The Red Sox acquired 26-year-old catcher Carlos Narvaez from the Yankees in exchange for pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz on Wednesday.
To make room on the 40-man roster for Narvaez, Boston designated infielder Enmanuel Valdez for assignment. The 25-year-old Valdez appeared in 125 games for Boston the past two seasons.
Boston also sent $250,000 of international bonus pool space money to Yankees in the trade, a source told MassLive’s Chris Cotillo.
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The Red Sox were looking to add a backup catcher behind Connor Wong even before trading top catching prospect Kyle Teel and three other prospects to the White Sox for frontline starter Garrett Crochet earlier Wednesday.
Narvaez, a native of Venezuela, has appeared in just six major league games, all coming with the Yankees last season. He went 3-for-13 with three singles, two walks and six strikeouts. He threw out 1-of-2 base stealers.
He batted .254 with a .370 on-base percentage, .412 slugging percentage, .782 OPS, 11 homers, 20 doubles, 58 RBIs, 54 runs and 56 walks and 105 strikeouts in 96 games (403 plate appearances) for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2024. He has thrown out 30% of base stealers in his eight-year minor league career.
Boston selected Rodriguez-Cruz in the fourth round of the 2021 MLB Draft out of the Leadership Christian Academy in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.
The righty, who just turned 21 in August, posted a 2.91 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in 21 outings (20 starts) between Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville in 2024. He limited hitters to a .198 batting average.
He held High A hitters to a .180 batting average in his seven starts for Greenville.
His fastball was between 95-98 mph this past summer. He also throws a curveball, slider, splitter and sweeper. The sweeper was a new pitch in 2024.
