When the Twins brought in Christian Vázquez before the 2023 season, they knew the bat might not be a strength. The hope was that his defense, leadership, and experience would carry the load. But in his third season with the team, even that intentionally imbalanced profile is starting to break down.Vázquez is slashing .186/.256/.292, with an OPS+ of 53, and the numbers have only gotten worse as the season has progressed. In June, he is hitting just .111 with a pair of extra-base hits. It’s shaping up to be the worst offensive season of his career.
The more surprising drop-off has come on defense. His caught-stealing rate and pop time have steadily declined, and this year his pitch framing has taken a steep hit. After ranking in the 70th percentile for pitch framing in 2023 and the 84th percentile in 2024, he currently sits in just the 21st percentile. Defense was supposed to be his calling card. Now that, too, is becoming a concern.
Still, the Twins continue to give him regular work. Vázquez has started 35 of the team’s 73 games this season, nearly identical to his usage in 2023, when he started 52 percent of their games. While Ryan Jeffers has been the more productive option, the Twins have shown reluctance to fully shift the catching workload in his favor. That may be partly to protect Jeffers’s health, since he has provided offensive value and has often slotted in as the designated hitter. He was also recently banged up again after taking a foul ball off the hand, and while X-rays were negative, the team has kept him out of the starting lineup since. If anything were to sideline Jeffers further, the Twins would be left with little choice but to lean even more on Vázquez.
The idea of simply moving on from Vázquez is not so simple. He is a free agent at the end of the season, but the Twins do not have a ready-made replacement behind him. Jair Camargo has already seen a brief call-up, but is struggling in Triple-A with a .577 OPS. Mickey Gasper is more of an emergency option than someone who would be expected to contribute behind the plate. Diego Cartaya, a former top prospect acquired earlier this year, has barely played and has been even less effective than Camargo when he has. Noah Cardenas has impressed in Double-A with an .825 OPS, but with just five games played above that level, he is not a realistic candidate for the near future.
A trade could be a possibility. Twins Daily’s Cody Schoenmann recently outlined an option, a demoted catcher from the Red Sox system. If the Twins are serious about upgrading the position, that might be the most realistic route.
For now, though, Vázquez remains on the roster and in the lineup. The numbers are what they are, but he continues to be highly respected within the clubhouse. Pitchers praise his game management and experience, and the staff’s ERA with him behind the plate is an impressive 3.22, compared to 4.45 with Jeffers. That stat is far from definitive, but it does speak to the trust he has earned with the pitching staff.
Vázquez has drawn plenty of criticism from fans this season, and many of the concerns are fair. At age 34, with offensive production cratering and defensive metrics slipping, a rebound does not feel especially likely. But at least for now, the Twins may not have a better option. Like it or not, that means he’s probably not going anywhere.
What should the Twins do behind the plate? Can they afford to keep things as-is, or is it time to get creative? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.