Willson Contreras Has Been Better Than Expected in Boston

Some offseason matches end up basically being spoken into existence. Willson Contreras and the Boston Red Sox felt like one of those matches.

After getting some of the worst production in the league at the first base position in 2025, an upgrade there seemed logical. With that came a lot of noise about a trade for Contreras that became noisier as the offseason went on.

Few teams would look to move on from a player like Contreras. Though 33 years old at the time, he had a career .811 OPS coming into this year, had at least 20 homers in six of his previous 10 seasons, and three years of control remaining on his contract (one a club option).

But Contreras was a member of the St. Louis Cardinals roster and the Cardinals were rebuilding. Looking to lean into a youth movement, the Cards were expected to move on from veterans like Contreras and Nolan Arenado (who indeed would also be traded in the offseason, to the Diamondbacks).

And so on December 22, the Red Sox officially pulled the trigger on a trade. They acquired Contreras from the Cardinals for right-hander Hunter Dobbins, a rookie last season, and two other pitching prospects.

The arrival of Contreras was a relief as the team now had a clear-cut, power hitting first baseman. Last year, after Triston Casas went down for the season with a knee injury, the Red Sox largely patched the position together with Romy Gonzalez and Abraham Toro. The result was an 86 wRC+ that ranked fourth worst in MLB.

Now, with Casas and Gonzalez both on the 60-day IL and Toro in the Royals minor league system, first base has belonged entirely to Contreras as expected. And the results have been even better than Boston fans probably imagined.

Stats were taken prior to play on June 1.

Willson Contreras Has Been Better Than Expected in Boston

It took Contreras a little bit to get rolling in his new confines. He went just 5-for-31 in his first nine games with the Red Sox, striking out in about a quarter of his plate appearances.

Then came the breakout. Facing a familiar foe from his NL Central days, Contreras went 3-for-3 with a walk, a double, a homer, and two RBIs in a home game against the Milwaukee Brewers. The team lost the game but won the series, and Contreras wouldn’t look back from there.

Contreras has been the clear leader of Boston’s offense ever since his slow start. Through 56 games, he is slashing .286/.384/.505 with six doubles, two triples, 11 homers, and 33 runs driven in. His 144 wRC+ not only leads the team, it’s also tied for 22nd in all of baseball and fifth among primary first basemen.

The veteran’s numbers aren’t just amounting to a good year, they’d be among his best marks ever. His current average and OBP would both be a career high while his slugging would be second behind the .533 he put up in his 2019 All-Star season.

Much of Contreras’ batting profile looks as strong as it always has. Per Baseball Savant, he continues to rate exceptionally well in expected wOBA (.399, 96th percentile), bat speed (76.2 mph, 94th), barrel rate (14.4%, 88th), and expected slugging (.530, 91st). So, in what areas has he improved?

For one, Contreras is demolishing fastballs this year. His .314 average against those pitches would be the best mark of his career while his .529 slugging would be third best behind .544 his rookie year and .537 two years ago.

With him seeing the fastball so well right now, it may be no surprise that he is pulling the ball better than ever before as well. His 51.1% overall pull rate is the highest rate of his career by over 10%, as is his 27.0% pull rate in the air, which happens to rank 28th among qualified batters.

Red Sox fans expected Contreras to come in and hit, even if not quite to career best levels. What they’ve also gotten, though, is a player who continues to improve at the first base position.

With Contreras starting to trend downward in his defensive results behind the plate with the Cardinals and some catching prospects starting to make their way to the Majors, St. Louis moved him to first base full-time last year. The more he’s played at the spot, the more comfortable he has looked.

Through 460.1 innings at first base in 2026, Contreras has compiled +3 defensive runs saved and +3 outs above average. Those numbers tie for fourth and seventh, respectively, among all MLB first basemen.

If only the rest of the team could follow Contreras’ lead. While it hasn’t helped having players like Gonzalez, Casas, Roman Anthony, and Trevor Story on the shelf, every other Red Sox player has an OPS below .800 and only five other players have a wRC+ above 100, two of which are backups.

The result: an offensive output of 3.98 runs per game that is third worst in the AL and sixth worst in all of MLB. Boston’s 25-33 record puts them dead last in the AL East and fourth worst in the AL.

Not that the Red Sox haven’t shown they can rally back. Boston came back from a poor May to secure the second Wild Card in last year’s postseason. Granted, they were only four games below .500 going into June last season compared to where they are now.

If the Red Sox do want to kick things back into gear, they at least have a top tier bat to lead the way. It might not have been expected that Contreras would be the best bat on the team, but there’s no doubt that he’s the one setting the pace so far in 2026.