The Boston Red Sox appear to have stumbled into a pretty solid rotation at catcher.
Though stumbled may not be the right word, Boston did acquire both of the catchers on their 26-man roster through high-profile deals; it’s become pretty clear that they’re set up nicely behind the dish. Reese McGuire, despite his struggles throwing out runners, has been a more than serviceable bat and has matched up well against right-handed pitching. Connor Wong, well, he’s just been good at everything.
That was on full display Saturday afternoon.
Wong, who has filled in as the Red Sox’s No. 1 catcher after McGuire went down with a hand injury, put together a complete game for Boston. He not only went 3-for-4 at the plate in a walk-off win over the Cleveland Guardians, but he also threw out a runner from behind the dish and sacrificed himself to allow the game-winning run to advance in extra innings.
It was a performance that (rightfully) drew rave reviews.
“I think Connor, the more he plays the better he’s looking,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “He put some good at-bats (together) and then the bunt, that was a great one, obviously. He’s a good one. He’s a good one. Defensively, obviously, he’s becoming a game changer. He’s throwing people out and calling the game, but offensively, little by little you can see him gaining confidence.”
In the performance, Wong improved his caught-stealing numbers behind the plate to a tremendous 6-for-11. He also bumped his ever-growing batting average up to .222 despite it sitting at below .200 for much of the season. If improvement is what the Red Sox are looking for, they should be awfully happy with what Wong is providing.
