Carlos Narvaez Has Been the Breakout Star the Red Sox Needed
Carlos Narvaez has come out of the gates strong for the 2025 Red Sox, giving them a surprising breakout performance behind the plate.
Ahead of the 2025 MLB season, the Boston Red Sox were gaining a lot of attention as legitimate contenders in the American League East and for the World Series title. This was reflected in our preseason predictions, where the Just Baseball staff, as well as our fans, all predicted Boston to take home the AL East crown and make a deep playoff run.
However, we’re now in the early stages of June, and things have gone far from how Boston envisioned this season playing out. They currently sit in fourth place with a record of just 34-36, far from how they should be playing. From disappointing performances from their key players to injuries, this season has been a mess.
Amongst the chaos, a breakout star has emerged with the team’s catcher, Carlos Narvaez, breaking out at a time when the team needs him most. At 26 years old, he’s stood in and been one of the best hitters on the team, and one of the best catchers in the sport so far this year.
He’s succeeded on both sides of the ball, producing one of the best stories for the American League this season. What has he done so well? What factors have led to his breakout? To understand his rise, we first need to understand exactly where he’s succeeding.
Stats updated prior to games on Thursday, June 12
Breaking Down Narvaez’s Breakout
So far this season, Narvaez has hit six homers while slashing .279/.355/.458 with a 125 wRC+ and an fWAR of 2.2. Among catchers with at least 180 plate appearances, Narvaez ranks fourth in wRC+, fWAR, wOBA, and OBP, making him one of the best hitting catchers in the league this season. When diving deep into the numbers, it’s even easier to see why.
If there’s one thing that can be said about Narvaez’s breakout this season, it’s that he’s been providing value in many different areas. There isn’t one specific thing he’s doing that’s suddenly allowed him to find success at the plate, instead, it’s a multitude of things.
For starters, Narvaez has been posting excellent quality-of-contact numbers this season, which has been a huge reason for his breakout. His average exit velocity has remained around 92 MPH, placing him in the upper echelon of the sport. This also doesn’t even mention his barrel rate, which has remained around the 13% mark this season.
Both of these numbers have been crucial in his successes, showing that he’s hitting the ball better than ever before. This is also extremely encouraging considering the fact that he’s pulling fly balls in the air at a fantastic rate, which will allow Narvaez to have elite extra-base hit potential.
Narvaez has also posted an above-average hard-hit rate, which also supports the idea that his quality of contact is driving his success. To put it simply, the better you hit the ball, the more likely you are to record hits, which Narvaez has put on full display.
In addition to this, Narvaez has displayed a pretty solid eye at the plate. He’s walked 10.5% of the time so far this year, which puts him seventh among catchers with at least 180 plate appearances.
Considering the struggles of some of the team’s key offensive players, Narvaez’s ability to find ways on base has been very important for the health of the offense overall. Narvaez finding ways on base has allowed for more RBI opportunities for the bottom of the order, which has been crucial.
Narvaez has also hit four-seam fastballs extremely well, which has been important for him as a hitter. He’s posted a hard-hit rate of just above 64% against them, a great metric overall. Considering he sees them more than any other pitch at 35.2% of the time, this production has been amazing to see overall.
He hasn’t just been valuable with the bat, but he’s also been one of the best defensive catchers in the league this season. Narvaez is currently tied for third in baseball in blocks above average, top ten in caught stealing above average, tied for second in catcher framing runs, and inside the upper portion of the sport in pop time.
This defensive skill set isn’t just elite; it’s Gold Glove-caliber defense. If this continues, there’s a very good argument for Narvaez to be given the award once the season closes.
From his elite batted-ball metrics to his elite glove, Narvaez has provided value in every aspect of the game this season. In just his second taste of the MLB level, he’s already become one of the game’s best catchers, and it’s time he’s given the credit he deserves for such an achievement.
Why Carlos Narvaez Has Been So Valuable to the Red Sox
In the early part of the 2025 MLB season, the Red Sox had been excited about the prospect of their catcher, Connor Wong, continuing his breakout 2024 campaign. Wong was one of the key pieces of the Mookie Betts trade, so to see him finally look as good as expected had been a blessing for the team.
However, Wong broke his pinkie finger on a catcher’s interference play on April 8, an injury that sidelined him for a long time. In this dire situation, Narvaez was finally given the runway to produce as the team’s everyday catcher.
Given Wong’s 2024 breakout, Narvaez was expected to perform at the same level in order to fully complete the offense, and that he’s done. As I touched on in the previous section, Narvaez has performed extremely well in his place.
In fact, he’s been significantly better than Wong in most places. For example, Narvaez’s 125 wRC+ is 15 points higher than Wong’s 110 mark in 2024. Wong also only registered 1.0 fWAR in 2024, largely because of his poor defense. In just 53 games this season, Narvaez has already doubled that.
Wong has since returned from his finger injury and has yet to get going offensively. He’s currently slashing .153/.265/.153 with a 22 wRC+ in his first 25 games, production that’s unbearable for this lineup. Narvaez has done a tremendous job standing in for Wong and providing the Red Sox with another great option at the catcher position.
I also briefly mentioned in the last section that Narvaez’s ability to get on base has provided the bottom of the lineup with plenty of protection and RBI opportunities, which becomes truer every single day. Narvaez is currently hitting in the Red Sox’s four-hole, just before a plethora of young talent.
Below him are Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell, and Ceddanne Rafaela, all young players who are still finding themselves at the MLB level. Having a player like Narvaez consistently reaching base ahead of these four players allows for less pressure to perform and more RBI opportunities for the team’s youngsters.
Trevor Story is also in this group, and although he’s not a youngster by any means, he’s struggled early this season, posting a wRC+ of just 71 through his first 66 games. Due to the size of his contract and the pressure to perform given his previous all-star caliber level of play, Story could use some protection, given how he’s played on the field.
Overall, while he hasn’t been given all of the credit he deserves for the role he’s played, Narvaez has truly been the glue holding this offense together. This is even more true as the Red Sox’s new generation of young players reach the MLB level as the season progresses.
Final Thoughts
When looking at the numbers, it appears as though Carlos Narvaez has slowly become one of the game’s best catchers before our very eyes. His current ceiling appears to be a potential All-Star candidate, in addition to a potential Gold Glove Award recipient.
For the time being, though, Narvaez has done a fantastic job standing in and holding the Boston Red Sox together as a team. From replacing a breakout catcher with ease to covering for youngsters and struggling veterans, his role on this team has been crucial to their success in 2025.
If he can continue the elite production he’s shown early on this season, look out, because the Red Sox may just have a budding star behind the Fenway Park home plate.
Written by
Jay Staph, a huge baseball fan and stat nerd, founded and ran his own baseball writing website, BSBWrites, at just 16-years-old. With focal points around prospects,…