Connor Wong started a Triple-A rehab assignment today, as the catcher appears to be nearing a return from the left pinkie finger fracture that sent him to the 10-day injured list back on April 8. Speaking with MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith (multiple links) and other reporters today, Red Sox manager Alex Cora indicated the team will “play it day by day and we don’t have to rush” Wong, as the backstop will need more than one rehab appearance anyway.
Wong seemingly solidified his place as Boston’s first-choice catcher by hitting .280/.333/.425 with 13 home runs over 487 plate appearances last season. He was ice-cold at the plate over his first 26 PA of 2025, so this early injury could serve as something of a fresh start for Wong’s season.
Carlos Narvaez has taken the bulk of the catching duties in Wong’s absence, and he has been impressive enough defensively that Cora said Narvaez will continue to get a good share of playing time even when Wong is back on the field. “I’m not saying we split up the week but [Narvaez] will play a lot,” Cora said.
Known as a defensive specialist even during his time in the minors, Narvaez has lived up to that rep over his brief MLB career. He has hit only .205/.279/.333 in 86 PA (15 with the Yankees in 2024, 71 with the Red Sox this year), but Narvaez has been outstanding in all facets of catcher-related glovework except for his ability to throw out baserunners. With the Sox committing to Narvaez and Blake Sabol also on the roster as the current backup, Yasmani Grandal could trigger the May 1 opt-out clause in his minor league contract given the rather crowded path to big-league playing time once Wong is back.
Cora provided updates on some other injured Sox players, including something of a non-update on Masataka Yoshida. The outfielder/DH began the season on the 10-day IL as he continued his recovery from October shoulder surgery, but though we’re now a month into the 2025 campaign, it doesn’t appear Yoshida is expected back any time in the near future. Yoshida is still “just taking at-bats down there [at Boston’s Spring Training complex] and his throwing program,” Cora said.
Yoshida was healthy enough to hit during Spring Training but hasn’t been able to play the field, as he continues to build up his arm strength. Given the amount of time Yoshida has already missed, it stands to reason that a shift to the 60-day IL might come sooner rather than later. Such a roster move would sideline Yoshida until late May at the earliest, though that might not be an issue given Yoshida’s unsettled timeline.
Kutter Crawford has also yet to play in 2025, but the right-hander continues to make progress in his recovery from right patellar soreness. Cora said that Crawford is set to throw a bullpen session at Boston’s extended spring camp, and Crawford will then advance to throwing a live batting-practice session later this week. While Crawford looks to be on track, he might also be a candidate for a 60-day IL move if the Red Sox need the roster space, as the righty will still need to make multiple rehab starts to make up for all of the time he missed during the spring.
Star prospect Roman Anthony had an injury scare on Friday when the outfielder left a Triple-A game early after fouling a ball off his left foot. X-rays were negative on Anthony’s foot, as Red Sox senior director of player development Brian Abraham said during an appearance on the Baseball Isn’t Boring radio show (hat tip to Rob Bradford), so it appears as though a worst-case scenario has been avoided.
Anthony is day-to-day for now, though all eyes will continue to monitor his status both in the short term and in regards to how any sort of injury might impact his inevitable MLB debut. Between last season and this season, Anthony has a scorching .332/.459/.545 slash line over 266 Triple-A plate appearances, making it only a matter of time before arguably the sport’s best prospect arrives in Boston. Where exactly Anthony would fit into a crowded Red Sox outfield has been a hot topic, though needless to say, Anthony might simply force the issue if his initial big-league production is anything close to his Triple-A work.
Yoshida could play in pre-season but can’t now? This smells more than a bit fishy. Sox don’t know what to do with him and he’s virtually untradable, so they call him “injured”.
Not really all that fishy at all. In ST there were plenty of ABs for him to get PT at DH. Now during the season Devers is the full time DH so there’s no PT there for Yoshida, meaning his shoulder has to be healthy enough for him to play in the OF. It currently isn’t so until it is he can’t really play. Once a player goes on an official rehab outing there’s a time limit to that. Unless the team is confident he’s going to be healthy at the end of that limit they won’t risk starting that clock.
There is simply no longer any place for Yoshida on the roster, especially after Roman Anthony gets called up. It’s turned into an albatross of a contract, and the Sox are going to have to eat a huge part of it if they stand any chance of unloading him on another club this season.
HBan – I totally agree, the Red Sox mishandled the Yoshida situation just as horribly as the Devers situation. Without Yoshida being called up, he cannot rebuild his value for a trade.
If Devers was playing first base instead of Romy, Yoshida could have been DH’ing some.
As for the alleged inability to throw, certainly seems strange he was throwing from 100 feet back in mid-March and now no reports of any progress? I hope the Sox don’t get investigated for IL manipulation.
Honestly, they should have done that a long time ago.
