Jorge Alfaro, Connor Wong & the Red Sox Catching Depth Issue
Where can the Red Sox find help at a position they've struggled to produce viable MLB talent?
On Thursday, Jorge Alfaro unsurprisingly opted out of his minor league contract with the Boston Red Sox in search of a new opportunity. The 30-year-old Jason Mamoa look-alike was mashing Triple-A pitching to a .320/.367/.520 and had caught 27 games for Worcester.
The Red Sox officially granted Alfaro his release on Saturday per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com.
Alfaro’s receiving and defensive aptitude behind the plate was constantly in question since his arrival in spring training. Alfaro himself is not a huge loss for the Red Sox from a catching standpoint.
But his departure highlights a significant, long-term area of need for the franchise: catching depth. Since Jason Varitek retired following the 2011 season, the Red Sox have only developed one viable long-term starting catcher in Christian Vazquez. This has been an area the Red Sox have long lacked the ability to develop impact talent.
The Importance of Connor Wong, and the Lack of Depth Behind Him
There have been some positives in the catching area this season. The emergence of Connor Wong as an everyday caliber catcher in 2023 has been one of the most welcome occurrences of a Red Sox season that has certainly seen its ups and downs.
Coming into play Saturday, Wong is in the 85th percentile of all MLB catchers in Pop Time. He’s also 79th percentile in Sprint Speed and 75th percentile in Average Exit Velocity. A new Baseball Savant category this year called Catcher’s Caught Stealing Above Average finds Wong 4th among all catchers. In the American League, Wong is tied for 3rd in caught stealing, and 4th among all players in defensive bWAR.
Wong has a 106 OPS+ and 106 wRC+ on the year, both above MLB average. Those are numbers you absolutely take from a catcher who provides so much value defensively—more than a few MLB teams have succeeded through the years with a starting catcher who handles a pitching staff, is sound defensively and provides league average offense. He still has framing and blocking to work on, but the leap forward Wong has made overall in his game this year has been exciting.
Wong is already 27 but is under team control for another five seasons, and his improvements have provided at least a degree of clarity about the future MLB catching situation for the Red Sox. But beyond Wong, things are less clear.
Reese McGuire has lost his primary catcher status. He only has an 85 OPS+ in 2023 and strikeout rate has ballooned from 20.4% in 2022 to 30.7% in 2023. In an era where controlling the running game is incredibly important, McGuire has only 1 CS on the year in 22 tries. He has three years of team control left, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Red Sox move on from him before those years are up.
Wong and McGuire are the only catchers on the Red Sox 40-man roster. With Alfaro now gone, the next man up in Worcester is likely Caleb Hamilton. He has 22 games of MLB experience, all coming in 2022 with Minnesota. He’s caught 22 games for the WooSox coming into Saturday but is hitting a paltry .177/.253/.294. Ronaldo Hernandez—who was the key acquisition in the deal that sent Jeffrey Springs to Tampa—lost his 40-man spot over the winter and has only caught 7 games this year in Worcester so far.
Expect the Red Sox to explore the free agent market for AAA catching depth in the short term, or they could acquire a player from another farm system for cash like they did with Pablo Reyes. WooSox pitchers have a 5.61 ERA on the season through Thursday—it’s a team that could use veteran catching help for the pitching staff.
Who are the Red Sox Top Catching Prospects?
Beyond Worcester, the Red Sox do not have a standout catching prospect. As much as the entire system has improved through the last few years, catching remains an area of concern in the minor league system.
The Red Sox top-ranked catching prospect according to SoxProspects.com is Nathan Hickey, currently 15th in their Top 60. Hickey recently earned a promotion to Double-A Portland thanks mostly to his bat. Through Friday Hickey has a .933 OPS and 7 HRs in 32 games between Portland and Hi-A Greenville in 2023.
There’s little doubt Hickey can hit. Whether he can catch well enough to stay behind the plate is a different story, with long-term questions continuing about his receiving and ability to control the running game. The Sox have not given up on him at catcher, but the clock is ticking for him to figure it out back there.
The next catcher on the SoxProspects Top 60 is Johanfran Garcia at 32nd. If you’ve never heard of him, you can be forgiven. Garcia has not played professionally in the US, appearing in 40 games in 2022 in the Dominican Summer League. He’s just 18 and seems ticketed to play in the Florida Complex League when their season kicks off next week.
Ian Cundall of SoxProspects appeared on the Pesky Report last month and said Garcia can “hit the ball really hard” to go with a good swing and throwing arm. But Cundall also noted Garcia’s young age, and that it’s very difficult now to project out what kind of catcher he can be.
Ranked right behind Garcia is Brooks Brannon at 33rd. Brannon was drafted in the 8th round in 2022 out of high school in North Carolina, and the Red Sox gave him an overslot bonus to keep him from going to UNC.
Similar to Hickey, Brannon can hit and has big power potential but his catching skills are questionable. When other 2022 draftees such as Roman Anthony and Cutter Coffey went to Salem to start the year, Brannon was kept in extended spring training, presumably to work on his catching. He seems likely to also start the year in FCL.
Stephen Scott, Hickey’s Portland teammate, checks in at 35th on the SoxProspects Top 60. Scott gets on base at a decent clip, but only truly became a full-time catcher in 2022. He’s also already 26 and is still in Double-A.
The only other player listed at catcher in the SoxProspects Top 60 is Johnfrank Salazar, who has not caught professionally, is being converted to the position, and has not appeared in a game in 2023 after playing 50 between FCL and Salem in 2022.
So, of the Red Sox Top 60 prospects, only five are catchers, and they all either have significant flaws or are far away from contributing.
What Could Be Next for Red Sox Catching?
Maybe one of those very young catchers develops into a real talent. Or, perhaps the Red Sox look to the upcoming MLB draft as an opportunity to find more catching depth.
Two catchers stand out as possible options for their 14th overall pick in the July draft. One is Kyle Teel from the University of Virginia, a power-hitting lefty swinger with premiere receiving skills. However, the early consensus is he will be off the board by the time the Red Sox make their pick.
Another is Blake Mitchell, a Texas high school catcher who also hits lefty, is considered a strong athlete with real power and should stick behind the plate. In his latest mock draft for MLB Pipeline, Jim Callis has the Red Sox selecting Mitchell at 14. Taking high school catchers so early is considered fairly risky, and may not be the route the Red Sox choose to go.
Despite the emergence of Wong, catching remains an area the Red Sox could use some help, and it’ll be interesting to see how they work to develop that talent.
If you’re interested in more on the Red Sox minor league system, I’m joined each week on The Pesky Report by Derrik Maguire and Hunter Noll to talk all things Red Sox prospects. Listen and subscribe to The Pesky Report here.
Follow Jake on Twitter @JakeTODonnell.
For additional Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots, MLB and NFL content follow Beyond the Monster on Twitter @BeyondtheMnstr.
Join our new Facebook group for all of our latest content, click the link here.
Terrible article. The catching duo are highly rated. Veritek likes them, and with McGuire as backup hitting .291 I don’t get your dislike of him as a player. Wong is very good, no doubt. And he has some pop, no doubt. The steals at the beginning of the year were on the pitchers and McGuire suffered in his caught stealing percentage. Before the rule change he was highly rated. As far as speed, yes Wong is faster. Once on first McGuire is a smart base runner. Wong has made some base running mistakes. So perhaps you were looking to write an article to get fans against McGuire. Me, I am looking at a good team player and someone who plays with some passion.