Anyone who has watched the Boston Red Sox this year hardly needs the reminder, but Willson Contreras is doing special things in his first year with the team. A .281/.390/.526 slash line is impressive enough, but he's also pacing the Sox in homer runs (26), RBIs (78), and wRC+ (156). Were it not for Ceddanne Rafaela's brilliant defense, he'd also be atop the fWAR (4.1) leaderboards.
Considering he's playing through injuries and on the receiving end of some questionable criticism from the fans (though he's invited plenty of it unto himself), it's almost magical that a 34-year-old converted catcher is having a career season like this in Boston. More accurately, it might be time that we call this performance "historic."
Contreras is sitting on a 157 OPS+ at present (i.e., his OPS is 57% better than the league average this year, adjusting for ballpark factors), but he touched 161 this year. That's the fourth-best mark ever for a primary first baseman in franchise history, joining the likes of Jimmie Foxx and Carly Yastrzemski. Not bad company to be in, huh?
Willson Contreras currently has a 161 OPS+ this season.
— nugget chef (@jayhaykid) August 19, 2026
That would be the best single-season mark by a Red Sox 1B since Carl Yastrzemski in 1970 (177). pic.twitter.com/cnKFtlOSbw
Willson Contreras is having an epic season with Red Sox by both modern and historic standards
To be clear, to qualify for that leaderboard, a player must have played at least half of the team's games at first base that season, which is why you won't see a name like David Ortiz on the list. But even then, Big Papi only surpassed a 160 OPS+ four times in his legendary career, and twice his mark landed between 160-165. It's weird to consider Contreras' 2026 season being in line with that of 2006 Ortiz, but that's what 20 years of advancements in pitching (and a universal ban on steroids) will do to league averages.
Semantics aside, what's important here is that Contreras is having an elite season for a first baseman. Even among his 2026 contemporaries, he leads in fWAR, wRC+, and OPS. And though he falls a little short in certain counting stats like homers, the names above him (i.e., Matt Olson, Bryce Harper, Pete Alonso, etc.) are a who's who of the best sluggers in the modern day.
Combined with solid, if unspectacular, defense at the cold corner, it's hard to imagine how his maiden campaign in Boston could be going any better. With Alex Bregman departing for Chicago in the offseason and Roman Anthony missing much of the year due to injury, Contreras has stepped up and immediately filled the vacant middle-of-the-order role that Ortiz, Foxx, and Yaz once did before him.
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