BOSTON — A year ago, Connor Wong emerged as the Red Sox’ No. 1 catcher. He did so largely based on his defensive ability, including a strong throwing and athleticism that’s highly rare for the position.
But Wong wasn’t satisfied with being a defense-first receiver and went to work on becoming more of an offensive weapon. He spent a good chunk of his winter in Fort Myers and made some adjustments — both mechanically and in terms of approach — that are, a month into the season, paying dividends.
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In the Red Sox’ 6-2 win over the San Francisco Giants Wednesday night at Fenway, Wong continued to wield a hot bat. He banged out three hits (two doubles and a single), scored one run and knocked in another. The 3-for-4 night gave Wong multiple hits in seven of his last 13 games, a stretch that has seen him hit .396 with a .688 slugging percentage and a 1.111 OPS.
His five homers to date rank third on the team.
“He hit the ball hard in Fort Myers (in spring training),” noted Alex Cora. “He worked hard at his craft. He’s swinging more, but whatever he gets in the zone, he’s hitting hard. (The hitting coaches and Wong) have a good game plan going into the games with what they want to do. It’s been fun to watch.”
Perhaps the biggest improvement in Wong’s offensive game has been the reduction of strikeouts. A year ago, Wong fanned in exactly one-third of his plate appearances, an unsustainable rate. This year, going into Wednesday night, he had cut that figure back to 21.2 percent, below the MLB average of 22.8.
“He’s making (swing) decisions early and when he gets a pitch early in the count, he’s not missing (it),” said Cora. “He’s making decisions early, getting pitches in the zone and then doing a good job.”
Wong confirmed that a determination to be more aggressive early in the count has fueled his improvement as a hitter.
“That,” he said, “and putting good swings on the (pitches) that are in the zone. I would have fouled those off at some point last year, then have to battle pitchers’ pitches. But I’m getting good pitches to hit right now and I’m putting good swings on them.”
In addition, Wong has cut back on his swing some, enabling him to be quicker to the ball.
“The path’s better,” he said, “so I’m able to put them forward instead of fouling them off.”
While he’s made great strides at the plate, Wong continues to sparkle behind the plate, too. That was best illustrated Wednesday night in the sixth inning when, with a baserunner on first, Giants third baseman Matt Chapman hit a dribbler that rolled several feet toward third base. Emerging from his crouch, Wong pounced in front of the plate, scampered to pick up the ball and fired a strong throw to first to nab Chapman by a step.
“I thought I was the only one to could make a play, so I went after it,” shrugged Wong, “and tried to make a play. It was a cool play, but I’m confident in myself to make that play, so I think it should be made.”
“He’s a super athletic player, as we saw today,” said Wong’s batterymate, Kutter Crawford. “That might have been the best play I’ve ever seen by a catcher. He looked really good doing it, really smooth.”
“Trevor (Story) is up there as far as (being a top) athlete (on the team),” said Cora. “But Connor is right there with him. If you ask (the training staff), as far as the assessments and the numbers and all that, this guy is a freak. He’s explosive, he’s fast and he made it look easy.”
