Boston Red Sox

Wong finds himself the low man on the catching totem pole, but his 3-RBI night could help his place in the lineup.

Connor Wong has seen his role steadily diminish over the last two seasons. He played 126 games each season in 2023 and 2024, batting .280 in the latter year as the Red Sox starting catcher.

In 2025, he looked to resume that role after Boston traded away top catching prospect Kyle Teel as the main return for Garrett Crochet. But the sudden rise of Carlos Narvaez caused him to lose primary catching responsibilities. He played 63 games and batted .190, the second-lowest average of his career.

Now, Wong is even lower on the totem pole, as Mickey Gasper has emerged above both him and Narvaez. Interim manager Chad Tracy essentially named Gasper the primary catcher on Saturday, noting Boston will “be aggressive” with getting him into the lineup against right-handed pitchers.

Wong still got a start Saturday evening, though, and he made the most of it.

He hit what he and the entire Red Sox dugout assumed to be a home run in the bottom of the sixth inning – his first home run since late-2024. However, after a Wally head celebration and an official review, the home run was overturned; the ball struck just under the yellow line at the top of the Cleveland wall. 

But while the home run didn’t count, Wong still got an RBI out of the double and gave Boston a 2-1 lead. He fired back again with a pair of RBIs in the top of the ninth giving the Red Sox some added insurance, and was brought in soon after for another run. And he was a good sport about the fact that Boston had to take Wally away from him.

“It sucks that now it’s taken away, but we got the win so it’s fine,” Wong told reporters. “I still think it was a homer. I wish I could challenge it myself, but it is what it is.”

As a reporter pointed out, that was Wong’s first time donning the Wally head. That celebration was introduced at the start of 2025, but Wong went that full season without a homer.

This year, he owns a serviceable .245 batting average, a far cry from Gasper’s .340 average, but better than Narvaez’s .210. Wong might not be able to gain back his starting role, but he can certainly make a case to be the secondary catcher behind Gasper based on overall output.

So, while Saturday night was a big win for the Red Sox, it was also a pretty substantial victory for Wong individually.