ST. LOUIS -- Near the end of the 2014 season, a few weeks after he was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Boston Red Sox, right-hander Joe Kelly came up with a nickname for his new favorite catcher.
"Mini Yadi," Kelly said then. "I call him that."
Three years later, the sentiment still applies to Christian Vazquez, even though the moniker hasn't caught on for general consumption. Even after Tommy John elbow surgery erased Vazquez's 2015 season and slowed his projected maturation into the second coming of Cardinals star Yadier Molina, Vazquez, 26, continues to draw rave reviews from pitchers who adore throwing to him.