CINCINNATI — Connor Wong’s 375-foot solo homer to left-center field in the second inning Friday tied the game 1-1 and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
The catcher went 2-for-4 but the Red Sox lost 5-2 to the Reds at Great American Ball Park.
Wong’s .335 batting average (64-for-191) is the second highest (minimum 190 at-bats) by a Red Sox catcher through 55 games in the past 124 years. Only Carlton Fisk (.349 in 192 at-bats in 1977) has produced a higher batting average through his first 55 games of a season.
The 28-year-old Wong has been by far Boston’s biggest surprise in 2024. He has a .397 on-base percentage, .471 slugging percentage, .868 OPS, six homers, six doubles, one triple, 26 RBIs, 25 runs, 14 walks and 40 strikeouts in 214 plate appearances.
He batted just .235 with a .288 on-base percentage, .385 slugging percentage and .673 OPS in 126 games (403 plate appearances) last year in his first full season in the majors.
“He’s just controlling the strike zone which is night and day compared to last year,” manager Alex Cora said. “Night and day.”
Wong is putting himself in consideration for an All-Star Game selection. He’s 15-for-39 (.385) with a .489 on-base percentage during his current 11-game hitting streak.
“You can’t really control that,” Wong said when asked if he’s thought about the potential of making the AL All-Star team. “You’ve got to go out there and try to win every game and do your best every night.”
But Wong did acknowledge it would be an honor.
“It definitely would be special,” Wong said. “It would be a great honor. There’s a lot of really good players in this league. Yeah, it would be a great honor.”
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His .335 batting average leads major league catchers (minimum 100 plate appearances).
“I don’t really look at the stats,” Wong said. “I just try and go out there and play hard and try to win the game every night.”
Wong said eliminating his toe tap is the biggest factor in his success at the plate this season.
“I think eliminating the toe tap has allowed me to be on time more often,” Wong said. “More simple. And I think just overall swinging at better pitches.”
Wong has cut down significantly on his swing-and-miss. He has an 18.7% strikeout percentage so far this season, down from 33.3% last year.
“It’s been a goal for a long time to make more contact,” Wong said. “I think when you put the ball in play good things can happen at times. But at least you’re giving yourself a chance.”
Wong has helped the Red Sox pitching staff post the fifth best ERA (3.44) in the majors so far.
“That what he wants to do first and the offense is second,” Cora said. “We’ll take this catcher. He’s really good at what he does.”
Wong added, “Coming up with a lot of these guys, I played with them at Triple A and having them early in their careers at the big league level, just being able to grow with them and watch their progress has been a lot of fun.”
Wong called himself “still a work in progress” defensively. He has studied video of Yankees catcher Jose Trevino who is in the 100th percentile in pitching framing.
“Trevino can really catch the ball,” Wong said. “He does a lot of really good things behind the plate. I’ve tried to watch some of his video and see if I can learn a thing or two from him. Obviously I’m still a work in progress behind the plate, trying to make adjustments and different moves that help myself out there.”
Wong said he continues to work to improve his framing, blocking and throwing.
“I don’t think there’s going to be a day in my career when I’m not going to be working on something,” he said. “But first and foremost, framing is really important for these guys, especially this staff with as good of stuff as they have. The more strikes we can create, the better.”
