FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox catching instructor Parker Guinn said Carlos Narvaez has “an incredible track record as a defender at the minor league level.”
“He was one of the top, if not the top defender in Triple A last year,“ Guinn said. ”Incredible receiver.”
But the Red Sox knew Narvaez’s arm strength was something that needed to improve when they acquired him from the Yankees for pitching prospect Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz on Dec. 11
The Red Sox got their pitching department involved to try to improve Narvaez’s mechanics.
“And to optimize his throwing training to better improve his arm strength,” Guinn said. “We’ve seen some really positive results from that. Hasn’t had a ton of opportunities to throw in the spring training games. Obviously that’s out of our hands. But the throws that he’s made, we’ve seen really positive ticks up in the carry of the baseball to second base. And then when we have been able to test velocity that has gone up as well.”
Narvaez and Blake Sabol are competing for the backup catcher job with one week remaining until Opening Day.
Narvaez already had been incorporating some weighted ball work into his training.
“It has been more so looking and getting with the strength and conditioning staff and sitting down and looking at his biomechanics more than anything,” Guinn said. “When we looked at it, we figured out that was probably where he was lacking the most in his throwing techniques and technique. And so that’s where we started and we revamped what we call it ‘throwing training’ from that. Not just throwing like catch play. And so we started getting him into some different drills and things like that, that would help his body sequence better and be able to use his body in a more efficient manner.”
Narvez has said his strength is working with pitchers.
He has appeared in just six major league games, all coming with the Yankees last season. But he spent more than a month on New York’s active roster despite his limited play. He was able to see big league game-planning first-hand.
“His time up there was invaluable,” Guinn said. “He’s spent plenty of time around players at the big league level. And so when he showed up here, it was hitting the ground running. There were no hiccups there at all. And so again, just trying to get him acclimated to some of our things that we obviously do on our end as the Red Sox and not the Yankees. And he’s been really good for us on that end. too. And there will continue to be continuing education for him and we can always improve that. And getting to know a whole new pitching staff has been something that he’s done a really good job with and that we’ll continue to educate him on as well.”
Sabol’s progress
Guinn mentioned that Sabol began working out here before spring training began.
“So we got a little bit of a head start there, which was great,” Guinn said. “We’ve really tried to improve some of his receiving consistencies. And then something that he’s struggled with in the past has been his blocking. So we’ve modified some of his stances and setups there and have tried to give him some techniques and things that will help him on the blocking front.”
Guinn said the Red Sox have seen “positive production” in blocking during spring training games.
“We’ve been really happy with where he’s been trending and we’re bullish about his future, for sure,” Guinn said.
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