Twins' Christian Vazquez: Heading for reduced role
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Manager Rocco Baldelli said Thursday that Ryan Jeffers will take on a larger role, which will result in fewer starts for Vazquez, Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic reports.
The catching duo has split playing time fairly evenly across the past two seasons, and Jeffers has made 14 starts to Vazquez's 11 early in 2025. The Twins are changing their strategy behind the plate, however, with Vazquez's career .581 OPS with the club finally catching up to him. The veteran backstop still brings plenty of defensive value and is a good fit as a backup catcher, but it should be Jeffers that receives the lion's share of the starts from now on.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Breaks out of slump
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Vazquez went 2-for-3 with two doubles in Thursday's 3-0 loss to the White Sox.
Vazquez entered the game hitting just .100/.152/.167 and was losing playing time, so this was a much needed performance. Manager Rocco Baldelli told the Minnesota Star Tribune Thursday that Ryan Jeffers will get more playing time with Vazquez's slow start.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Returns to lineup
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Vazquez (hand) will start at catcher and bat eighth Saturday against Atlanta.
Vazquez has been held out of action ever since suffering a hand injury during Monday's contest, but a few days of rest has him feeling well enough to return behind the dish Saturday. The 34-year-old backstop is off to a poor start to the year, slashing .115/.172/.192 over his first 29 plate appearances.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Avoids fracture
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X-rays on Vazquez's right hand came back negative Monday, Bobby Nightengale of The Minnesota Star Tribune reports.
Vazquez suffered an injury to his right hand during Monday's game against the Mets after being hit by a foul tip, but he appears to have avoided a serious injury. The club will likely re-evaluate the backstop Tuesday morning to determine his availability moving forward.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Departs early with injury
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Vazquez exited Monday's game against the Mets after appearing to injure his right hand on a foul tip, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports.
Vazquez is likely headed for X-rays to determine the extent of the injury. Mickey Gasper took over behind the dish, and it would be up to Ryan Jeffers and Gasper to cover the catching duties if Vazquez is forced to miss additional time.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Back on bench Thursday
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Vazquez is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Astros.
In what was a familiar trend last season, Vazquez and Ryan Jeffers have alternated turns behind the plate through Minnesota's first seven games of 2025. While Vazquez should be in line for more work than most No. 2 backstops around the league, he's still unlikely to see a high enough volume of plate appearances to warrant intrigue in fantasy outside of AL-only leagues or deeper mixed leagues that start two catchers.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Set to reprise catcher role
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Vazquez went 1-for-3 in Saturday's loss to the Red Sox and is hitting 2-for-8 in his first three spring games.
Vazquez was the subject of trade rumors in the offseason as the Twins were thought to want to offload the $10 million for the final year of his contract. However, he looks set to stay on the roster and repeat sharing catching duties fairly equally with Ryan Jeffers. Vazquez continues to slip at the plate as he had a career-worst .575 OPS and .248 OBP last season, but he is still seen as a strong defender (ninth in baseball with seven Defensive Runs Saved).
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Back from paternity leave
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The Twins activated Vazquez (personal) from the paternity list Wednesday, Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com reports.
Vazquez was away for two games while welcoming a new addition to the family. Fellow catcher Jair Camargo was sent down to Triple-A St. Paul in a corresponding move.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Goes on paternity list
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The Twins placed Vazquez on the paternity list Monday.
Vazquez will likely be away for the entirety of the three-game series against the Angels before rejoining the active roster for the weekend series versus the Reds. Jair Camargo has been added to the roster and will back up Ryan Jeffers at catcher while Vazquez is away.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Three hits in Sunday's loss
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Vazquez went 3-for-4 with two doubles in Sunday's 5-3 loss to the Guardians.
Despite twice putting himself in scoring position, the Twins couldn't bring Vazquez home in any of his three trips on base. The catcher continues to swing a hot bat, going 13-for-31 (.419) over his last 10 contests. Vazquez is slashing .225/.257/.352 with six home runs, 22 RBI, 21 runs scored and three stolen bases over 67 games this year, but he's been much more productive at the plate than fellow backstop Ryan Jeffers in recent weeks, though the two catchers remain in an even timeshare.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Homers in Tuesday's loss
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Vazquez went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in Tuesday's 7-3 loss to the Cubs.
