When the Boston Red Sox traded for Carlos Narvaez, his defense was the selling point. Connor Wong was grandfathered in as the starter, but the team sent Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz to the New York Yankees to acquire Narvaez as a backup.
Narvaez started slow offensively, but by the middle of May, was hitting .271 with four home runs and 14 runs batted in. When Connor Wong went down with an injury, Narvaez took over as the starter and has yet to lose his grasp on the role.
During the Red Sox’s 10-2 win over the Colorado Rockies, Narvaez hit a solo home run to open the scoring. It was his 26th extra-base hit of the season, putting him in elite company.
According to Red Sox media relations, Narvaez has the second-most extra-base hits by a Boston rookie catcher before the All-Star break since Carlton Fisk in 1972. He’s not quite at Fisk’s level. The Hall of Famer had 40 in the first half of his rookie season.
Narvaez has been great defensively, too. In the first inning, Narvaez threw Rockies outfielder Jordan Beck out stealing. It was the 19th runner the catcher has caught this season, the most in all of baseball.
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Similar to his other record, his 19 caught stealing is the second most before the all-star break by a Red Sox catcher since 2002, when Jason Varitek caught 20.
Narvaez still has four more games and should have more opportunities to tie or surpass the record. The Tampa Bay Rays come to Boston for a four-game series, and run as much as any team in the league. Tampa has stolen 117 bases, most in the league by a wide margin.
