October 9: The Red Sox announced this morning that Narvaez underwent a successful meniscectomy on his left knee, which was performed by Dr. Eric Berkson of Massachusetts General Hospital Brigham Medical Center (Waltham).
October 6: red sox catcher Carlos Narvaez Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow announced at his end-of-season press conference on Monday that “cleanup” surgery will be performed on the meniscus in his left knee (Link via Gabriel Starr of The Boston Herald). He is expected to be ready for spring training.
Narvaez spent much of the second half with knee pain. He missed four consecutive games due to injury in early August. Narvaez’s performance this season has generally reflected a receiver who is less than 100 percent late in games. From Opening Day through July 9, he slashed .280/.354/.453 in 274 plate appearances. From that point until the end of the season, Narvaez batted a dismal .181/.229/.369. His strikeout rate climbed over the final three months of the season, reaching a boiling point in mid-September. Narvaez was fanned in more than 23 percent of his plate appearances in the first three months of the season, but was knocked down by the ball 13 times in his final 44 games (29.5 percent).
Despite a poor end to the season, Narvaez’s overall 2025 campaign was a huge success. Receives pitching prospects from archrival Yankees in exchange Elmer Rodriguez CruzNarvaez broke out of the backup role in Boston but was quickly thrust into the role of starting catcher. He finished the year with a roughly league-average batting line of .241/.306/.419 (97 wRC+) and hit 15 home runs in his first major league season. Narvaez also rated as an elite defender, thwarting 28 percent of stolen base attempts while posting above-average grades in the frame and blocking in the dirt (via Statcast).
Narvaez’s promotion coincides with return of former starter Connor Wong. Assuming all goes well with Narvaez’s knee surgery, he is the favorite heading into spring training as the Red Sox’s starting catcher next season. Boston has five full seasons of club control remaining, and Narvaez won’t even be eligible for arbitration until after the 2027 season.
