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The Boston Red Sox are surging in the American League East and have risen to second place in the division behind the Toronto Blue Jays. They have won 21 of their last 28 games, and manager Alex Cora is hoping the team can continue to play winning baseball throughout the final seven weeks of the regular season. However, it will be a significant challenge, considering the starting catcher is currently out with knee pain.
Narvaez has been one of the best catchers in the American League this year, getting the job done with his excellent defense and surprising offensive contributions. He excels at framing pitches and does a solid job throwing out runners attempting to steal and picking off base runners who take unsuspecting leads.
Narvaez is slashing .248/.319/.409 with 9 home runs and 33 runs batted in. His production has slipped a bit in recent weeks, but he has taken advantage of the opportunity that manager Alex Cora has given him.
Narvaez is not going to be in the lineup for the Red Sox in their Friday night game against the San Diego Padres, but he says that he went through baseball activities during the day and said that he feels quite a bit better than he did in the last couple of days. However, he does not know if the Red Sox plan to put him on the Injured List. That is something that he wants to avoid.
Red Sox may have to go with struggling Connor Wong behind the plate
Connor Wong was the starting catcher for the Red Sox in recent seasons, but he has struggled badly at the plate this season. That allowed Narvaez to become the team's first-string catcher.
Wong regularly gets the assignment to catch when Brayan Bello gets the start for the Red Sox and Cora also uses him just enough to rest Narvaez when he believes the starting catcher needs time off.
However, the absence of Narvaez from the starting lineup could be problematic. Wong is slashing .160/.235/.179 this season with no home runs and just 2 runs batted in. He has yet to get a hit with a man in scoring position. Both of his RBI have come on sacrifice flies.
While Wong's offensive contributions have been brutal this season, he has been successful in the past. He slashed .280/.333/.425 with 13 home runs and 52 RBI last year.
The Red Sox are hoping he can rebound in the final weeks of the season and provide some semblance of offense when he is in the lineup.
