Red Sox To Place Connor Wong On Injured List

The Red Sox will place catcher Connor Wong on the 10-day injured list, skipper Alex Cora told the Boston beat after tonight’s loss to Toronto (via Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic). Wong broke his left pinkie finger on a catcher’s interference in the first inning. Cora said the Sox have not decided the corresponding move yet.

Wong has started seven of the Sox’s 11 games behind the dish. He only has two hits (both singles) and three walks over his first 23 at-bats. Wong had a career-best .280/.333/.425 showing with 13 longballs through 487 plate appearances last year. Boston dealt top catching prospect Kyle Teel as part of the Garrett Crochet trade. They committed to Wong as their starter while acquiring Carlos Narváez from the Yankees to work as the backup.

Narváez is now in line for the most significant playing time of his young career. The 26-year-old has appeared in 11 major league games over the last two seasons. He hit .254/.370/.412 with 11 homers over 96 Triple-A contests last season, though that came with a concerning number of strikeouts. The Red Sox strongly valued his receiving and game-calling acumen when they acquired him.

Blake Sabol, acquired in an offseason deal with the Giants, is the only other catcher on the 40-man roster. Recalling him to serve as Narváez’s backup would be the straightforward move. Sean McAdam of MassLive writes that it’s the expected transaction. The lefty-swinging Sabol is a career .243/.313/.392 hitter with 13 longballs in 382 trips to the plate. While he might have a higher offensive ceiling than Narváez, he doesn’t have as strong a defensive reputation. Sabol was more of a third catcher/corner outfielder for most of his San Francisco tenure. Statcast credits him with a decent arm but subpar blocking and framing grades.