Connor Wong spent almost a month recovering from a broken pinky finger. While he was on the IL, Carlos Narváez emerged as one of the best catchers in the game in less than a month. Everyone in the Red Sox organization is speaking highly of him.
The Red Sox front office made several moves during the past offseason. The trade that brought in Narváez was completed right before Garrett Crochet was acquired from the Chicago White Sox. Now, Alex Cora is reconsidering how much playing time he’ll give the rookie catcher.
«We’ll take it day by day,» said Alex Cora on Friday after Wong was activated from the IL. «He’s been great. He knows what he’s doing. He has a lot of information. It’s refreshing. It’s good. He’s a good defender. I think there’s more offensively. Sometimes he tries to do too much, but he’s been good.»
The Venezuelan-born catcher will play his 30th career game on Sunday. It’s incredible how quickly he has gained recognition. Every pitcher he’s caught has spoken highly of him.
Lucas Giolito, Hunter Dobbins, and Garrett Crochet — all of them have praised Carlos Narváez.
“He’s been great,” Jason Varitek told El Emergente. “His attention to detail has been on point. He shows leadership and confidence in what he’s doing.”
Varitek highlighted a key aspect: Carlos Narváez has shown strong leadership behind the plate. That’s something the catcher said he’s been working on, especially during the Winter League season in his home country, where he played 24 games for the Cardenales de Lara under former catcher and manager Henry Blanco.
«Henry helped me a lot with my work on leadership and the mental part of the game,» Narváez told El Emergente. «He taught me how to handle every situation.»
Carlos Narváez: «Playing at Fenway Park has no comparison»
Carlos Narváez was set to celebrate a decade with the New York Yankees organization in 2026. That’s why it was a “shock” for him when he learned he had been traded to the Boston Red Sox.
The Venezuelan-born catcher was playing for the Cardenales de Lara—one of the eight teams in the Venezuelan Winter League—when the trade happened. He was working on improving aspects of his game.
«I felt that I needed to play [during the winter],» Narváez added. «I wanted to work on separating my approach to defense and offense on the mental side of the game. Defense is very important to me, but hitting is the most challenging part of baseball. I wanted to learn how to separate the two. If I have a bad game at the plate, I still want to have a great game behind it. That’s my mentality right now. Henry helped me with that.»
Baseball Prospectus features a stat called CDA (Catching Defense Added), which measures a catcher’s overall defensive contribution. As of Saturday, Carlos Narváez ranks third in all of Major League Baseball in CDA. He also leads the league in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) with six.
Eso ha causado que durante todo abril casi todos los miembros del club han hablado maravillas de Carlos Narváez.
That’s why everyone in the Red Sox are amazed with Narváez.
«I read all the comments, and I feel proud,» he added. «But I keep working. I think it was [Aaron] Judge who said, ‘If something you did yesterday is considered great today, it means you didn’t do anything today.'»
Carlos Narváez received a couple of days off on Friday and Saturday after Connor Wong was reactivated from the IL. But he will definitely play more than expected.
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«I spent a long time with the New York Yankees organization, and I am grateful for everything they have done for me,» Narváez said. «I took this trade very seriously. This group is amazing. I was aware of every move the Red Sox made during the off-season. I felt very good after all the work that I did. They welcomed me very well. Playing in Fenway Park has no comparison.»
Photo: Carlos Narvaez’s Instagram
