By Josh Maurer & Will Flemming

After not hitting a home run since his first at bat in Spring Training, Ryan Lavarnway has gone deep in back-to-back nights, one of wich went to the opposite field. With last night’s game locked at 0–0, if it wasn’t for his ninth inning bomb to left, the PawSox and Chiefs might still be playing.

Prior to yesterday’s game I spoke with Ryan on the PawSox pre-game show about his first home run and how he felt he was progressing defensively.

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Although it’s always fun to talk about the long ball, I was most interested in asking Ryan about his work behind the plate. Thanks to his system-leading 32 home runs last year, no one doubts what he can do with a bat in his hands.

“Catching is something that I take a lot of pride in and that I’ve put a lot of work in to the last couple years,” Ryan told me. “Being known as a complete player is something that I’m striving towards and that I think I’m getting close to people recognizing.”

In 10 games behind the plate, Lavarnway has allowed one passed ball and has thrown out an impressive 4-of-7 base stealers (57%). On Monday night, Syracuse had the tying run at second base with one out in the bottom of the ninth. When Lavarnway had to smother a Junichi Tazawa pitch in the dirt, the runner at second bolted to third. Ryan threw a dart to Will Middlebrooks who tagged the runner out two feet shy of the bag.

I hope you enjoy listening to Lavarnway talk about hitting and catching. Tonight is Game 3 in Syracuse with first pitch scheduled for 6:00. We’ll be on-air with the pre-game show at 5:45.

Talk with you then,

-AG

@aaronmgoldsmith

agoldsmith@pawsox.com