{"id":872,"date":"2025-04-27T22:32:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T22:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/872\/"},"modified":"2025-04-27T22:32:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T22:32:08","slug":"red-sox-notes-wong-narvaez-yoshida-crawford-anthony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/872\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Notes: Wong, Narvaez, Yoshida, Crawford, Anthony"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connor Wong<\/a> 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.\u00a0 Speaking with MassLive.com\u2019s Christopher Smith (multiple<\/a> links<\/a>) and other reporters today, Red Sox manager Alex Cora<\/a> indicated the team will \u201cplay it day by day and we don\u2019t have to rush\u201d Wong, as the backstop will need more than one rehab appearance anyway.<\/p>\n

Wong seemingly solidified his place as Boston\u2019s first-choice catcher by hitting .280\/.333\/.425 with 13 home runs over 487 plate appearances last season.\u00a0 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\u2019s season.<\/p>\n

Carlos Narvaez<\/a> has taken the bulk of the catching duties in Wong\u2019s 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.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not saying we split up the week but [Narvaez] will play a lot,\u201d Cora said.<\/p>\n

Known as a defensive specialist even during his time in the minors, Narvaez has lived up to that rep over his brief MLB career.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 With the Sox committing to Narvaez and Blake Sabol<\/a> also on the roster as the current backup, Yasmani Grandal<\/a> could trigger the May 1 opt-out clause in his minor league contract<\/a> given the rather crowded path to big-league playing time once Wong is back.<\/p>\n

Cora provided updates on some other injured Sox players, including something of a non-update on Masataka Yoshida<\/a>.\u00a0 The outfielder\/DH began the season on the 10-day IL as he continued his recovery from October shoulder surgery, but though we\u2019re now a month into the 2025 campaign, it doesn\u2019t appear Yoshida is expected back any time in the near future.\u00a0 Yoshida is still \u201cjust taking at-bats down there [at Boston\u2019s Spring Training complex] and his throwing program,\u201d Cora said.<\/p>\n

Yoshida was healthy enough to hit during Spring Training but hasn\u2019t been able to play the field, as he continue to build up his arm strength.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Such a roster move would sideline Yoshida until late May at the earliest, though that might not be an issue given Yoshida\u2019s unsettled timeline.<\/p>\n

Kutter Crawford<\/a> has also yet to play in 2025, but the right-hander continues to make progress in his recovery from right patellar soreness.\u00a0 Cora said that Crawford is set to throw a bullpen session at Boston\u2019s extended spring camp, and Crawford will then advance to throwing a live batting-practice session later this week.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

Star prospect Roman Anthony<\/a> had an injury scare on Friday when the outfielder left a Triple-A game early after fouling a ball off his left foot.\u00a0 X-rays were negative on Anthony\u2019s foot, as Red Sox senior director of player development Brian Abraham said during an appearance<\/a> on the Baseball Isn\u2019t Boring radio show (hat tip to Rob Bradford), so it appears as though a worst-case scenario has been avoided.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 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\u2019s best prospect arrives in Boston.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connor Wong started a Triple-A rehab assignment today, as the catcher appears to be nearing a return from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,789,790,791,792,4,793],"class_list":{"0":"post-872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-carlos-narvaez","10":"tag-connor-wong","11":"tag-kutter-crawford","12":"tag-masataka-yoshida","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-roman-anthony"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114412306064194483","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}