Vazquez's homer was the third and final hit of the game for the Twins. The catcher has been reliable since the All-Star break, going 9-for-28 (.321) with two homers and six RBI over nine contests in that span. He's up to a .213/.242/.333 slash line with six homers, 22 RBI, 19 runs scored and three stolen bases over 223 plate appearances. Regardless of how well he hits, Vazquez appears likely to remain in a 50-50 timeshare with Ryan Jeffers.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Three hits vs. Tigers
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Vazquez went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, two runs, a walk and a stolen base in Friday's 9-3 win over Detroit.
Vazquez produced his first three-hit game since April, and three of the veteran catcher's five home runs this season have come in the month of July. He is still splitting work with Ryan Jeffers behind the plate, but with Jeffers seeing work as the DH as well, Vazquez has started 10 of the last 18 games. The 33-year-old is slashing .280/.321/.507 with four homers over his last 75 at-bats.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Leads club to comeback win
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Vazquez went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and two additional RBI in Sunday's 3-2 win over the Astros.
The Astros established a 2-0 lead in the second inning, but Vazquez got one of those runs back with an RBI single. He added another RBI on a fielder's choice in the fourth before providing a walkoff homer in the ninth to complete the comeback. The catcher has multiple hits in each of his last three games, including two homers in that span. He's slashing .204/.227/.311 with four homers, 16 RBI, 13 runs scored and two stolen bases over 180 plate appearances this season. Vazquez continues to alternate starts at catcher with Ryan Jeffers, who has offered moderately more offense and power this season.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Homers Wednesday
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Vazquez went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in Wednesday's 9-2 loss to the Tigers.
The veteran catcher got the Twins on the board in the third with a long blast to left-center field off Keider Montero for this third home run of the season. Wednesday was Vazquez's first game with an RBI since June 12 and his third game with multiple hits since that date. He's struggled mightily as a whole on the year, slashing .189/.214/.277 with 12 RBI, 11 runs and a 5:37 BB:K in 171 plate appearances.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Three hits in win
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Vazquez went 3-for-4 with one run scored and one steal in Sunday's win over the Angels.
After hitting just .121 (4-for-33) with a home run through his first 11 games, he's hitting .474 (9-for-19) over his last five games. He continues to split playing time behind the plate with Ryan Jeffers, with Jeffers frequently getting starts at DH when Vazquez is behind the dish.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Not starting Saturday
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Vazquez is not in the starting lineup for Saturday's game against the Guardians.
Vazquez and Ryan Jeffers have alternated starts at catcher over the first eight games of the season, and the latter will start Saturday. Vazquez has started the season going 2-for-10 with two RBI.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Starting at catcher Tuesday
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Vazquez is starting at catcher and batting ninth Tuesday in Milwaukee.
He and Ryan Jeffers have split the catching duties in the first four games of the season, with Jeffers drawing an additional start at designated hitter. Vazquez is the far less desirable fantasy option of the two, but the 33-year-old should have a much better season in 2024 than during a 2023 campaign in which he produced a .598 OPS.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Key RBI in first start of season
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Vazquez started at catcher and went 1-for-4 with an RBI in Saturday's win at Kansas City.
Vazquez struggled at the plate last season by hitting just .223 with little power (.095 ISO) and a paltry .280 OBA, so it was good to see him have a good first game of the season with a key RBI late in the game. He also threw out Bobby Witt on a steal attempt late in the game. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said the plan is to roughly split playing time at catcher with Ryan Jeffers as the Twins aim to keep both players fresh.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Not starting again in Game 2
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Vazquez is absent from the lineup Wednesday for Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series versus the Blue Jays.
Vazquez and Ryan Jeffers basically alternated starts at catcher during the regular season, but it's been Jeffers behind the plate for each of the first two games of the postseason. The only tweak the Twins made in their lineup from Game 1 to Game 2 was flip-flopping Jeffers and Matt Wallner in the batting order, with the former moving down to eighth and the latter up to seventh.
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Twins' Christian Vazquez: Reaches three times in win
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Vazquez went 2-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and a stolen base in Wednesday's win over Cincinnati.
Vazquez reached base three times Wednesday and came around to score the Twins' second run in the top of the eighth after leading off the inning with a double. The backstop then stole his first base of the season in the ninth before coming home a second time on a Jorge Polanco single, giving Minnesota a 5-3 lead. Vazquez had failed to record a hit in his previous four games coming in and is still batting just .194 in September following the two-hit performance.
