Connor Wong has career night at the plate for the Red Sox, hits two home runs
Connor Wong has career night at the plate for the Red Sox, hits two home runs
Red Sox catcher Connor Wong had a memorable game at the plate on Tuesday night. The red-hot Wong hit two homer runs in the Red Sox 7-6 comeback win over the Blue Jays from Fenway Park.
Wong went 4-for-4 that included the ultimate game-winning homer in the eight inning helping Boston to their fourth straight win of the season.
The 26-year-old set a career high with four hits and has now reached base in 13 of 22 plate appearances over his last five games. He is 11-for-18 wit six RBIs and two walks over that span.
The Houston native has three of Boston’s four hardest-hit balls on Tuesday night according to Statcast. Wong’s second inning double was his hardest-hit baseball going 113.6 mph.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora has been impressed with his catcher, pointing out that his timing is the main reason for his success.
“He’s on time and swinging at the right pitches,” Cora said to reporters, including Chris Cotillo of MassLive. “In the last at-bat, he took a fastball up, he didn’t flinch, then got another one and put a good swing on it. He’s got pop. He’s working hard with (hitting coaches Pete Fatse, Luis Ortiz and Ben Rosenthal) to be on time. It’s working.”
During the offseason, the Red Sox did little to improve the catching situation outside of adding Jorge Alfaro to a minor league deal. Despite getting hurt with a hamstring injury in spring training, Wong made his first Opening Day roster.
After a slow start defensively, Wong is slowly becoming one of the game’e best defensive catchers and he is adding a hot bat to his overall body of work.
Heading into Tuesday night’s contest, Wong ranked second in MLB in pop time to 2nd base (1.88 seconds; 1st-Realmuto, 1.82; min. 5 SBA).
Wong also ranked in then 84th percentile for sprint speed this season (28.3 ft/s), 3rd- fastest among qualified catchers (Shane Langeliers, 28.5 and J.T. Realmuto, 28.6).
“We expected to be good behind the plate trusting them,” Cora said. “Obviously, offensively, Reese last year was great in the second (half). When he got here, he got better. And Connor has upside. He’s a good athlete so it’s just a matter of keep working and keep putting yourself in a good position to hit.”
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