Boston Red Sox
Wong finds himself the low man on the catching totem pole, however his 3-RBI night time might assist his place within the lineup.
Connor Wong has seen his function steadily diminish during the last two seasons. He performed 126 video games every season in 2023 and 2024, batting .280 within the latter yr because the Purple Sox beginning catcher.
In 2025, he appeared to renew that function after Boston traded away prime catching prospect Kyle Teel as the primary return for Garrett Crochet. However the sudden rise of Carlos Narvaez induced him to lose major catching duties. He performed 63 video games and batted .190, the second-lowest common of his profession.
Now, Wong is even decrease on the totem pole, as Mickey Gasper has emerged above each him and Narvaez. Interim supervisor Chad Tracy primarily named Gasper the first catcher on Saturday, noting Boston will “be aggressive” with getting him into the lineup in opposition to right-handed pitchers.
Wong nonetheless received a begin Saturday night, although, and he made essentially the most of it.
He hit what he and the whole Purple Sox dugout assumed to be a house run within the backside of the sixth inning – his first residence run since late-2024. Nevertheless, after a Wally head celebration and an official evaluation, the house run was overturned; the ball struck just below the yellow line on the prime of the Cleveland wall.
However whereas the house run didn’t depend, Wong nonetheless received an RBI out of the double and gave Boston a 2-1 lead. He fired again once more with a pair of RBIs within the prime of the ninth giving the Purple Sox some added insurance coverage, and was introduced in quickly after for one more run. And he was an excellent sport about the truth that Boston needed to take Wally away from him.
“It sucks that now it’s taken away, however we received the win so it’s fantastic,” Wong instructed reporters. “I nonetheless suppose it was a homer. I want I might problem it myself, however it’s what it’s.”
As a reporter identified, that was Wong’s first time donning the Wally head. That celebration was launched initially of 2025, however Wong went that full season with out a homer.
This yr, he owns a serviceable .245 batting common, a far cry from Gasper’s .340 common, however higher than Narvaez’s .210. Wong won’t be capable of achieve again his beginning function, however he can actually make a case to be the secondary catcher behind Gasper primarily based on general output.
So, whereas Saturday night time was an enormous win for the Purple Sox, it was additionally a reasonably substantial victory for Wong individually.
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