has Realmuto won a GG? Then that is the whole "up the middle."
As for Swihart, i remember an argument Elvir and I had about whether trading Harper with 1 year left for Benintendi and Swihart would work. Benintendi at least was the #1 trated prospect in MLB I think and ended up pretty valuable on a WS winner. As for Swihart, many Sox fans feel the team was guilty of severe malpractice with him. They had Cristian Vasquez and Sandy Leon, and were unwilling to dump Leon because he had one weird offensively adequate year and all the pitchers loved throwing to him. The Sox liked Swihart so much they tried to make him a multi-position guy, playing him in LF and I think 3d and maybe even elsewhere. While learning left in Fenway, he had a severe leg injury. He never really made it back as a super-utility, could not get enough PAs in the majors to develop as a hitter, and basically became useless space on the 40 man. I forget if he was traded to AZ at one point or whether they just got him on waivers, but he never was able to crack their line up.
To see Lester throwing to Swihart would just cause all of the Sox fans to like . . . Where's the Randy Marsh picture?
If Swihart can learn to catch, he can be useful. But that was always the deal with him.
