The New York Yankees made a notable addition to their 40-man roster in November 2023 to safeguard him against the Rule 5 Draft. It was catcher Carlos Narvaez. The 24-year-old joined an array of catchers on the Yankees’ 40-man roster, which already includes Jose Trevino, Austin Wells, Kyle Higashioka, and Ben Rortvedt.
During the 2023 season, he posted a .239/.370/.397 batting line with 12 home runs while splitting time between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A RailRiders. Despite his lack of major league experience, the Yankees’ decision to shield Carlos Narvaez from the Rule 5 draft highlighted their belief in his potential.
At the age of 24, his contributions extended beyond his offensive stats, as his defensive skills further enhance his value, making Carlos Narvaez a valuable asset to the team.
The spring training hero
The promising Yankees catching prospect burst onto the scene in a memorable fashion against the Washington Nationals during a spring training game in March 2023. Carlos Narvaez, despite not being the day’s starting catcher, delivered a spectacular walk-off home run that led his team to victory, with Kyle Higashioka having the starting role behind the plate. The team featured several MLB regulars that day, but it was the young Yankees prospect who played a pivotal role in securing the win. Carlos Narvaez concluded the game with a 1-for-2 performance, highlighted by a crucial two-run home run that brought the game to a dramatic end, taking over catching duties from Higashioka late in the match.
In a tense situation with two outs and a runner positioned at first base, the young Yankees catcher found himself at a 1-2 count. Unfazed, Carlos Narvaez promptly connected with a 93-mph sinker, sending the ball soaring into the right-field bleachers and sealing the game with a walk-off home run.
The minor-league exploits
As a right-handed hitter, he joined the Yankees as an amateur player from Venezuela prior to the 2016 season. Hailing from a family of catchers, including his cousin, Mets catcher Omar Narvaez, Carlos Narvaez has dedicated the past seven years to the Yankees’ developmental system. Although he didn’t reach Low-A until 2021, he has demonstrated solid performance over the last couple of years, albeit with a “three true outcomes” approach.
Carlos Narvaez kicked off the year in Double-A, but the majority of his season was spent at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Impressively, he maintained a remarkable 15.3% walk rate during his plate appearances, yet his strikeout rate remained relatively high, exceeding 25%.
Over the course of seven seasons within the Yankees’ farm system, he maintains a lifetime batting average of .249, amassing 36 home runs and driving in 179 runs across 400 games. More recently, Carlos Narvaez has demonstrated his potential, particularly during his last campaign, where he divided his time between the Double-A and Triple-A tiers. In Somerset, he posted a .235 batting average and an on-base percentage of .350. During his stint in Scranton, Carlos Narvaez notably recorded a .240 average, a .373 OBP, and a wRC+ of 97.
Skills do matter
In March, Tanner Swanson, the Yankees’ catching director, expressed his confidence in Carlos Narvaez’s ability to handle the demands of Major League catching. This assessment was made during spring training, even before the young catcher had the chance to make his debut in Double-A.
Later in the summer, Aaron Gershenfeld, the Yankees’ defensive coordinator, joined in by lauding Carlos Narvaez as a “complete package defender,” emphasizing his exceptional receiving skills, which ranked at the top of Triple-A leaderboards.
On April 29, 2024, the New York Yankees added Narvaez to their major league roster for the first time. He remained with the club only a few days and did not appear in a game before returning to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on May 2, a brief stint that made him a so-called phantom call-up. The Yankees recalled him once more on July 13, following Jose Trevino’s injury, giving Narvaez another opportunity to join the active roster.
He made his MLB debut on 20 July 2024 with the Yankees, recording his first hit in his first game played after being called up due to an injury to the team’s primary catcher. His time with New York in 2024 was brief — a “phantom” promotion followed by a true debut later — before the Yankees traded him to Boston in December 2024 in exchange for minor-league pitcher Elmer Rodríguez-Cruz and international bonus pool money.
In 2025, Narvaez emerged as the everyday catcher for the Red Sox, making 118 regular-season appearances. He posted a .241 batting average with 15 home runs and 50 RBIs, finishing with a .726 OPS — his most significant offensive output at the major-league level. His batted-ball and Statcast metrics show he paired above-average power with a .315 wOBA and a .293 xwOBA in 2025, indicating solid contact quality despite defensive demands of the position.
Defensively, Narváez also stood out in 2025, leading MLB in caught-stealing rate (near 30 %) and assists while ranking among the top catchers in framing runs saved, underscoring his value behind the plate.
One of his most notable moments came 6 June 2025, when he hit a three-run home run against his former team — the Yankees — to spark a comeback win for Boston. However, the season also included a meniscus cleanup surgery on 9 October 2025, which capped his breakout year and set a timeline into the offseason.
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