Overrated: Connor Wong
Even though many of the players involved are still young, it was clear that the Boston Red Sox lost the Mookie Betts trade years ago. While Betts has continued being a top-10 player, Boston’s return has been lackluster. Jeter Downs was a huge disappointment, while Alex Verdugo’s roller coaster career led to a lack of major league offers for him in free agency before signing with the Braves.
As consolation, Connor Wong seems to have become a serviceable primary catcher for the Red Sox. However, his unsustainable good fortunes and poor defense could lead to a complete set of unsatisfactory pieces obtained in the Betts blockbuster.
Wong seemed to take a step up offensively last year, improving from a .235/.288/.385 slash line in 2023 to .280/.333/.425 in 2024 and enjoying a wRC+ leap from 78 to 110. Unfortunately, the success sat on the shoulders of an unsustainable .348 BABIP and a wOBA-xwOBA gap of .042, which was second-largest among players with at least 450 PA. This sort of luck will not be easy to replicate.
Aside from his elevated BABIP, there are no strengths in Wong’s offensive profile. His home run, walk, and strikeout rates are all on the wrong side of league average, with chase, whiff, and hard-hit rates to back them up. The sheer bleakness of his contact quality data is illustrated best by the gloomy run of blues on his Baseball Savant profile.
Then, there’s the defense. Wong was generally middle-of-the-pack in his first full season in 2023, but took a severe step back and was arguably the worst defensive catcher in MLB last season. Most of the negative value comes from framing, so he may be hoping the ABS system is on its way to regular-season games soon. If not, Connor Wong’s future as a big league quality catcher may be in jeopardy.