Blue Jays: Would Blake Swihart be an upgrade over Luke Maile?

The Boston Red Sox designated catcher Blake Swihart for assignment yesterday, however, would the versatile 27-year old be an upgrade over Luke Maile?

Blake Swihart was selected in the 1st round, 26th overall by the Boston Red Sox in the 2011 amateur draft. The backstop came with a ton of expectations but was never able to live up to the hype in Beantown. Perhaps a change of scenery will resurrect the career of Swihart moving forward.

The rebuilding Blue Jays could be just the type of team willing to take a flier on Swihart especially considering Ben Cherington’s familiarity with the Red Sox organization and their talent. The backstop has 203 games under his belt spread over parts of five MLB seasons and sports a career .231/.310/.385 slash line with nine homers, ten stolen bases and a 0.3 WAR in 626 plate appearances.

The Red Sox have been previously called to task in regards to mismanaging the development of Swihart, however, after stumbling out of the gate this season, Swihart became the scapegoat for an underperforming pitching staff and surely won’t clear waivers without being plucked.

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Swihart also has MLB experience at the corner outfield positions along with first, second and third base. The likes of the Swihart could provide the Blue Jays with some additional positional flexibility in the backup catcher’s role without losing anything offensively.

Luke Maile is not exactly the second coming to Johnny Bench although he is hitting a respectable .250 with a round-tripper in seven games thus far. In 12 games so far this season, Swihart is hitting .231 with two extra-base hits including a home run. Maile would appear to have the advantage in terms of defensive ability behind the dish.

Both players are similar in age and are both under team control until 2023 so those factors cancel themselves out. Time will tell if the Blue Jays attempt to bring Swihart along for the ride or if they remain status quo with Maile.

What are your thoughts, should the Blue Jays make a play for Blake Swihart?