Yankees recall catcher for MLB debut

The Yankees announced Monday that outfielder Alex Verdugo has been placed on the paternity list. Catcher Carlos Narvaez was recalled in a corresponding move. The backstop will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.

Narvaez, 25, was initially signed by the Yankees as an amateur out of Venezuela. He has since climbed the rungs of the minor league ladder, going down on strikes a fair bit but also drawing a fair number of walks and launching a few home runs.

He got into 100 games last year between Double-A and Triple-A, stepping to the plate 419 times. He struck out in 25.8 percent of those trips but also walked in 15.3 percent of them and hit 12 long balls. That resulted in a combined slash line of .239/.370/.397, good for a wRC+ of 101.

At the end of last year, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked Narvaez as the No. 32 prospect in the club’s system. He noted that the strikeouts will probably become too much of a problem for the backstop to be an impact hitter in the majors, as he’s especially vulnerable to high fastballs. 

However, Longenhagen gives praise to Narvaez for his strength in controlling the running game and “fair” work in terms of receiving and blocking.

The Yanks added Narvaez to their 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. They haven’t needed his services at the major league level with Jose Trevino and Austin Wells sharing the catching duties. 

Narvaez has also seen some limited time at the infield corners, which could give him more opportunity to get into a game before Verdugo comes back. 

Paternity list stints have a maximum length of three days, though players sometimes get transferred to the restricted list if they need to stay with their families for a bit longer.