The White Sox announced that they have signed catcher Omar Narváez to a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training. The veteran backstop is represented by ISE Baseball.
Narváez, 33 next month, has had a fairly unusual career. Once a bat-first catcher with defensive question marks, he later flipped that profile and became a solid defender with a tepid bat. Last year, he didn’t succeed in either category and ended up spending most of the season in the minors.
From 2016 to 2019, with the White Sox and Mariners, he slashed .276/.361/.411 for a 113 wRC+. But thanks to his poor defensive metrics, he was worth only 3.1 wins above replacement in 353 games over that stretch, per the calculations of FanGraphs. He then spent 2020 to 2022 with the Brewers, hitting .233/.318/.350 for an 84 wRC+ but producing 4.6 fWAR in 247 games thanks to his superior work behind the plate.
The Mets signed him to a two-year, $15MM deal going into 2023, which turned into a bust. A significant left calf strain put him on the shelf early in the first year of that deal and he only played 49 games on the season, hitting just .211/.283/.297. Early in 2024, he produced a dismal line of .154/.191/.185 in 69 plate appearances. He was released by early June and signed a minor league deal with the Astros, then hitting .196/.325/.304 in 169 Triple-A appearances.
It’s obviously been a rough patch for Narváez but he has a track record of past major league success, both offensively and defensively, though usually not at the same time. He’s a sensible flier for the Sox, who had little proven behind the plate. They currently have two catchers on the 40-man roster: Korey Lee and Matt Thaiss. Lee is a former prospect who could still break out but has hit .188/.227/.313 in his career thus far. Thaiss, picked up in a cash deal last month, is a bit better at the plate but isn’t considered a strong defender.
The club’s future probably lies in Edgar Quero or Kyle Teel or both. Quero was acquired from the Angels in the Lucas Giolito/Reynaldo López trade and Teel from the Red Sox in the Garrett Crochet deal. Both are consensus top 100 prospects but they may not be immediate solutions. Neither is on the 40-man roster yet. Quero has just 26 games at the Triple-A level while Teel has 28. Getting to the majors this year is certainly possible for both of them but there are no guarantees that they will immediately succeed even if they get there. Narváez gives the club an experienced backstop that they could lean on if their younger options get injured or hit speed bumps.
Great to see the White Sox continuing to load up on the quad A players. They’re being very cautious to avoid adding any stars or impact players. Don’t want to spoil their fans.
Not sure Narvaez even qualifies as quad-A at this point.
Charlotte loading up
Red Sox should’ve added him to compete with his cousin
This is a waste for a rebuild even by minors standard. No upside. They have 2 vet catchers for this season. Teel should be in minors most or all of ’25 until he is defensively sharp enough for promotion (even if the bat is good). Quero hopefully hits well enough in AAA to be DH and backup C that improves to average on D.
Triple-A teams typically do carry three catchers. And its not unusual for a veteran like Narvaez to be get a little time at other positions.
Thaiss has some experience at the corners so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the one bouncing around.
A vet with this much experience is also a positive thing for a young staff – i think it’s a solid little deal for the Sox.
Nice minor league deal. All teams need them. Good on Getz
jtboy: All teams need them, but no team needs three of them.
What’s a little competition? He probably has an opt-out if he doesn’t break camp.
Back to where it all began