The Boston Red Sox and their fans had high expectations for Connor Wong after his breakout season at the plate in 2024. The backstop slashed .280/.333/.425 over 126 games last year and gave the Red Sox enough confidence to trade their top catching prospect, Kyle Teel, to the White Sox for Garrett Crochet.
But not only has Wong struggled to produce offensively in 2025, an early injury allowed backup catcher Carlos Narváez to get a lot of reps in his absence. So far, the former Yankees prospect has delivered.
Boston traded for Narváez this winter when he had just six games of big league experience in his career. He's slashing .271/.328/.439 with six doubles and four homers over 31 games for the Sox, which is worlds better than Wong's .146/.239/.146 slash line in half as many appearances.
Narváez also has a leg up defensively, and it showed in the Red Sox's May 14 extra-innings loss to the Tigers. Wong subbed in the ninth inning of a 6-6 deadlock as Boston prepared for a second-straight night of extra innings. But Aroldis Chapman walked Andy Ibañez to start the inning on a sour note, and it only worsened from there.
Carlos Narváez should unseat Connor Wong as Red Sox's catcher No. 1
Wong attempted to catch Ibañez stealing second base, but air-mailed the throw into the outfield. Ibañez reached third base with nobody out after Wong's error, a situation from which Aroldis Chapman could not escape. With Ibañez on third base, the usually stoic Wong looked like he knew he may have thrown his regular playing time away.
He may have done it at the worst possible time. Narváez is on a tear at the plate, slashing .346/.393/.558 with three homers in his last 15 games. He ranks in the 81st percentile with three blocks above average and in the 89th percentile in both caught stealing above average and framing. Narváez also owns an MLB-best six defensive runs saved among catchers.
Overthrows are a silly mistake every player can make, but Sox fans can't help but wonder if the Red Sox would've won their May 14 tilt with the Tigers if Alex Cora kept Narváez on defense (probably not, since the Tigers already outplayed them twice). But Wong's struggles have made it hard for Boston to justify playing him over Narváez,