Former Yankees prospect Carlos Narvaez has caught on with Red Sox
Carlos Narvaez of the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
It was two weeks before last Christmas when the trade was made, and it was barely worth noticing. In fact, the most noteworthy thing about it was that it was between the Yankees and the Red Sox.
The Yankees got pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz and “future considerations.” Boston got catching prospect Carlos Narvaez, who’d signed with the Yankees out of Venezuela in 2015 as a 17-year-old and played a total of six games in the big leagues, all in 2024.
Rodriguez-Cruz now is one of the 10 best minor-league prospects in the Yankees' organization and is playing for Class A Hudson Valley. Narvaez was back at Yankee Stadium on Friday night in the opener of a three-game series, starting behind the plate and batting cleanup for Boston.
“I never expected being traded, but now I'm super-proud and pumped for this opportunity,” Narvaez said before the Red Sox took batting practice. “I like [I was] able to wear both uniforms.”
In the Red Sox blueprint for the season, Narvaez was going to be the backup to starting catcher Connor Wong, but when Wong missed almost a month with a fractured finger, Narvaez stepped in and performed like a starter. Entering Friday, he was slashing .288/.356/.456 with five home runs and 19 RBIs.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said that when the trade occurred, the organization liked Narvaez for his defense. The Yankees are considered strong at developing catchers, and people who had worked in their organization before joining the Red Sox were confident he’d be good. They knew his hitting needed attention, but it has come along much faster than expected.
“I'd be lying to you if I [said I] thought, ‘Oh, he's going to be an offensive guy — he’s going to hit fourth for the Red Sox or fifth,’ ” Cora said. “But we knew that defensively he was going to be a force . . . Connor goes down, he started playing and he took the baton and took off. Right now he's one of the best defensive catchers in the big leagues and offensively, he's done an amazing job.”
In 388 1/3 innings entering Friday, Narvaez had one passed ball and had thrown out 24% of would-be base-stealers.
As Narvaez pointed out, if one looks back to spring training in 2024, there are a remarkable number of catchers who were in Yankees camp who have gone on to make the major leagues or are very close.
Austin Wells is the Yankees' starter, J.C. Escarra is the backup and Ben Rice has been converted to a first baseman. Luis Torrens is getting significant time with the Mets, Jose Trevino is with Cincinnati and Ben Rortvedt is with Tampa Bay. Josh Breaux is playing at Double-A in the Philadelphia organization and Agustin Ramirez — who went to Miami in the trade for Jazz Chisholm Jr. — is a Marlins prospect.
“I’m super-proud of being in that group,” Narvaez said. “When [the Mets' Francisco Alvarez] went down, I thought with Torrens, ‘Boy, it's crazy, we had eight catchers in spring training last year and all of us made [or were close to] the major leagues. It’s just so cool that every guy found his own way.”
The Yankees envisioned Narvaez as on the way to the big leagues, but the speed with which he became a regular might not have been anticipated. Then again, who knows if this would have happened with so much traffic in front of him in the Yankees' organization.
“He’s hitting fourth,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I don't know if that I saw that, but I know how much I love the player and the person, so I'm not surprised he's having success.”
Narvaez was playing winter ball in his native Venezuela when he got the call about the trade, but he was aware the Red Sox were making moves and had just pulled off a biggie to bring in ace Garrett Crochet from the White Sox for four prospects, including top minor-leaguer Kyle Teel, now a Chicago starter.
“The first moment I was kind of shocked a little bit, because I didn't expect it,” Narvaez said of the trade. “But after I realized it was Boston and they’d [done] that Crochet trade, so I was ‘OK, super-pumped for the opportunity.’ I knew maybe there was a little more opportunity at that moment.”
Notes & quotes: Yankees closer Luke Weaver, who is on the injured list with a hamstring strain, has had a PRP injection and began a throwing program on Friday, according to Boone. He could be on the short end of the four to six weeks he is projected to miss. . . . Giancarlo Stanton remains at the team’s minor-league complex in Tampa facing live pitching and might go on a minor-league rehab assignment next week.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
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