The Pink Sox could by no means totally stay down the 2020 commerce of Mookie Betts, however 4 years and alter later, Boston’s final man standing from that deal is having fun with a breakout. Catcher Connor Wong simply reeled off a 17-game hitting streak that spanned 4 weeks, and even made a case for a spot on the AL All-Star group, although he fell brief on that entrance.
The 28-year-old Wong started his streak with a single off White Sox right-hander Jake Woodford on June 6, and added one other single off Tim Hill later within the recreation. Regardless of taking a three-day paternity depart from June 24–27, he began 16 of Boston’s subsequent 23 video games, sprinkling in 4 different two-hit video games.
Together with his single off Trevor Rogers final Tuesday, Wong prolonged his streak to 17 video games, the longest by any Pink Sox participant this season and tied for the seventh-longest of any participant this 12 months; Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto is certainly one of three different gamers who additionally had a 17-gamer. The longest hitting streak ever for a catcher is 34 video games, set by the Padres’ Benito Santiago in 1987. The closest any catcher has come to approaching Santiago within the final decade was in 2019, when the Mets’ Wilson Ramos went 23 video games; all the different hitting streaks by catchers of at the least 20 video games occurred in 2003 or earlier.
Wong didn’t make it that far. His streak lastly ended on July 4 in opposition to the Marlins, although to be truthful, he didn’t enter the sport till the tenth inning, when he pinch-hit for Reese McGuire and struck out in opposition to Andrew Nardi. He bought one other likelihood within the eleventh with the Pink Sox having taken a 4-2 lead, however struck out once more, this time versus Calvin Faucher.
Even with an 0-for-11 slide for the reason that streak ended, Wong is hitting .310/.365/.441 (124 wRC+) with seven house runs throughout 252 plate appearances. He’s wanting qualifying for the batting title by 24 PA, however amongst hitters in both league with at the least 240 PA, solely eight have a better batting common. Inside that very same group, Wong’s OBP is nice sufficient for twenty sixth, and amongst gamers whose main place is catcher, his wRC+ is fifth behind the Dodgers’ Will Smith (136), the Brewers’ William Contreras, the Orioles’ Adley Rutschman, and the Twins’ Ryan Jeffers (all with 128). Rutschman was voted the beginning catcher for the AL in subsequent week’s All-Star Sport, whereas Contreras will begin for the NL; each have about 50% extra plate appearances than Wong, to not point out higher defensive numbers (we’ll get to these), however that’s fairly spectacular firm.
It’s additionally miles past something Wong had accomplished earlier than in elements of three seasons on the main league degree, and possibly past something the Dodgers envisioned after they drafted him within the third spherical in 2017 out of the College of Houston. After coming to the Pink Sox together with Alex Verdugo and Jeter Downs in the reconfigured alternate for Betts, David Value, and money in February 2020 — a 12 months that he spent at Boston’s alternate coaching website and on the taxi squad with out taking part in a aggressive recreation — Wong performed six video games within the majors in ’21, after which 27 in ’22, spending the steadiness of these two seasons at Triple-A Worcester. Final 12 months, in his first full season within the majors, he hit .235/.288/.385 (80 wRC+) with 9 homers and eight steals over 403 PA. He entered this 12 months because the proprietor of a profession 77 wRC+ in 473 PA, with a frightening 33.2% strikeout price.
The most important change for the 2024 version of Wong is that he’s minimize his strikeout price to 19.8%; his 13.4-point drop from final 12 months is inside an eyelash of largest within the majors:
Largest Decreases in Strikeout Fee, 2023–24
Minimal 300 plate appearances in 2023 and 150 in ’24.
Wong is making far more contact, and he’s getting a bit fortunate as soon as he does (which I’ll get to). His enchancment owes to adjustments in each mechanics and strategy. As Pink Sox hitting coach Pete Fatse defined to the Boston Globe’s Julian McWilliams final month, “One, there’s an emphasis on being as direct as potential along with his swing path, which has led to extra zone contact… Two, he’s balancing a extra aggressive strategy inside his recreation plan… Being ready to swing from pitch one within the space he’s wanting.”
