Red Sox Make Final Decision On Uncertain Roster Spot

The Boston Red Sox have had plenty of questions arise since first congregating for spring training in Fort Myers, Fla.

Where will Alex Bregman ultimately play? Is Rafael Devers going to make that decision difficult? Will Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer or Kristian Campbell push for a roster spot? Do they have adequate depth to make up for early injuries to Kutter Crawford and Brayan Bello?

We still haven’t gotten a final answer on any of those, but we did get one on a different question Thursday.

The Red Sox optioned catcher Blake Sabol to minor league camp, all but officially setting up Carlos Narváez to be the backup behind Connor Wong. Nathan Hickey and Mark Kolozsvary were reassigned to minor league camp on Wednesday.

Narváez was originally acquired in a trade with the New York Yankees back in December. The 26-year-old was playing in a winter ball league at the time but quickly returned stateside to join his new team at Red Sox Rookie Development Camp, which took place later that week in Boston.

Narváez slashed .254/.370.412 with 11 home runs, 20 doubles, 58 RBIs, 54 runs, 56 walks and 105 strikeouts in 96 games (403 plate appearances) for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2024. The Red Sox aren’t leaning on him for his bat, however, as he’s considered an elite defender and should provide value beyond his starts throughout the season.

Boston now has 45 active players remaining in camp.