series Champ is Still a Big Part of the Roster Despite Diminished Playing Time in 2023

Despite receiving less playing time in 2023, the Minnesota Twins say that catcher Christian Vazquez is still a big part of their organization moving forward.

Bobby Nightengale Jr., Twins Insider, had that information as part of a long story on catcher usage in the Twin Cities. Vazquez appears to be headed for a fairly even playing time split with Ryan Jeffers.

Alternating starts between catchers, instead of relying on one catcher to handle the bulk of the workload, is now the Twins' preferred approach.

"You're going to get the most out of your guys when they're both actively out there on a regular basis," (manager Rocco) Baldelli said. "As long as you have good players — and we do — that works great for us. We have guys in Ryan and Vázqy that are both going to be out there regularly, they're both going to play, they're both going to be catching all of our pitchers. That's how I see it. We'll rotate them as we see fit when the time comes."

Vazquez, a two-time World Series champion with the Red Sox and Astros, signed a three-year deal with the Twins last offseason. He played in 102 games after playing in at least 119 in the three full years prior to this one. While he's known as a good defender who creates a good rapport with pitchers, he slumped at the plate this year, hitting .223 with just six home runs.

His best offensive year was with the 2019 Red Sox, when he hit 23 homers.

The Twins won a wild card series this year against the Toronto Blue Jays but were beaten in the ALDS by the Astros.