Carlos Narvaez gets full-circle playoff moment with chance to haunt Yankees

It’s funny, Carlos Narváez said, how baseball works. Last year, when they faced the Dodgers in the World Series, the former catching prospect watched from the dugout as a member of the Yankees taxi squad.

Buried on the depth chart of an organization known for developing his position, Narváez was itching to play without a route to the field beyond the minors. 

Instead, his first taste of the playoffs didn’t involve anything but stashing observations and experiences for when he had a chance to play on that stage — something the 26-year-old thinks has prepared him for the best-of-three wild-card series in The Bronx that opens Tuesday.

Narváez, traded to the Red Sox in December for minor leaguer Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, haunted the Yankees during the regular season, compiling a .978 OPS, three homers and seven RBIs across 11 games.

And he’ll get a chance to help eliminate his former team as a piece tasked with anchoring Boston’s pitching staff while also providing an offensive spark. 

“This one is gonna be more than a wild-card game,” Narváez said before the Red Sox workout Monday. “It’s gonna be like LCS series, you know what I mean? Every game is gonna be rocking, and we understand that and we love it. We embrace that.” 

Still, it was a long shot for Narváez to make it to this point — with this substantial role — in the first place.

Before the trade, he spent nine years in the Yankees organization and logged just six games in the majors during the 2024 campaign.

Then, Connor Wong departed spring training as the Red Sox starting catcher, but when he injured his pinkie in early April, that gave Narváez a chance at being the everyday option behind the plate.

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In 118 regular-season games, he collected a .241 average, .726 OPS, 15 homers and 50 RBIs, never relinquishing that first extended opportunity. 

He started to etch out a place in the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry as a tormentor, too.

As someone who, despite an inexperienced career to this point, can deliver in clutch moments.

He blasted a go-ahead three-run homer during the June 8 win over the Yankees.

Six days later, he produced a walk-off single after throwing out Anthony Volpe earlier in the frame.

Since Narváez won’t hit free agency until 2031, his bid to become the next Yankees nightmare could only keep evolving, too. 

And now, on the biggest stage of his career, Narváez’s former team awaits again. 

“What they do here, the Yankees, behind the plate is something that everybody knows,” Cora said. “They’re great at that, you know? They had some good defensive catchers throughout the years, and Carlos is a product of their system, right? 

“It just happened that they had so many that they needed to trade somebody, and it was him. We got him.”