Who has Mayor Wu requested a meeting with today?
Welcome back to the Mayor’s Office, our weekly series in which Jake Wallinger sends one naughty member of Red Sox Nation to Mayor Michelle Wu’s office for discipline, public shaming, and penance as we all strive to build a stronger baseball team and city.
This week, it’s one of the worst hitters in all of baseball taking the Green Line up to Government Center.
This one hurts to do. The lone player remaining from that silly little trade in February of 2020, Connor Wong, was a bright spot for the mostly uninspiring 2024 Boston Red Sox. Connor slashed .280/.333/.425 for the club, solid marks for a catcher. On defense, Wong was mostly a mixed bag, with his caught stealing and pop time numbers being above average, but his blocking and framing being well below average.
Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Fast forward to July 2025. While the defense has actually slightly improved, the bat has cratered. Wong currently boasts a triple slash of .149/.235/.149. Yes, you read that correctly. In 98 plate appearances, Connor has mustered up 13 hits. 9 walks, 1 run batted in, and zero extra base hits. He is the only player in baseball (minimum 90 plate appearances) to not have a single XBH.
By wRC+ (Weighted Runs Created Plus), Wong is the fourth-worst hitter in the sport. He leads only Jacob Stallings, Jhonkensy Noel (that one kinda bums me out, his home run in the ALCS last year was sick), and Vinny Capra.
Obviously, the emergence of Carlos Narvaez has made this whole situation much easier to stomach, but it is becoming a bit untenable. A team with a fantastic catcher is going to let that fantastic start roughly 75 percent of the games. Take Will Smith of the Los Angeles Dodgers, for example. He is averaging around 130 games each of the last five seasons. Carlos Narvaez, unlike Will Smith, has already blown by his career high in innings caught in a season. The Red Sox are going to need to be extra careful for the rest of the season with their likely catcher of the rest of the 2020s.
Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images
This brings us to the main reason for our friend Connor’s invitation to City Hall. Time is running out. At the time of this article, the Red Sox are in sole possession of the second American League Wild Card. They have, whether they become reality or not, actual postseason aspirations. A quarter of the at-bats (likely more with the way the organization will want to protect Narvaez down the stretch) from the catcher position simply cannot be going to an individual with an OPS+ of ELEVEN.
A recent report by MassLive’s Chris Cotillo linked the Red Sox to old friend Christian Vazquez. Now, Vazquez wouldn’t really be a meaningful upgrade in any way at all, but the fact remains that the Red Sox do seem to be poking around for a backup catcher. A move that, if made, would likely spell the end of Connor’s time in Boston.
Mr. Wong, Mayor Wu will see you now.
Photo by Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images