Article: The Red Sox Catching Woes Run Very, Very Deep

[Davy Andrews]

How badly can one team's catchers possibly hit? The Red Sox are doing their best to find out.

So I had this hunch. I'm going to tell you about it.

The other day, MassLive’s Chris Cotillo wrote that even after signing Yasmani Grandal, the Red Sox might still be exploring other catcher options. I was advocating for the Red Sox to sign Grandal basically since the 2024 season ended, so I’m psyched about the move, but he’s no longer young, and the fact that he was one of the best options available in free agency is no guarantee that he’ll actually produce this season. But still, I had this nagging hunch. Here’s the hunch I had: maybe the Red Sox have been the worst organization in baseball when it comes to catching this season.

I don’t mean to say that the Red Sox have the worst catcher situation in baseball. Connor Wong was due for regression this season, but he was still a perfectly reasonable starting catcher. Likewise, backup options like Carlos Narváez, Blake Sabol, and Seby Zavala, while not exciting, all seemed like adequate options. It hurt not to have Kyle Teel bound for Boston, but at the very least, the Red Sox had adequate depth. The situation wasn’t dire.

The performance, on the other hand, has been rough. Wong got off to a terrible start with the bat, then went down with a broken pinky, Narváez has cooled off after a short hot start, and Blake Sabol has hit, well, about as well as we expected Blake Sabol to hit. Zavala is hitting .129 in Worcester. You can see where I got my hunch, right? So I decided to crunch the numbers. Let’s start in the majors. Here’s how the team’s three catchers have hit.

Name	PA	HR	AVG	OBP	SLG	wRC+	WAR
Blake Sabol	7	0	.167	.143	.167	-31	-0.1
Connor Wong	26	0	.087	.192	.087	-16	-0.1
Carlos Narváez	48	0	.182	.250	.250	42	-0.2

Yeesh. Narváez has the best batting average at .182. He also has the best wRC+ at 42, meaning that he’s 58% worse than an average hitter. All three catchers have been below replacement level so far. As a whole, the Red Sox are getting a 16 wRC+ and -0.4 from the catcher position this season. No team has hit worse or put up less value in the catcher spot. The biggest bright spot I can find? Boston’s catchers are hitting .143, which is only second-worst in baseball (behind the Rays catchers, who are hitting a shocking .086, but who have at least hit one home run).

But I didn’t stop there, my friends. I pulled every minor league number too. Across all levels of the minors, Red Sox catchers are batting .178 with a 52 wRC+. The only team that’s been worse is the Reds, who are batting .161 with a 43 wRC+. But here’s the thing. At the major league level, the Reds are absolutely crushing it at the catcher spot. They’re batting .298 with a 135 wRC+. Jose Trevino and Austin Wynns look like absolute rock stars in Cincinnati.

So when you combine all levels, here’s what you get. The entire Red Sox organization has a .170 batting average and a 43 wRC+ from the catcher spot. Both of those are the worst in baseball. The Reds, with their 59 wRC+ and .186 batting average, aren't even close. Hunch proven. Now, we're obviously talking about very small sample sizes here. The season has barely started, and we have no idea who will get hot and who will cool off. But still, it's enough to make you miss Kyle Teel. Maybe the Red Sox should indeed do a little more looking around to reinforce the catcher position.

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[Kimmi]

7 hours ago, Davy Andrews said:

How badly can one team's catchers possibly hit? The Red Sox are doing their best to find out.

So I had this hunch. I'm going to tell you about it.

The other day, MassLive’s Chris Cotillo wrote that even after signing Yasmani Grandal, the Red Sox might still be exploring other catcher options. I was advocating for the Red Sox to sign Grandal basically since the 2024 season ended, so I’m psyched about the move, but he’s no longer young, and the fact that he was one of the best options available in free agency is no guarantee that he’ll actually produce this season. But still, I had this nagging hunch. Here’s the hunch I had: maybe the Red Sox have been the worst organization in baseball when it comes to catching this season.

I don’t mean to say that the Red Sox have the worst catcher situation in baseball. Connor Wong was due for regression this season, but he was still a perfectly reasonable starting catcher. Likewise, backup options like Carlos Narváez, Blake Sabol, and Seby Zavala, while not exciting, all seemed like adequate options. It hurt not to have Kyle Teel bound for Boston, but at the very least, the Red Sox had adequate depth. The situation wasn’t dire.

The performance, on the other hand, has been rough. Wong got off to a terrible start with the bat, then went down with a broken pinky, Narváez has cooled off after a short hot start, and Blake Sabol has hit, well, about as well as we expected Blake Sabol to hit. Zavala is hitting .129 in Worcester. You can see where I got my hunch, right? So I decided to crunch the numbers. Let’s start in the majors. Here’s how the team’s three catchers have hit.

Name	PA	HR	AVG	OBP	SLG	wRC+	WAR
Blake Sabol	7	0	.167	.143	.167	-31	-0.1
Connor Wong	26	0	.087	.192	.087	-16	-0.1
Carlos Narváez	48	0	.182	.250	.250	42	-0.2

Yeesh. Narváez has the best batting average at .182. He also has the best wRC+ at 42, meaning that he’s 58% worse than an average hitter. All three catchers have been below replacement level so far. As a whole, the Red Sox are getting a 16 wRC+ and -0.4 from the catcher position this season. No team has hit worse or put up less value in the catcher spot. The biggest bright spot I can find? Boston’s catchers are hitting .143, which is only second-worst in baseball (behind the Rays catchers, who are hitting a shocking .086, but who have at least hit one home run).