In comparison with final season, Wong has closed his stance (although recently his entrance foot has been drifting somewhat extra outisde), bent his knees a bit extra, and raised his fingers, along with his bat much less upright at the beginning of his swing. You may see the comparability within the video compilation under; the primary two of those doubles had been hit final 12 months, the second two are from this season, all at Fenway Park, which ought to help as a visible reference level:
At Scout Lady Report, Andrea Arcadipane has a extra detailed visible breakdown highlighting different adjustments, together with Wong’s elimination of a toe faucet and higher weight distribution on his entrance foot.
Whereas Wong’s general swing price has barely budged from final 12 months’s 52.3%, he’s minimize his chase price from 35.2% to 29.5% whereas elevating his in-zone swing price from 68% to 73%. His general swinging strike price has dropped from 15.7% to 13.2%, and his whiff charges in opposition to nearly each pitch kind have dropped; consequently, his efficiency in opposition to every pitch kind has improved. Right here’s the broad-strokes image:
Connor Wong vs. Pitch Varieties, 2023–24
| Season | Sort | % | PA | wOBA | xwOBA | EV | Whiff% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Breaking | 32.7% | 133 | .272 | .246 | 90.1 | 43.8% |
| 2024 | Breaking | 32.9% | 87 | .307 | .256 | 85.5 | 37.3% |
| 2023 | Fastball | 57.1% | 223 | .328 | .308 | 87.1 | 27.1% |
| 2024 | Fastball | 55.3% | 129 | .400 | .352 | 86.0 | 21.3% |
| 2023 | Offspeed | 10.2% | 46 | .174 | .181 | 84.9 | 26.4% |
| 2024 | Offspeed | 11.8% | 32 | .341 | .283 | 83.1 | 18.8% |
SOURCE: Baseball Savant
All statistics via July 6.
Location-wise, right here’s a comparability between 2023 and ’24; Wong’s swinging extra typically at pitches from the center of the strike zone in, and from the center down:
Observe that whereas Wong has minimize his chase price in all 4 quadrants, he hasn’t actually laid off pitches within the higher or outer thirds of the strike zone to a considerably higher diploma than earlier than. Even so, he’s doing a lot much less injury in these areas, and extra within the center, middle-in, middle-down, and down-and-in places:
Going again to the desk above, you will have observed that Wong’s exit velocities are nothing to put in writing house about, and likewise that he’s considerably outperforming his anticipated outcomes. For all of his success, he’s truly not hitting the ball exhausting as typically as final 12 months:
Connor Wong Statcast Anticipated Stats
| Season | BBE | EV | Barrel% | HardHit% | AVG | xBA | SLG | xSLG | wOBA | xwOBA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 241 | 89.1 | 9.1% | 37.8% | .235 | .211 | .385 | .361 | .292 | .274 |
| 2024 | 181 | 86.6 | 4.4% | 34.3% | .310 | .249 | .441 | .375 | .354 | .306 |
Wong’s barrel price is lower than half what it was in 2023, and locations him in simply the seventeenth percentile, along with his common exit velocity (14th percentile) and hard-hit price (twenty third percentile) in comparable territory. It’s not like he’s Luis Arraez both, making up for a middling common exit velocity and/or barrel price with a excessive candy spot share or a excessive price of squared-up swings. Wong’s 27.6% candy spot share locations in simply the sixth percentile, and whereas his 72.1 mph common bat pace is above common, his 23.1% price of squared-up balls per swing is down within the twenty eighth percentile.
