Connor Wong was the first, on June 22, 2021with the Boston Red Sox. Blaze Jordan is the most recent, on June 12 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
All told, 58 players and one manager have made their Major League Baseball debuts after wearing a Worcester Red Sox uniform. Not all have debuted with Boston. Not all have gone directly from here to the big leagues. Many are just beginning to establish their major league career.
Enough time has passed to get a sense of which particular careers have been the most successful. Here is one very subjective list of the Top Ten WooSox graduates to date with the year of his major league debut, and if it was not with the Boston, the team he debuted with:
1. Ceddanne Rafaela, 2023
He is a Gold Glover in an important defensive position, center field. Rafaela has shown steady progress offensively, avoiding the peaks and valleys young players often go through. Whatever his pure numbers are, Rafaela seems better than that. He produces in clutch situations.
Perhaps best of all? Rafaela is durable. He has missed just 20 games since the start of the 2024 season.
2. Wilyer Abreu, 2023
Two Gold Gloves in right field, a challenging position in Fenway Park. Abreu is streaky offensively, not an unusual characteristic, and in a batting order not prone to power, he has some.
Abreu might wind up being one of those Red Sox left-handed hitters—many seem to be outfielders like Trot Nixon—whose power totals are diminished by playing half of his games in Fenway Park. To date, Abreu has hit more home runs on the road than at home.
3. Jarren Duran, 2021
OK, given his previous performances, Duran should probably be ranked higher, maybe even Number One. His trajectory is scary, though. A player who hit .285 in 160 games in 2024 and was All-Star Game Most Valuable Player is batting .194 two seasons later with a chance to strike out 200 times.
Something’s wrong beyond the normal ups and downs of baseball. Not only are his raw numbers bad, Duran has become a guy you don’t want up in critical situations although he has been a bit better in recent days.
4. Brayan Bello, 2022
Granted, Bello has gone backward and unless he returns to form his legacy will be tarnished. That does not change what he has done so far, though. Bello has won 41 games, pitched 604 innings and made 105 starts in the major leagues. Those are significant numbers in today’s rent-an-arm pitching world and include a 37-28 record with 86 starts for the three seasons prior to 2026.
5. Chad Tracy, 2026
There are 30 Major League Baseball teams, each with a 25-man active roster. Each averages about five players on the injured list, so let’s make it 30 big leaguers total for each club.
That adds up to 900 major league players. Each team has one manager; do the math.
Every active big league manager is a member of a very elite group, so even if Tracy is technically “interim” and has been on the job for about two months, getting there is a notable accomplishment. Plus, he has done well taking over under difficult circumstances and handling things well in a baseball city where the manager gets blamed for anything that goes wrong, as Alex Cora will attest to.
6. Connor Wong, 2021
Wong’s career has, to date, been cloudied by an historically bad season in 2025. With that in mind, he has played parts of six years in the major leagues — above average — and played in more than 380 games.
A backup catcher? Maybe, but some times, like this season, it seems like he could be more. That job description can lead to a long major league career. Red Sox fans of a certain age can remember Bob Montgomery’s 10 years in town in the 1970s. Rick Dempsey did it for 24 seasons before retiring in 1992.
7. Chase Meidroth, 2024, WHITE SOX
Meidroth can be a very good player for a very long time, but Craig Breslow’s deal that sent Meidroth and Kyle Teel, etc. to Chicago for Garrett Crochet seems like the classic “good for both teams” deal even if Crochet is on the injured list.
Which is where Teel has been for most of 2026, also.
Meidroth is the same kind of player he was in Worcester in 2024 and getting better. He has been a big part of the White Sox’ transformation from embarrassment to contender.
8. DAVID HAMILTON, 2023; BREWERS
The speedy infielder seems best suited to be an off-the-bench guy, but that’s OK if you’re a good one. Hamilton is versatile defensively and a base stealer with a little pop in his bat when he connects. He has played in more than 275 major leagues and has 75 big league steals.
Hamilton needs to hit more to be a regular but can have a solid career in the majors if he just keeps on doing what he has been so far.
9. Joey Meneses, 2022; NATIONALS
His career peaked early and very well bu Meneses has struggled since what looked like a breakout season with Washington in 2023. He had 36 doubles, a triple, 13 home runs and 89 RBIs to go along with a .275 batting average that year but wound up spending all of 2025 in the minors and is back there this year, batting .348 for the Athletics affiliate in Las Vegas.
10. Triston Casas; 2022
It is sad, but Casas has almost become a punch line due to his peculiar injury history. If he never plays again for the Red Sox, it will be easy to forget that he put up some fairly good numbers to date for a young player. They include more than 250 major league games, 45 home runs and 120 RBIs.
The list will evolve. It looks like more pitching will be added to it considering the potential Boston has in its starting rotation with Payton Tolle, Connelly Early and Jake Bennett. Teel is likely to have a good career.
Jordan is with the Cardinals and has a three-run homer to his credit. Jhostynxon Garcia is in a good place with the Pirates organization. Nick Sogard is knocking on the door.
