BOSTON — Red Sox rookie catcher Carlos Narváez is batting .400 (16-for-40) with a .478 on-base percentage, .625 slugging percentage and 1.103 OPS here in 13 games in May.
“Am I tempted to move him up in the lineup? Yes,” manager Alex Cora said Wednesday. “But at the same time I think he’s in a great place right now. So let’s keep it that way.”
Narváez has started 20 games in the eighth spot in the lineup, 11 games in the ninth spot and two games in the seventh spot. He’s batting eighth in the Red Sox lineup Wednesday as Boston is going for a three-game sweep against the Mets.
“So far so good,” Cora said. “He will struggle at one point. Hopefully he doesn’t, but it’s a league that makes adjustments. One thing that he does pretty well — he has a plan and he sticks to it. The other thing that he does, too, he can hit a line drive to right field whenever he feels like it. Like he can stay inside and take a single, and then when you have that, you can survive when things are not going right.”
Of his batted balls, 41.9% have been pulled to left field, 25.6% have gone to center field and 32.6% have gone to right field.
His season slash lineup is up to .280/.346/.466/.812. He’s sixth on the team in extra-base hits with 12 (five homers and seven doubles).
“The other thing he does well, too, when things are not going right, he takes his walks,” Cora added. “And that’s huge. You can go 0-for-7, you can take three or four walks, you’re in the mix. You’re not struggling, actually. You’re doing your job. And he does that.
He has a solid 9.2% walk percentage. He has drawn 12 walks while striking out 32 times.
“Line drives here to right here are great. Fly balls to left field that go over the wall are better,” Cora said. “And he’s been able to pull the ball lately.”
He’s been elite defensively, ranking in the 96th percentile in fielding run value (5), 94th percentile in blocks above average (4), 93rd percentile in framing (3) and 92nd percentile in caught stealing above average (2).
“ I think both of them (Narváez and Connor) Wong are doing an amazing job,“ Cora said. ”Connor in a small sample size is a lot better than last year. Carlos, right now, I think he’s leading the league in defensive run saved, which is awesome. Blocks the ball well. Has thrown the ball extremely well. And he has a pretty good idea of what he wants to do behind the plate in connection with the pitchers.”
Narváez clearly has taken over the No. 1 catcher spot from Wong, starting seven of Boston’s past eight games, including tonight.
“Having both of them here, I didn’t see it going this way, but at the same time Connor will play, Carlos will play,” Cora said. “We’ll take care of them physically and when August comes in September both of them are gonna be fresh and we are gonna be in a good spot.”