But I didn’t stop there, my friends. I pulled every minor league number too. Across all levels of the minors, Red Sox catchers are batting .178 with a 52 wRC+. The only team that’s been worse is the Reds, who are batting .161 with a 43 wRC+. But here’s the thing. At the major league level, the Reds are absolutely crushing it at the catcher spot. They’re batting .298 with a 135 wRC+. Jose Trevino and Austin Wynns look like absolute rock stars in Cincinnati.

So when you combine all levels, here’s what you get. The entire Red Sox organization has a .170 batting average and a 43 wRC+ from the catcher spot. Both of those are the worst in baseball. The Reds, with their 59 wRC+ and .186 batting average, aren't even close. Hunch proven. Now, we're obviously talking about very small sample sizes here. The season has barely started, and we have no idea who will get hot and who will cool off. But still, it's enough to make you miss Kyle Teel. Maybe the Red Sox should indeed do a little more looking around to reinforce the catcher position.

 

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It would be nice if we could get some more offensive production from our catchers, but for me, defense and handling the pitching staff is the priority for that position.  The bright side is that according to Baseball Prospectus, out of all catchers, Narvaez and Wong rank 3rd and 6th, respectively, in Deserved Runs Prevented, a measure of a catcher's total fielding contribution, in runs.  They are both up there in pitch framing as well, with Wong at #4 and Narvaez at #7. 

Obviously, these are small samples and the numbers can change quickly, but if these guys can do a good job defensively, I'm not too concerned with their offense.

Baseball Prospectus Leaderboard

 

[moonslav59]

Narvaez was touted as a good defender. I'm fine with good D and bad O from our catchers, but it would be nice to have both.

[Kimmi]

34 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Narvaez was touted as a good defender. I'm fine with good D and bad O from our catchers, but it would be nice to have both.

It would be nice to have both, for sure.  Our 8 and 9 spots in the lineup are both defense first positions, and both provide good defense.  I can live with their light offense, but the other guys in the lineup can't also be producing so poorly. 

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

It would be nice to have both, for sure.  Our 8 and 9 spots in the lineup are both defense first positions, and both provide good defense.  I can live with their light offense, but the other guys in the lineup can't also be producing so poorly. 

You can probably count on one hand how many catchers there are that are plus defenders and hit over .775 or .800. To get one via trade would be costly.

We traded away a hopeful, in Teel, but to get an ace, it was worth the gamble.

notin suggested a Story for Murphy trade that looks pretty good, to me. I'd even throw in some cash and a moderate prospect, but I'm not sure ATL is up to the idea.

It would also mean promoting the sub .600 Mayer or try Campbell at SS (DHam/Romy/Grissom at 2B) or go back to Rafaela at SS and call up Anthony.

I think OAA had Murphy at zero. Not good- not bad.

[Kimmi]

On 4/18/2025 at 5:11 PM, moonslav59 said:

You can probably count on one hand how many catchers there are that are plus defenders and hit over .775 or .800. To get one via trade would be costly.

We traded away a hopeful, in Teel, but to get an ace, it was worth the gamble.

notin suggested a Story for Murphy trade that looks pretty good, to me. I'd even throw in some cash and a moderate prospect, but I'm not sure ATL is up to the idea.

It would also mean promoting the sub .600 Mayer or try Campbell at SS (DHam/Romy/Grissom at 2B) or go back to Rafaela at SS and call up Anthony.

I think OAA had Murphy at zero. Not good- not bad.

As you said, there aren't that many catchers who are going to provide both offense and defense.  Given the choice, I prefer the strong defense.  After his last start, Dobbins had high praise for Narvaez.  That's what I want to see in a catcher.  Also, Narvaez is maybe showing some signs of providing more offense.  Fingers crossed.

As far as trading away Teel, it was a trade that had to be made.  It hurts to lose him, but we needed a #1 pitcher badly.  

As far as trading Story for Murphy, no thank you.  

[moonslav59]

24 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

As you said, there aren't that many catchers who are going to provide both offense and defense.  Given the choice, I prefer the strong defense.  After his last start, Dobbins had high praise for Narvaez.  That's what I want to see in a catcher.  Also, Narvaez is maybe showing some signs of providing more offense.  Fingers crossed.

As far as trading away Teel, it was a trade that had to be made.  It hurts to lose him, but we needed a #1 pitcher badly.  

As far as trading Story for Murphy, no thank you.  

I agree on defense over offense at catcher, but I also think having a sub .600 offense at catcher necessitates having a CF who hits over .600.

We need to call up Anthony.

I might trade Story for Murphy and call up Mayer- more out of the worry on Story's health than anything else.

[Kimmi]

20 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I agree on defense over offense at catcher, but I also think having a sub .600 offense at catcher necessitates having a CF who hits over .600.

We need to call up Anthony.

I might trade Story for Murphy and call up Mayer- more out of the worry on Story's health than anything else.

You and I have always been on the same page about the importance of defense, especially up the middle.  I agree it's difficult to carry 2 black holes in the lineup, but for one, I think we need to give Narvaez and Rafaela a longer leash, and for two, I think if the other slumping hitters in our lineup come around, then the 8 and 9 holes won't be as big an issue.

I am against trading Story.  I am not against calling up Anthony, but I don't think now is the time.  I prefer to wait it out a little longer.