The Emergence of Carlos Narvaez

     

    




    On December 11th 2024 the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees came together on a trade that looking back was one of the most underrated moves of the MLB offseason. The Sox dealt Right Handed Pitcher Elmer Rodriguez Cruz for Catcher Carlos Narvaez. It was originally touted as a prospect swap. The Sox taking a shot on an older prospect at the age of 26 just breaking into the scene last season where he started 4 games going 3 for 13 (batting .231) in his four starts for New York. This would turn into the stake that his holding Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow in his position. While he has missed on the Chris Sale Vaughn Grissom move, The Rafael Devers Salary Dump, and the Quinn Priester project, the Narvaez move was a find that he deserves credit for.

    With the ample opportunity in 2025 with Connor Wong having a historically bad season the catcher position was an chasm of a hole in the beginning of 2025. Wong hadn't got to first base until late May, Blake Sabol was a disaster behind the dish, players could steal 2nd upright with Saboll catching,  The Sox had to choose a black hole offensively with Connor Wong, or a black hole defensively with Blake Saboll. There was urgency for the club this year and there was nobody coming! The Red Sox traded top USA Catching prospect Kyle Teel for Ace Left handed Pitcher Garret Crochet. There was nobody coming! Except that is Carlos Narvaez...

    Narvaez, hitting .275 an OPS of .798, 26 runs batted in and 7 homers, has exploded onto the scene in 2025. With a 2.7 Wins above Replacement the 26 year old righty has been a force for the Red Sox this year. Narvaez has done a great job of putting the bat on the ball, and have a presence in the box. The Sox have a lot of undisciplined hackers that enter the box biting early and often. Narvaez without a doubt puts together competitive at bats each and every game. The need for this production can't be stressed enough being what the catcher position was before we had 75 in the line up. Not only this but the righty's on our lineup are dropping like flies between Kristian Campbell getting sent back down to Worcester and Alex Bregman going down to a hamstring injury. Narvaez is one of three key right handed hitters that are depended upon for production, being Romy Gonzalez, Rob Refsynder and Carlos Narvaez.

    Among the consistent turbulence that is the 2025 Boston Red Sox, the shining diamond among the chaos has been Number 75 Carlos Narvaez. The kid is a gamer, he is locked in defensively calling games for his pitchers, nailing runners and being a presence with the stick.; Narvaez has played so well in 2025 he has put himself in the conversation with the top Catchers in the American League with the likes of Cal Raleigh and Alejandro Kirk. Given the age of Narvaez it is not an unreasonable take to want him over those two guys at this point. The Sox got a good one in 75, if they are going ot make some noise in 2025 he is going to be a big part of it.

Brendan Gookin

Signing Off

-Baystatesportspod

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Red Sox Through the Month of March

Image
       The Boston Red Sox started off their 2025 regular season campaign on March 27th against the 2023 World Series Champion Texas Rangers. The Sox had lofty expectations headed into the Regular Season. Notable additions being super star left handed pitcher Garret Crochet, 2 time World Series champion Walker Buehler and Houston Astros super star 3rrd baseman Alex Bregman.     The Boston Red Sox put up a fantastic showing on opening day with a 5 inning performance from Garret Crochet giving up 2 earned and 5 hits. Not the strongest but with Garret Whitlock in the rotation the Red Sox were able to weather the Ranger offense until the dynamic duo of Kristian Campbell and Wilyer Abreu showed up and showed out. Kampbell in the late innings came up huge with competitive at bats leading to his first base hit and and set up walk. Abreu made the noise on opening night with a pair of homer runs including the game winner in the 8th inning.     While opening...
Read more

Week 1 Pats/Bengals

Image
          The NFL season has kicked off with the New England Patriots heading into the Jungle, Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati Ohio. The Patriots started the week as the biggest underdog in the slate of NFL games this week. I am no gambler but to the loyal Foxboro faithful, congratulations on cashing in on a major upset. Yes the New England Patriots coming off a 4-13 season went into Paycor and upset the 2022 AFC Championship winner,     Honestly the absence of Mac Jones under center cannot be understated. Jacoby Brissett is not behind the best offensive line in the league. Most would argue that on paper they are one of if not THE worst unit in the league. Brissett under pressure made some clutch throws. Hanging in the pocket and making some big time throws to players such as Austin Hooper who led the team in receiving guards with 31 yards. Along with Tyquan Thornton and KJ Osborne who went for 27 and 21 yards respectively. The offense undoubtedly ha...
Read more

Landslide on Lansdowne!

Image
             The 40-42 Boston Red Sox had lofty expectations going into the 2025 Major League Baseball season. After key free agency signings of Alex Bregman, Walker Buehler, and Aroldis Chapman, trading for Superstar Left hander Garret Crochet, the return of Garret Whitlock, and Trevor Story, the Boston Red Sox had immense buzz, and optimism leading into the Regular Season. With Juan Soto leaving the division, and Gerrit Cole going down with a Tommy John surgery in early March, the path was paved for not only a Wild Card berth, but even competition for the division. The soap opera that has been the Boston Baseball Red Sox have shown anything but competitiveness for the American League East Division.      The major story of this season rides along the story of 3rd baseman Rafael Devers, and the dramatics of him giving up his position to make room for superstar free agent signing Alex Bregman. Rafael Devers was a brat during this process,...
Read more