One of the truly pleasant surprises of this Red Sox season, and one of the most underrated players on the roster, has been breakout rookie catcher Carlos Narvaez, acquired from the Yankees over the winter in a trade.
Narvaez has been excellent behind the plate, and at .248 with nine homers, including some clutch knocks when most needed, he has been solid enough at the plate. The Red Sox never much liked the idea of Connor Wong as the everyday catcher, so his injury and the performance of Narvaez really provided the Red Sox with a surprising solution.
There have been concerns throughout the year about Narvaez’s ability to hold up down the stretch, though, because he is playing more games and catching more innings than ever before in his career. But those concerns have been trumped: Narvaez has a knee injury and has been out since August 5.
Red Sox in Need of Catching Depth
Wong is batting .171 and, given the fact that he’s not particularly strong behind the plate, is a liability if he has to play too much. (He did go 2-for-5 with three RBIs on Friday in the win over the Padres). So the Red Sox, finally, made a move to add a catcher to the roster, as they’ve claimed Ali Sanchez off waivers from Toronto.
Sanchez is 28 and has been in Buffalo, home of the Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliate, for most of the season. He is batting .279 with a .766 OPS for Buffalo, adding six home runs. He has appeared in eight games for the Blue Jays this season, and has churned his way through seven organizations since debuting for the Mets five years ago.
The Red Sox will make it eight.
Carlos Narvaez Injury a Concern
The big question is what the Red Sox will do with Narvaez. He does not want to go on the IL, and the Red Sox do not want to put him there. Manager Alex Cora said this week that tests on Narvaez last week were not as worrisome as they could have been.
Narvaez agreed.
“Way better,” he said, via MassLive. “I did baseball stuff outside. I threw from 90 (feet), 120. It just swung in the cage. … All the baseball stuff was fine. I haven’t sprinted yet today but the baseball stuff was good, so that’s a good sign.
“We haven’t talked about (MRIs). It just depends on how I feel. Yesterday wasn’t good enough but today was way better. That’s important right now and that’s a good sign.”
If the Red Sox must add Sanchez–he is out of options–so if they do not move Narvaez to the IL, they will need to drop a player from the 26-man roster.
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