Red Sox’ Craig Breslow on trade addition Carlos Narvaez: ‘He’s a guy that we’re really excited about’

The Red Sox did not pluck a player from the Yankees organization in the major- or minor-league phase of the Rule 5 Draft earlier this month, but they did swing a rare trade with their division rivals on the final day of the Winter Meetings in Dallas, Texas.

In exchange for pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez and $250,000 in international bonus pool space, Boston acquired catcher Carlos Narvaez from New York on December 11. The move came just hours after the Red Sox included top catching prospect Kyle Teel in the five-player trade that netted them frontline starter Garrett Crochet from the White Sox.

Narvaez, who turned 26 late last month, comes to the Red Sox with just six games of major-league experience under his belt. The native Venezuelan originally signed with the Yankees for $50,000 as an international free agent coming out of Maracay in July 2015. He made his professional debut the following June and — in the process of working up the minor-league ladder — was added to New York’s 40-man roster for Rule 5 protection in November 2023.

Narvaez opened the 2024 season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and was not called up for his big-league debut until mid-July. The right-handed hitter appeared in six games for the Yankees from July 20 through August 10, going 3-for-13 (.231) with three singles, two walks, and six strikeouts. From behind the plate, he threw out one of two possible base stealers before being optioned on August 13.

Narvaez would close out the year with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, finishing with a .254/.370/.412 slash line with 20 doubles, 11 home runs, 58 RBIs, 54 runs scored, nine stolen bases, 56 walks, and 105 strikeouts in 96 games (403 plate appearances) for the RailRiders. Defensively, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound backstop gunned down 15 of 83 would-be base stealers. He also logged 114 innings at first base and three innings at third base.

Equipped with a strong arm and solid framing and receiving skills, Narvaez has spent his winter with the Cardenales de Lara of the Venezuelan Winter League (LVBP). Despite dealing with visa issues that resulted in him being away from the team for a bit, Narvaez still batted a stout .357/.456/.662 with five home runs and 18 RBIs in 23 regular-season games (90 plate appearances) for the Cardenales, who are now in the LVBP playoffs.

Having said that, it is worth noting that Venezuelan journalist Carlos V. Rodriguez reported on Monday that — regardless of how far the Cardenales advance in the playoffs — Narvaez will only play until January 7 because the Red Sox want him back in the United States to take part in team activities. That tracks with Narvaez being among the players expected to attend the first-ever Fenway Fest fan event in Boston on January 11.

Barring any other catching additions in the coming days or weeks, Narvaez will likely enter his first spring training with the Red Sox as the club’s top backup option behind Connor Wong. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow acknowledged as much when speaking with reporters (including MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo) via Zoom earlier Monday afternoon.

“He’s a guy that we’re really excited about,” Breslow said of Narvaez. “What we saw out of him in winter ball I think only enhances or reinforces that we think he’s a great complement to Connor. That doesn’t mean that we’ll stop looking but I think we brought Narvy in because of what he brings offensively but also more specifically in terms of pitch framing and receiving. We feel really good about that.”