Last year when injuries ravaged the Red Sox midseason, the young up-and-comers entrusted to pick up the slack weren’t ready for prime time.
This year the club’s so-called sophomores aren’t just keeping the Red Sox afloat, they’re powering the team to unexpected early success.
Despite playing the toughest schedule in baseball through April while suffering several significant injuries, the Red Sox came into Wednesday in playoff position thanks in large part to their cohort of second and third-year players. Outfielder Jarren Duran, catcher Connor Wong and right-hander Josh Winckowski all rank top five on the team in wins above replacement, and righty Kutter Crawford isn’t far behind either.
Wong, who made a brief cameo in 2021 before earning his first extended MLB opportunity last September, is enjoying the best week of his baseball life. Over his last three games entering Wednesday, the 26-year-old catcher was nine for his last 12 (.750) with three home runs, a double, four runs scored, four RBI, a stolen base and a preposterous 2.333 OPS.
He’s also been excellent defensively behind the plate, helping push his WAR to an impressive 1.3 mark. That’s good for second on the team and second in MLB among all catchers behind only Atlanta’s Sean Murphy.
Wong has been so good that Red Sox manager Alex Cora decided to keep him in the lineup on Wednesday against Toronto ace righty Alek Manoah, a matchup that ordinarily would have made lefty Reese McGuire the obvious choice.
“Today was simple,” Cora said, colorfully suggesting that he’d be stupid not to start Wong and that they can start McGuire against Jays starter Kevin Gausman on Thursday. “Let’s see what happens today. Man, the way he swung the bat yesterday, the way he swung the bat the last 10 or 11 at bats, hopefully he can continue doing that.”
Like Wong, Duran also made his MLB debut in 2021 and initially arrived to great fanfare. Unlike Wong, Duran was considered one of the club’s top prospects at the time, but after two failed big league stints his stock fell significantly.
Talent was never the issue for the speedy outfielder, however, and now he’s finally living up to his immense promise.
Duran came into Wednesday batting .396 and has been ripping doubles all over the field ever since he was called up a little over two weeks ago. So far 11 of his 21 total hits have gone for extra bases and he’s also been markedly better defensively, an area of his game he famously and publicly struggled with a year ago.
The result? Duran now ranks ninth in the AL with 1.0 WAR, ahead of superstars like Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez and Houston’s Yordan Alvarez.
On the pitching side, Winckowski has taken significant strides after a so-so rookie year and lately has emerged as one of Boston’s best late-inning relievers.
With Kenley Jansen battling a sore back this past week, Winckowski is the one Cora has entrusted to get the biggest outs, earning his first career save on Tuesday night after pitching two innings to close out Monday’s win as well.
As for Crawford, he’s been one of Boston’s best all-around arms. Since a rough first outing in which he allowed seven runs over four innings to Pittsburgh, Crawford has been almost unhittable, posting a 1.33 ERA with 18 strikeouts and no walks over his last 20.1 innings.
Given the struggles of some of Boston’s regular starters, a case could be made that Crawford deserves a spot in the rotation.
What’s notable is that outside of Duran these guys weren’t necessarily ever Boston’s biggest blue chip prospects, and Triston Casas and Brayan Bello, the two players expected to emerge as franchise cornerstones, so far haven’t made an impact this season.
But as we’ve seen from this latest group, if you’re willing to be patient and put young players in position to succeed, sooner or later your patience could be rewarded.
The Red Sox got good news on Garrett Whitlock’s elbow Tuesday and now the right-hander has been cleared to resume throwing, Cora said prior to Wednesday’s game.
Whitlock, who was placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow ulnar neuritis last week, is eligible to be activated as soon as May 10. While the club is optimistic about his situation, Cora declined to set a timetable on his return, saying they’ll see how he progresses in the coming days.
Jansen, who has been dealing with back soreness the past couple of days, is also feeling better and threw a bullpen on Wednesday. Cora said he’ll be available to pitch Thursday’s series finale against Toronto.
Cora said Joely Rodriguez’s outing in Fort Myers went well and he’ll begin a rehab assignment in either Worcester or Portland “in the upcoming days.” … Righty Zack Kelly underwent successful elbow surgery and may be able to return by September. He’ll report to Fort Myers at some point soon to begin his rehab work. … Shortstop Adalberto Mondesi is scheduled to fly to Boston in the next couple of days to get his knee evaluated. … Righty Tanner Houck will start Sunday’s game in Philadelphia. Cora declined to comment on his whether he’ll remain in the starting rotation or move to the bullpen beyond that.