Amid a difficult season for the Boston Red Sox, they've decided to make an unusual roster decision and carry three catchers in Carlos Narvaez, Connor Wong and Mickey Gasper. It's a move that has limited playing opportunities for all three, but none more so than Narvaez. 

In 2025, Narvaez was able to win the starting job, and he entered 2026 expecting to be Boston's primary catcher. However, he's recently become a backup as midseason callup Gasper is now the primary starting catcher.

“It wasn’t expected, I’m not going to lie, it’s not easy,” Narvaez told The Athletic. “But I’ve just got to be ready. Last year is last year; whatever happened, happened. It’s a different year, different situation, and I’ve got to be a professional. I’ve got to be ready to play every day no matter what the situation is, just be ready.”

So far in June, Narvaez has only played in one game. That's after playing in 18 games in May (15 games in the first three weeks of May). It's a clear change in his role, but Narvaez says that it's not a change that's been communicated to him.

“I haven’t talked with nobody, and nobody has talked with me,” he said. “But like I said, I get it, I’m a part of the team and I understand what’s going on, but on my end I just have to be ready. No one is telling me anything, if something changed — clearly something changed — but I don’t know, just be ready for the opportunity, and that’s it.”

Narvaez has struggled this season. He's hitting just .214 with a .290 OBP, a .313 slugging percentage and a .603 OPS. However, he's still an excellent defensive catcher, ranking in the 94th percentile in Fielding Run Value, per Baseball Savant.

Communication continues to be a major problem for Boston Red Sox

Perhaps the most important aspect of what Narvaez brought up wasn't that he's been benched. It's the lack of communication about his status with the team.

This lack of communication with a player has become a hallmark of the Boston Red Sox under CBO Craig Breslow. His most famous issue with communication surrounded star third baseman Rafael Devers. 

The Red Sox pursued Alex Bregman, did not speak to Devers but publicly implied third was still his position, and then once they signed Bregman, told Devers to DH. When injuries popped up, the ask was for him to learn first base, but Devers refused, feeling he had been disrespected. Breslow then traded him for a package of three players, none of whom are in the Red Sox organization anymore. 

This also comes shortly after some disturbing reports about how Breslow is communicating within the organization. 

Tim Healey of The Boston Globe reported that multiple officials within the Red Sox organization believe Breslow needs a translator of sorts. This would be an English-to-English translator who could communicate his analytics-based message to the team, hoping to explain it better. That's, of course, despite the fact that Breslow is a 12-year MLB veteran who seemingly should already be able to do that. 

So, while the poor communication with Narvaez may seem small in a vacuum, it's part of a concerning trend. Add in a last-place record, and the Red Sox need major changes internally, and they need them quickly.