It’s June 1 and Red Sox catchers have collectively produced the 8th-highest OPS at that position in all baseball (.748.) That’s good! And considering that the catching position was a major question mark coming into the season, we should be satisfied that there’s nothing to worry about here after all, right?
Well, not so fast. A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece about potential regression candidates in the Red Sox lineup, and both Sox catchers (Connor Wong and Reese McGuire) were on it. Wong made the list because his free-swinging approach portended trouble as pitchers began to develop a book on him, and McGuire made the list because his numbers were simply not supported by what was obviously a poor batted-ball profile.