The yoshida situtation is not ideal..but is it any worse than previous bad contracts? Pablo sandoval, hanley ramirez, carl crawford , jason bay..rusney castillo..i could go on. The point is the red sox have a long history through many years of this sort of thing and it always works out why is everyone so bothered by this one when we have all seen this show before? At least for yoshidas part he puts up fair numbers when hes out there unlike many of the others ive mentioned…this really isnt a big deal imo
Pool – Jason Bay? The Red Sox never signed him to a free agent contract or an extension, and he was awesome for the Red Sox …. .915 OPS and 7.2 WAR in his 200 regular season games with the Sox, and a 1.003 OPS in his 14 postseason games with them. It was the Mets that gave him a very regretful contract.
As for me personally, it’s just very frustrating that Yoshida won’t be given the chance to show what he can do over the course of a healthy season. The other guys you mentioned were basically done when they left and never earned much of their contract, but Yoshida could potentially win a batting title in 2026 or 2027 if things break just right. Like Mark said in the chat, Rafaela should be traded but the contract is preventing that. And they won’t send him down before his upcoming bobblehead doll day. The Sox front office probably sees Anthony’s latest injury as a blessing in disguise.
Fpg ..bay was an obvious mistake no need for you to copy and paste his basball ref.lol..i grt it …the rest of what i stated stands regardless of what any of the other players did or didnt do thier contracts are considerd poor just like yoshidas is..and its no big deal..this has happened before..thats my point
Pool – No worries, I was simply pointing out the difference between Yoshida and the others :O)
let – I’d be really interested in hearing what Yoshida has to say, but he’s very polite and mild-mannered so that’s probably why he’s keeping quiet.
At the very least, the Sox are dragging out the injury as long as possible. They want to keep him available as “insurance” in case a player bombs or gets injured, which is understandable from a management perspective but obviously is not fair to Yoshida.
Is there any chance this could snowball into a Rusney Castillo 2.0 situation?
Mlb – Proving a player is injured and physically unable to play their position is a lot harder than proving a player belongs in the minors. So eventually Yoshida’s agent will say “Play him, trade him, or release him”.
And unlike with Rusney, keeping Yoshida in the minors doesn’t help provide any CBT relief.
Red Sox will soon make the WONG move.
They could go out and get Kolten Wong for infield depth, but that’s probably not a great idea. you know the old saying…
Two Wongs don’t make it right.
Canuck – They don’t even make a Frank White! Hahaha!!!
The Wong brothers could never get a plane off the ground.
hayzee – They won today and the series!! Perhaps the best wins of the season!!!
I just might increase my World Series wager on them.
Sabol is of no use, so I was very surprised Boston didn’t call up Grandahl before the Cleveland series. If they don’t call him up for the Toronto series, I have to believe he’ll opt out, since he’s a legit option in a league with few catchers who can hit..
bob – I think the Sox wanted to give Blake one last tryout stretch prior to May 1st, no sense in dumping him any sooner than they need to.
Sabol is more like an outfielder who can catch, but poorly. . He didn’t catch at all his first few years in the minors.
Ghost – You know what’s interesting, when he was an outfielder his arm was rated very poorly at -1.7 ….. and yet they still converted him to catcher??? No wonder teams are running wild on him.
They would have been better off bringing Seby Zavala up to fill in for Wong. He can’t hit at all, but he is at least an actual catcher.
Lineup starting to heat up a bit. Rotation pieces coming back into the fold. Little by Grady little the team is showing signs of Morgan magic. Houck about that, kind of like Valentine’s Day, falling in love with this Pesky team while munching on a Tito’s burrito.
In case anyone didn’t know, “whyhayzee” is Gene Shalit’s account name…
hayzee – Red Sox Nation always knew guys like Duran, Campbell, Story and Abreu would hit. Devers was and still is a question mark because of the transition, but this weekend was definitely encouraging!
There were 4 errors in today’s game, and none of them were committed by the Red Sox …. how about that!
Mayer and Anthony are both pushing for promotions this season. Yoshida gets healthy, thats three players who will be looking for everyday playing time.
Who is going to lose starts when all three are in the lineup? Going to bench Casas and play Bregman at First, Story at second, Mayer at short and return Devers to third? An outfield of Duran, Abreu and Anthony, Yoshida to DH, with Rafaella as your utility guy off the bench?
Casas and Rafaella to the bench would be interesting.
Or Trade Devers and Rafaella to the Yankees for Bellinger and a few prospects. Yankees pitching has been good enough, they would love Devers at third base.
Red Sox would have to eat 27.5M of Bellinger’s deal but could extend Bregman long term having moved Devers long term payables.
There is a less than zero chance that Red Sox would trade Devers and Rafaella to the yankees,
And why would the Red Sox gift Devers to the Yankees for Bellinger?
miller – It’s sure looking like Casas and Abreu will be sitting when they face lefties.
Seems like, barring injuries, a trade is inevitable.
Might be a good idea to trade for a catching prospect currently being blocked. Dalton Rushing in LA would be a good target.
that’s a good suggestion
You’re an idiot.
Yoshida might be the new Rusney Castillo…
Meanwhile Yasmani Grandal has an OPS of over 1.000 so far in AAA. No idea why they haven’t swapped him out for Sabol yet.