Connor Wong is making a significant impact in Boston.
The Red Sox may never fully recover from the 2020 trade of Mookie Betts, but four years later, Boston’s last remaining player from that trade is having a breakout season. Catcher Connor Wong recently completed a 17-game hitting streak over four weeks and nearly earned a spot on the AL All-Star team, though he fell short.
Wong, 28, began his streak on June 6 with a single off White Sox right-hander Jake Woodford and added another single off Tim Hill later in the game. Despite taking a three-day paternity leave from June 24-27, he started 16 of Boston’s next 23 games, including four two-hit games.
Last Tuesday, Wong extended his streak to 17 games with a single off Trevor Rogers, the longest by any Red Sox player this season and tied for the seventh-longest by any player this year; Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto also had a 17-game streak. The longest hitting streak ever for a catcher is 34 games, set by the Padres’ Benito Santiago in 1987. The closest any catcher has come to that in the last decade was in 2019 when the Mets’ Wilson Ramos had a 23-game streak; other 20-game streaks by catchers happened in 2003 or earlier.
Wong’s streak ended on July 4 against the Marlins when he entered the game in the 10th inning, pinch-hitting for Reese McGuire and striking out against Andrew Nardi. He got another chance in the 11th with the Red Sox leading 4-2 but struck out again, this time against Calvin Faucher.
