During baseball’s three month coronavirus shutdown, Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez turned to his wife, Gaby, to keep him in playing shape for when the season started.
After spring training was shut down on March 12, Vazquez returned to his home in the Fort Lauderdale area. As Opening Day kept getting pushed back as the pandemic raged on, he relied on Gaby to feed him baseballs on a pitching machine so that he could stay ready defensively.
“I was blocking, catching live (batting practices),” Vazquez said Sunday. “I caught bullpens in my house. I’ve got a machine that I can receive, block and do my work and do my best to get in shape.”
Vazquez also worked out at a field near his house and took batting practice against a pitcher. Throughout the process, Gaby became her husband’s personal coach.
“She’s the best coach,” Vazquez said, smiling. “She’d get mad when I’d drop a ball.”
Once Major League Baseball announced it would play a 60-game season in late June, Vazquez began making plans to come up to Boston for summer training camp. With an eight month old son, Diego, at home, the catcher said he had to weigh the pros and cons of participating in the season before making the trip. Multiple notable major-leaguers (including former Sox pitcher David Price) have opted out of playing due to health and safety concerns.
“We’ve got a baby, newborn,” he said. “Next week is eight months. It’s a tough decision. I brought them with me to Boston because I can’t live without them. We’re safe here with all the doctors here. We are in good hands. We are better here than in Florida.”
Vazquez, who had a breakout 2019 season, is one of six catchers the Red Sox have in summer camp, along with Kevin Plawecki, Jonathan Lucroy, Juan Centeno, Jett Bandy and Connor Wong. In the shortened season, Vazquez is expected to cach the large majority of games with Plawecki and Lucroy likely serving as his primary backups.
“I took a lot of rest in these last three months, so I’m ready to roll,” Vazquez said.
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July 06, 2020 at 05:48PM
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Boston Red Sox’s Christian Vazquez had wife, Gaby, feed pitching machine during coronavirus shutdown: ‘She’d - MassLive.com
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