In 2024, Carlos Narváez was a rookie on the Yankees‘ postseason taxi squad. One year later, he’s the primary catcher for their eternal rivals. What he learned last October helped him get the Red Sox to the postseason.
One year ago, a rookie catcher sat in the home dugout at Yankee Stadium watching the Yankees take their October run all the way to the World Series and just wishing he could get in a game.
A year later Carlos Narváez is not only playing postseason baseball, but in the driver’s seat as the Red Sox everyday catcher in their first playoff run since 2021.
“Really crazy, to be honest, but super pumped for this opportunity,” he told the Herald before Game 1 of the Wild Card round.
With the benefit of hindsight and experience, Narváez understands why the Yankees left him to languish on the ‘24 postseason taxi squad. He had exactly six big-league games under his belt between his July 20 debut and Aug. 10. In them, he went 3 for 13 (.231) with no extra-base hits, two walks and six strikeouts before the Yankees optioned him back to Triple-A for the remainder of the season.
“I was over there in the dugout, on the taxi squad, wanting to play but you understand that it’s a process,” Narváez, 26, admitted. “I wasn’t ready enough to play at that level.”
He had to get ‘ready’ in a hurry when the Red Sox acquired him from the Yankees during last December’s MLB Winter Meetings. Connor Wong’s injury pushed the rookie catcher into the everyday role, and Narváez proved so capable that he has remained the primary backstop since. In the regular season, Narváez led MLB catchers in runners-caught-stealing and tied for third in defensive runs saved. He led American League rookies in doubles and ranked second and third, respectively, in extra-base hits and home runs.
