2025 In A Discarded-On-The-Dugout-Floor Nutshell
He flashed elite skills behind the plate but a big drop off in offensive production leaves some question marks despite an excellent season.
You can cherry pick some stats here, but Carlos Narváez was one of the best defensive catchers in the Majors in 2025. Period. His 32 runners caught stealing led the entire big leagues. The league CS average was 21.5%; Narvy’s was 29.9%. His 58 assists overall also led the league. His 9 passed balls led the American League, as did his 9 errors, but now we’re starting to cherry pick. Narvy was 9th in the Majors in Catcher Framing Runs with 5 runs saved. He didn’t nab the Gold Glove, but Carlos should be extremely proud of the year he had calling pitches and catching pitchers for the Red Sox.
I’ll talk a little more about his offense below, but that was one of his bigger issues as the season went on. What I want to elaborate on more in this section is the catchers’ interference issue. Six catchers interference calls is a big issue for a Major League catcher. One even caused a walk-off—July 21st in Philadelphia. It happened in September in a big series against the Yankees—one that ended up being a big stinker. Alex Cora said he can live with it because the catching in general was way better than 2024—which isn’t untrue—but is it something you actually want to live with? I know it’s a product of framing but to me, it’s a problem that needs to be eradicated, or at least remediated.
Don’t we just love beating the Yankees? There’s also an immense amount of schadenfreude here beating the Yankees—not just as a rival, but as the team that traded him to Boston in the first place.
I honestly have two big questions for Narváez here: can he hold up and can he take his bat to the next level? The question about holding up is the obvious question for me. This was his first full year in the Majors and he played in 118 games. That’s a lot for anyone, let alone a backstop. Most elite catchers play just about the entire season. Cal Raleigh played in 159(!) games, with 121 of them as a backstop. Salvador Perez hit in 155; 92 as a catcher, 38 as a DH and 30 as a first baseman! William Contreras started 128 games behind the dish this season, with 22 games at DH and 3 games at sporadic positions. Alejandro Kirk started 118 games as a catcher—exactly the same number as Narvy–and led qualified catchers in batting average this season. These guys were dominant and stayed on the field. Can Narváez do the same or do they need a better backup catcher than Connor Wong to lighten the load? We’ve seen it work when Wong was playing like a 1A and had Reese McGuire as the 1B, or when Christian Vazquez split time with Kevin Plawecki—who far exceeded expectations—in 2021. There has to be a plan either way.
Let’s also take a look at some of Narvy’s splits. He was a way better home hitter than on the road—a .820 OPS at Fenway vs a .637 OPS away from Boston. A first half sOPS+ of 120 and a second half sOPS+ of 69. That’s one heck of a drop off in production with the bat in his hands. Can Carlos find his bat for longer or will his MO be a hot and cold hitter?
It’s clear Carlos Narváez became one of the best defensive catchers in all of baseball in 2025. What a godsend it seemed to be after trading away whom everyone thought would be the heir apparent backstop in Kyle Teel. Still no regrets on it, just a big change in philosophy in the position. This is all going to be about consistency. Can Narvy continue to be the fantastic catcher he proved to be last season or will he be a one-hit wonder? Craig Breslow needs to support Narvaéz in any case, whether as injury replacement, platoon or someone who can step up if things go truly awry. Still, the Gold Glove nominee has a future shimmering with even more potential, for 2026 and beyond.
