Kyle Teel will likely begin the season in Triple-A Charlotte (CWS), but never fear! We got another catcher… maybe….
Who is he and where did he come from?
He’s Omar Narvaez and he’s from Venezuela, just like that other Red Sox “possible interest” target Anthony Santander. I was framing up some sort of unified theory about that in my mind, then I googled and saw that their hometowns are about 600 kilometers away from each other (or, in practical terms, a nine hour drive, or in Boston terms, three route 128 backups.) Oh well!
As to where he comes from, he’s a rare acquisition from the Yankees. The Red Sox landed the 32-year-old catcher for Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz and international signing bonus pool money, which I will keep my toes crossed for weeks in hopes that it doesn’t help the Yanks with a potential Roki Sasaki signing. Narvaez played a total of 77 games for the Mets in 2023 and 2024, and has spent time in Milwaukee, Seattle and as a member of the White Sox, who gave him his debut in 2016. The last time Narvaez was on a baseball diamond was for the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate, a team which actually has a pretty awesome logo.
For those of you (myself included) worried about the Red Sox dealing Kyle Teel in the Garrett Crochet trade as the return for the team’s next potential ace, leaving Connor Wong as the only viable catcher in the organization, the Red Sox (sort of….) swiftly answered any worry to who (besides recently acquired Seby Zavala) might pair with Wong.
Is he any good?
There’s one problem… Narvaez hasn’t been a good Major League bat since about 2019, when he crushed 22 home runs for the Mariners and posted a very respectable .813 OPS. Since then, his average has been right around the Mendoza line, with sub-.300 OBPs.
Narvaez is kind of a reverse lottery ticket. He has little power and he struggles to make contact, ultimately posting a negative WAR for the Mets. But he wasn’t brought in for his bat, he was brought in for his steady glove. With elite framing numbers, he was considered one of the better receivers in the game during his days with the Brewers, and Aaron Boone called him “special behind the plate.”
But still, the Red Sox would need to also acquire a time machine for me to answer this with “yeah, I think he might be good.” Suffice to say, the Sox may find themselves running a second catcher by committee, or they may need to shore up the position with another transaction, now that Danny Jansen has departed to a division rival.
Tl;dr, just give me his 2024 stats.
Are you sure you want to see them? Okay…
MLB: .154/.191/.185, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .974 fielding % (28 games, 69 PA)
AAA: .196/.325/.304, 3 HR, 20 RBI
Show me a cool highlight.
He’s got postseason pedigree, baby!!!! Don’t worry that this is a Triple-A championship game… look at that plate discipline in the first video. Also, don’t remark on the irony of the announcing team pontification about Narvaez’s potential in the first video…
What’s he doing in his picture up there?
Celebrating a killer strikeout that Justin Verlander, or perhaps Max Scherzer, just recorded. Surely nothing could go downhill from there for the 2023 Mets, right?
What’s his role on the 2025 Red Sox?
Narvaez will not be the guy who blasts a ball into the bleachers at key moments, and it’s hard to predict how his glove will hold up. But, whether he surprises us or is awful, remember that the Sox got him by trading a 21-year-old lottery ticket who has a propensity to walk batters, albeit with promising velocity. Narvaez is probably a replacement-level player at best, but Elmer Cruz-Rodriguez may never even reach that level. The 2025 Red Sox needed more catching options, and now they have another one.