Ballou on Baseball: Wednesday, May 8

Even with all the algorithms, success and failure can sneak up on you in baseball.

Two of the WooSox’ biggest graduate success stories to date are Connor Wong and Wilyer Abreu. Neither arrived in the major leagues unnoticed, but neither arrived with all the aplomb that highly regarded prospects debut with in an internet world where no home run, walk, RBI or strikeout goes unnoticed.

Both Wong and Abreu were relative strangers when they arrived in Worcester. Wong came from the Dodgers in the Mookie Betts trade and while there was never any replacing Betts, getting a potential All-Star catcher as part of the return can ease some of that pain.

Boston got Abreu from Houston along with Enmanuel Valdez in exchange for Christian Vazquez in 2022 and so far the Sox have the edge in that deal. In both cases, the guys who wound up in Worcester had more of a theoretical appeal than an in-person one.

So maybe their big-league success should not be as surprising as it seems. Baseball, though, is the ultimate surprise sport and more often than not the surprises are unpleasant.

Not this time. No so far.

WooSox manager Chad Tracy had a close-up view of the duo’s development and is not surprised.

“With Wong,” he said, “this is not just a light hitting backup catcher. When he’s going right, he can help carry your offense and it’s cool watching, in Wongers’s case, him just continuing to get better. In Wilyer’s case, he just jumped onto the scene and has been pretty good from Jump Street.”

Both showed flashes of brilliance in Worcester but that does not always translate to the majors. In his first 16 games in 2022, Wong was batting a mere .167 then took off on a 22 for 54 outburst. In his final 16 games in August, he was one of the best players in Triple-A going 25 for 68 (.368) with 22 RBIs and 9 home runs.

“Here’s a guy that’s up there for part of his third year,” Tracy said. “He wasn’t that way last year. He’s growing. He’s learning. He’s had some good coaching. He’s able to adapt. You have to learn and he’s learning.”

Abreu hit only .247 in Double-A in 2022, arriving in Portland from Corpus Christi after the trade. Last season he hit .274 with 22 homers here, then .316 for Boston late in the season. Talk about upward mobility.

“Rest assured there will be a (slump),” Tracy said, “but he’s just really good. He made that known to everybody here last year. This guy’s a special player, and he showed that in September last year. Some of the comments that were out there, like ‘What about his defense?’

“Give that a moment, please, because he was one of our best defensive players, if not our best defensive player minus (Ced**d**anne) Rafaela. He can flat-out play the outfield.”

This is the fourth year of the Worcester-Boston connection and there have been a lot of firsts. It should not be long until another arrives — the first WooSox graduate to be a Major League All-Star. It could be Wong or Abreu. It could be Jarren Duran or Brayan Bello.

Or even none of the above. Even with all the algorithms there are still surprises out there.

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TRIPLE-A TRIVIA

1. Who is the only player to have played in Worcester all four seasons the WooSox have been in existence?

2. Which batter holds the WooSox’ record for most extra base hits in a season?

Answers below.

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Nick Pivetta’s appearance at Polar Park last week adds to the list of successful big league starters who have worn WooSox uniforms. He joins the likes of Derek Holland, Michael Wacha, Nathan Eovaldi, Corey Kluber, Martin Perez and Chris Sale in that group.

Combined, they are 639-516 in the majors and have pitched 10,056 innings. Sale, Eovaldi and Wacha have been All-Stars. Eovaldi and Sale have both received Cy Young Award and Most Valuable Player votes.

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Happy Birthday to Cam Booser, who turned 32 Saturday. It’s not too much of a reach to figure it was his happiest birthday to date. … There is more than baseball in the air when listeners tune into WooSox games and hear their erudite crew of announcers. Just last week, for example, Jay Burnham used the underappreciated word “dastardly” to describe a play. Here we see the value of a Mohawk Trail Regional diploma. … Brendan Cellucci makes it three WooSox with the same last name as a Massachusetts governor. Hudson’s Paul Cellucci held the office from 1997 to 2001. Jaylin Davis’ counterpart was John Davis (1834-35) and Greg Allen matches up with Frank Allen (1929-31). … Robert Kwiatkowski is the first WooSox reliever ever to get wins in his first two appearances. Two starters have won their first three — Brayan Bello and Kyle Barraclough. … Team defense is greatly improved in Boston; even more so in Worcester where the WooSox are arguably the best defensive team in the International League. They have allowed a league-low four unearned runs, one on a ghost runner. That is six better than second-place Nashville in that category. Worcester’s catching has been phenomenal. Through 32 games that group — Mark Kolozsvary, Nathan Hickey, Tyler Heineman and Elih Marrero — has not been charged with a passed ball. After 32 games last year WooSox catchers had 12 passed balls. … Corey Rosier is working on a six-game hitting streak during which he is 10 for 22. His average has gone from .080 to .194 in that time. Even more impressive in this era of versatility is that Rosier has started 23 straight games in the same position, left field. … Minor League seasons don’t last quite as long as Major League ones, but 162 games remains a magic number. That is exactly how many Bobby Dalbec has played for the WooSox and PawSox combined. His totals include 47 homers, 105 RBIs, a .264 batting average, a .904 OPS, 156 hits and 106 runs. … Worcester pitchers have surrendered 28 home runs, but just three in the last 13 games after giving up 25 in the first 19. … Lucas Luetge has allowed only one earned run in his last 10 innings to reduce his ERA from 33.75 to 4.76. … With the addition of Sal Romano to the roster the WooSox now have had three native New Englanders play for them. Romano and Matt Barnes are from Connecticut. Thomas Pannone is from Rhode Island.

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CATCHING UP WITH…

Catcher Deivy Grullon, who played only occasionally for the WooSox in 2022 but holds the team record for the latest home run ever hit, is with Lake Country (Wisconsin) in the Independent American Association. Grullon blasted an 11th inning walkoff homer to be Syracuse on Sept. 24, a club record that still stands.

Former big leaguer Delino DeShields Jr. is with Charleston of the Independent Atlantic League. DeShields hit .210 in 18 games for Worcester in 2021. He is batting .100 in five games for the Dirty Birds, based in West Virginia. One of DeShields’ teammates there is ex-Boston Red Sox catcher Blake Swihart.

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TRIVIA ANSWERS

1. Pitcher Zack Kelly has appeared in 58 games in parts of four seasons for the WooSox since they opened for business in 2021. Most of them, 44, came during the 2002 season. He made six appearances for Worcester this season before being promoted to Boston and did not allow an earned run in nine innings.

2. Bobby Dalbec had 50 extra base hits last season. They included 14 doubles, 3 triples and 33 home runs to go along with 61 singles.

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UPCOMING

The WooSox are scheduled for six games in Buffalo where they have played pretty well through the years. Worcester is 17-12 at Sahlen Field and 45-31 versus the Bisons overall.

Buffalo is in second place in the IL East with a record of 18-14. Worcester is fifth at 16-16 even though the WooSox have outscored the opposition by 23 runs and Buffalo has outscored its foes by 22.

The Bisons are 5-5 in their last 10 games, Worcester 7-3 in its last 10. Spencer Horwitz has paced Buffalo offensively and is among the league leaders in several categories. Joey Votto, the 40-year-old slugger, is on the Buffalo roster but has yet to play in a game this season as he recovers from an ankle injury.