The Boston Red Sox entered the 2023 season with a bit of a question mark at catcher.
The team elected to trade away long-time backstop Christian Vazquez at the 2022 trade deadline, and rolled with Connor Wong and Reese McGuire for the remainder of the season. Though the results were good, many were of the belief that an upgrade would need to be made if Boston wanted to be competitive throughout the season. An upgrade wasn't made, as the Red Sox signed Jorge Alfaro to a minor-league contract and elected to send him down to Triple-A Worcester despite a solid camp.
The Red Sox have placed their confidence in Wong and McGuire, and it's working out tremendously.
Wong, in particular, has been superb for the Red Sox ever since McGuire suffered an awkward hand injury that propelled his running mate into the No. 1 role on a regular basis, capping off his recent stretch with a 4-for-4 performance from the plate with two solo home runs in the Red Sox's win over the Blue Jays on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.
Since that promotion, Wong has been what manager Alex Cora believes to be one of the better catchers in all of baseball.
"He's been (hitting like) the best catcher in the league," Cora said postgame, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "Defensively, obviously, he's doing what he's doing. It's cool to see all these kids coming in here and getting a chance to play and contributing to this. They're good athletes too, we're more athletic with him in the lineup and we can do a lot of things, so it's fun to watch."
Wong has made drastic strides over the course of his Red Sox career, but his latest surge comes after what he said was some recent work on his hands.
"I've just moved my hands around, trying to find some consistency getting to the ball," Wong said postgame, per NESN's coverage. "I'm just continuing to make adjustments and grind it out."
The added opportunity for Wong has resulted in a consistency that he has yet to know in his big-league career. With that, he is well on his way to turning the title of Boston's top catcher.
Here are some more notes from Red Sox-Blue Jays on Tuesday:
-- Tanner Houck's old habit came back to bite him in this one, as he allowed six runs in a disastrous fifth inning when the Blue Jays turned around their order for the third time. Through six starts, Houck has a 1.00 ERA against batters in the first three innings and an 11.25 ERA in innings four through six, though Tuesday marked the first time Houck had allowed more than three runs in an inning in his career.
-- The Red Sox have come from behind in 12 of their 17 wins, which is the most in MLB according to Raleigh Clark of Red Sox PR.
-- Wong's multi-home run game was the first of his career, though it could have been more. The 26-year-old's second-inning double wasn't a home run at Fenway Park, but would have been in every other stadium in Major League Baseball. It was also hit at 113.6 miles per hour, which is the hardest hit ball of his career according to Clark.
-- Josh Winckowski earned his first save with Kenley Jansen still nursing some back soreness, a fact that led to some unusual nerves.
"I'm really excited," Winckowski admitted postgame, per NESN. "When you get moved down to the pen, that's a goal that pops up on the radar, is getting a save, and getting it just a month into the season is obviously super exciting.
"... Truthfully, all year I've felt calm and what not but I was joking around that today my legs were a little uneasy and I couldn't get them to calm down. It worked out."
-- The Red Sox and Blue Jays will continue their four-game set at Fenway Park on Wednesday night. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. ET following an hour of pregame coverage on NESN.