In different phrases, Wong isn’t precisely pummeling his strategy to that 124 wRC+. Somewhat, he’s dinking and dunking in hits right here and there, utilizing the entire discipline extra typically than final 12 months; his pull price has dropped from 45.6% to 38.7%. He’s bunted safely 3 times, crushed out 4 infield hits because of his 78th-percentile dash pace, and snuck an entire bunch of balls via the infield. Take a look at the spray chart:
Wong’s 61-point hole between his batting common and xBA is the very best amongst Statcast qualifiers (2.1 PA per group recreation); in the meantime, his 66-point hole between his slugging share and xSLG is twelfth, and his 48-point hole between his wOBA and xWOBA is sixth. All of which is to say that what he’s doing doesn’t seem like all that sustainable, besides, you possibly can see in evaluating his 2023 and ’24 numbers that he’s raised his baseline sufficient to be an above-average hitter for a catcher — and people aren’t precisely rising on timber lately.
As for Wong’s protection, it’s a combined bag, which might not be too shocking on condition that he didn’t begin catching frequently till his sophomore season at Houston, and continued to play a good bit of second and third base whereas within the Dodgers’ group. He’s thrown out 25% of would-be base thieves, a four-point enchancment relative to final 12 months and two factors forward of the league common. By FanGraphs’ methodology, his framing has improved from -9.6 runs in 944 innings to -1.1 runs in 471 innings; by Statcast, he’s gone from -5 runs to -3 runs, which truly prorates as a decline on a per-inning foundation. Statcast can be down on his pitch-blocking (-2 runs in each seasons), along with his eight blocks under common within the “straightforward” class this 12 months protruding like a sore thumb. His -6 FRV by way of Statcast is the majors’ second-lowest mark amongst catchers, forward of solely the Padres’ Luis Campusano (-9) and tied with the Astros’ Yainer Diaz. By comparability, McGuire grades out as common by our framing numbers and one run above per Statcast, with 1 FRV general in 327 innings. Nevertheless, McGuire has hit for only a 64 wRC+, and when it comes to WAR, Wong has a 1.6 to 0.1 edge.
The Pink Sox are hardly upset in Wong’s protection. Catching coach Jason Varitek not too long ago praised Wong’s protection to the Globe’s Peter Abraham:
“On the catching finish, he’s not younger in age however he’s younger in reps… He has an inherent ability about him that makes him particular. You hope that in everyone’s profession, yearly you get higher. It’s been a pleasure to look at and be part of.”
…Varitek doesn’t suppose [the framing statistics are] totally correct, mentioning the various variables that have an effect on framing. The Sox really feel Wong’s framing has been higher than the statistics point out.
“He’s enhancing his consistency and being able to self-adjust throughout a recreation,” Varitek stated. “These are good factors. We proceed to work on these issues as a result of he needs to be nice at all the things.”
Varitek additionally identified that shorter catchers — Wong is generously listed at 6 ft 1 inch — are likely to have decrease grades.
I’m undecided if that final assertion is true, however regardless, I do suppose Wong deserves to share within the credit score for a group that ranks seventh within the majors in ERA (3.62) and fifth in FIP (3.71). The rotation and bullpen each projected to rank twentieth in WAR of their respective classes in our preseason Positional Energy Rankings however as a substitute are eighth and third within the majors, respectively.
As for the AL All-Star group, Wong misplaced out to Salvador Perez for the backup spot behind Rutschman, with super-duper utilityman David Fry — what else are you able to name a man who catches and performs the 4 corners as nicely? — chosen as nicely, although he was listed on the ballots as a DH. It’s potential Wong may be part of the group as an harm substitute, although that in all probability relies upon upon a type of three gamers needing to forgo the sport.
Past that, Wong’s present success isn’t prone to salvage the Betts commerce, however with 1.6 WAR thus far, he’s bought an excellent likelihood of delivering the very best season of any participant the Pink Sox obtained in return, with Verdugo’s 1.9 WAR from 2021 a slightly unimposing whole to beat. In contrast to Verdugo, who was largely a disappointment in Boston (and has tailed off considerably after a promising begin in New York), Wong has panned out higher than anticipated, and he’s nonetheless bought loads to present to the Pink Sox.
