Major League Baseball named three Red Sox players as Gold Glove finalists yesterday: last year’s right field winner Wilyer Abreu, defensive staple Ceddanne Rafaela, and Carlos Narvaez, who is probably
a top ten rookie of the year.
It can’t be understated how much stability the 26-year-old from the Yankees organization provided the Red Sox in 2025. Carlos Narvaez finished the year with a 2.7 WAR to Connor Wong’s -0.7. Wong took half the season to drive a run in and had just eight extra-base hits all year, none of which were homers. Had Wong, who looked promising through 2024, been the primary option for the full 162 games, this team may not have been in a playoff position. The same goes for the scenario in which Narvaez doesn’t emerge, forcing the Red Sox’s hand into using one of their multitude of options like Blake Sabol, Yasmani Grandal or Seby Zavala. Narvaez, through his play, saved the Red Sox that stress and is a reasonable choice for catcher of the next several years, or at least 2026.
But was he a catcher worthy of a Gold Glove nomination?
Back on July 21, the Sox lost a game on a horrendous game-ending catcher’s interference, which was the first such instance since 1971. The late Pete Rose played in that game. So did a guy named Woody Woodward. Woodward went on to draft A-Rod, Jason Varitek, Derek Lowe, Bret Boone and more as GM as the Mariners. When guys with resumes like that play in a game, you know it was a long time ago. Here’s the video if you want to relive how horrific this was.
That was just one game and one moment, of course, so let’s look at some stats over 162 games. Narvaez was sixth in baseball in wild pitches faced, but he led the league with nine passed balls and tied with Alejandro Kirk for most defensive errors. That’s damning, but, there’s more to catching than the errors you commit. He was ranked in the 85th percentile in the all-important framing metric, for instance. Stealing those strike calls doesn’t just generate outs, it keeps pitchers from suffering those looooong innings. Narvaez was tremendous framing in the shadow zone. All of these pitches were called strikes:
It doesn’t end there. Narvaez was the league leader in gunning runners down with 32, aided by a 90th percentile pop time. And there are also things unseen that catchers do that define a game. He clearly has a good knowledge of the strike zone which will be a huge strength as ABS challenging becomes a reality in the Majors for the 2026 season.
Narvaez wasn’t amongst the most important reasons the Red Sox made the playoffs, but they are a better team with him than they are without him. Whether you think Narvaez deserved a Gold Glove nomination in his rookie season or not, it’s worth acknowledging the value not having to worry about needing to upgrade the catcher spot. The future is bright.
