Mandatory Photo Credit: Wong: Luke Hales / Getty Images ; Mandatory Photo Credit: Slaten: Adam Hunger / Getty Images ; Mandatory Photo Credit: Casas Winslow Townson / Getty Images
Whether the Red Sox front office decides to add more to the roster or ride with what they currently have remains to be seen. However, with the current makeup of the roster there are going to be players that will play important roles on the club’s success.
Of course the stars will play a factor. Jarren Duran and Rafael Devers will need to be the forces at the plate with the rest falling in line. The new look ace of the rotation in Garrett Crochet will need to deliver after the haul they gave up for his services. These are the expected, but for this exercise let’s take a deeper dive.
Here are three players that will be the most important to the Boston Red Sox success in 2025.
Justin Slaten
Future Hall of Fame closer Kenley Jansen is gone. Chris Martin went back home and is now a Ranger. The back of the bullpen looks wildly different. The front office added Aroldis Chapman and his big fastball. Garrett Whitlock’s return from TJ surgery gives the Red Sox a new dimension to the bullpen. The biggest addition will be Liam Hendriks. This is a pitcher who has been a closer and has done a phenomenal job at it in the past. But, Hendriks hasn’t pitched in roughly 2 years and is coming off a TJ surgery as well.
As much as the Red Sox would maybe like Hendriks closing games out, placing those expectations on him immediately doesn’t seem wise. That leaves Justin Slaten as the most important reliever in the Red Sox bullpen.
Slaten finished his rookie season with a 2.93 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. He did a tremendous job with his command and only had a walk percentage of 4%, when the MLB reliever average is around 7.5%. He was able to have a nice strikeout percentage, which is a key characteristic as a closer. Slaten checks off all of the boxes as he gets hitters to chase, doesn’t give up hard contact, and has elite velocity. He’s the perfect specimen for the closing role and his Baseball Savant page backs it up.
The Red Sox do have options for the closer role, but Slaten showed much promise in 2024. Slaten being able to take pressure off Hendriks and to lessen Hendriks’ workload will be important. Alex Cora can also use Chapman to get the big lefties out in big spots. I wouldn’t be surprised if Slaten is the closer by the end of the season.
Triston Casas
This is the year where the Triston Casas haters get silenced for good. He’s had his name in trade talks and if the Mariners were sensible they would’ve taken the proposed offer. Fortunately for the Red Sox, Casas is staying put and credit to him as he has handled the situation like a professional. That being said, this year is super important for Casas’ career and he is very important to the Red Sox lineup.
Tyler O’Neill is gone and so is his 31 home runs from last season. Casas is the perfect guy to replace some of that production and stabilize the middle of the order.
Casas has shown that he has the tools to be an effective hitter in this league. He started slow in 2023, but the second half of the season he turned on the jets. He slashed .317/.417/.617 with a 1.034 OPS and 175 wRC+. Optimism was high, but then came the injuries.
Casas only played 63 games last season due to a rib cage injury. In those 63 games, Casas slashed .241/.337/.462 with an .800 OPS. Like the rest of the lineup, he had a strikeout problem with a 31.7% K-rate. The tools are there, the power is there, you just need to see it for 162.
A healthy Casas is the best Casas and that is an absolute must for the 2025 Boston Red Sox. He is a vital piece of the Red Sox attack as they will count on him to be one of the main run producers on the roster.
Connor Wong
Welp, you are the man Connor Wong. Danny Jansen signed with the Rays and Reese McGuire landed with the Cubs on a minor league deal. The team parted with Kyle Teel in order to land Garrett Crochet, so Wong is the man behind the plate. The front office has done its part to add depth, but none are going to take number one duties away from Connor Wong. With that being said, Wong is going to need to put forth a complete campaign in 2025.
Wong was platooned all over the field and even saw time at second base last season. But being the anchor behind the dish requires him to be better, especially defensively. Hogdale from “Pod by The River” says it best, “He looked like Swiss Cheese back there”. He was not wrong.
Wong ranked in the 3rd percentile for blocks above average with an eye opening -13. You’d see at times he lost track of the ball and it just sailed right by him as runners advanced. He certainly needs to work on his framing and needs to build a stronger rapport with the pitching staff. Wong has always been reliable when throwing runners out and still has good pop time.
Offensively, I think Red Sox Nation would sign up for what Wong did last season (110 wRC). Wong hit .280 and also hit 13 home runs. His OPS jumped up from .673 to .758. Most importantly Wong lowered his K-rate by 10% from the previous season to 23.4%.
It will be important for Alex Cora to manage Wong’s workload early in the season because it did appear like Wong wore down as the season went on. This will only be Wong’s third full season in the big leagues so there is time for him to make progress. But if there isn’t progress made, especially defensively, the Red Sox will have quite a hole at the catching position heading into 2026.
There are certainly other candidates for this list. I think the 2025 Boston Red Sox could have a wide variety of outcomes with their current roster. If the 3 players listed above exceed expectations it could propel the Red Sox into real contention for the first time in quite some time for a fan base that has grown accustomed to winning.