The Guardians have called up catching prospect Bo Naylor to the 26-man roster, according to MLB.com’s Jesus Cano (Twitter link). Naylor is scheduled to play on Sunday, as Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes that Naylor will be behind the plate for Tanner Bibee’s start against the Diamondbacks.
This is the third time Naylor has been called up from Triple-A, as he appeared in five games last season and one game earlier this season as the extra 27th man for a doubleheader. The 23-year-old is still looking for his first hit after going 0-for-10 against MLB pitching, yet Naylor surely now seems to be poised for a much longer stint as a regular in the Guardians’ catching mix.
Naylor’s brief cup of coffee during the 2022 season seemed to hint that he’d be part of Cleveland’s lineup as early as Opening Day 2023, especially since the Guardians non-tendered Luke Maile and let Austin Hedges depart in free agency. However, the Guardians looked elsewhere for catching during the offseason, getting involved in the Sean Murphy trade talks before ultimately signing Mike Zunino to a one-year, $6MM deal, and Cam Gallagher and Meibrys Viloria to minor league deals.
This trio and utilityman David Fry have seen almost all of the action behind the plate for the Guardians this season, with disastrous results. Cleveland’s catchers have combined to hit a measly .168/.238/.270 over 248 plate appearances, translating to a league-worst 40 wRC+. Viloria was already released in May, and the bigger move came yesterday, when Zunino was designated for assignment (thus clearing a roster spot for Naylor).
It’s safe to assume that Gallagher or Fry will still get some playing time as Naylor acclimates to the majors, and Cleveland’s coaching staff might also want a first-hand look at the defensive adjustments Naylor has been working on at Triple-A. Questions about Naylor’s glovework have been asked for much of his pro career, yet scouts and pundits have generally been impressed with his improvements. This season at Triple-A Columbus, Naylor got off to a rough start in terms of throwing out baserunners, and has allowed 55 steals in 66 chances to date.
The Guardians have strongly prioritized defense from the catcher position in recent years, as the team has been willing to accept little to no offensive production from the likes of Hedges or Roberto Perez as long as the backstops kept delivering Gold Glove-caliber work. That being said, with Zunino struggling so badly both offensively and defensively, the Guards may have decided that even if Naylor’s defense is still something of a work in progress, it’s worth the tradeoff of getting his bat into the lineup.
There isn’t much left for Naylor to prove at Triple-A, after hitting .255/.379/.507 with 28 homers over 560 PA with Columbus over the last two seasons. While naturally Naylor won’t be expected to immediately replicate that production against Major League pitchers, it’s hard to imagine he won’t be some kind of an upgrade over the mediocre numbers posted to date by the Guardians’ catchers. In the bigger picture, the Guards’ lineup is struggling on the whole, which is the primary reason for the club’s uninspiring 32-37 record. However, Cleveland remains only 2.5 games out of first place in the weak AL Central, so there’s still plenty of time for the team to mount a turn-around.
If Naylor remains on Cleveland’s roster for the remainder of the 2023 season, he’ll bank 107 days of big league service, giving him 113 days of MLB service time in total. This means that in calling him up on June 17, the Guardians will likely have prevented Naylor from reaching Super Two status, and Naylor won’t receive an extra year of arbitration eligibility. It’s safe to assume that this played a role in the team’s decision to promote the catcher, considering how cost-controlled young talent has been the foundation for the traditionally low-spending Guardians.
Corresponding move was DFA’ing Zunino. They swapped out pitchers (Toussaint for Morris), but didn’t bring up anyone to replace Zunino until now.
This is correct, I misread the earlier report. The post has been updated.
so i guess Nick Senzel of the Reds didn’t get activated yesterday ??? I like to get my news at one site …. this one
ummm … Bleacher Report said Nick Senzel got activated yesterday …
Not by Cleveland.
Naylor has already played in a game in 2023, so this would not be his debut.
Yes, but this is thee call up. It’s his job now.
Bout time!!!
hmmm did Senzel get activated yesterday or was the Bleacher Report wrong ???
“Naylor got off to a rough start in terms of throwing out baserunners, and has allowed 55 steals in 66 chances to date.”
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Stealing bases is usually on the pitcher.
Don’t know when I’ve seen a stat this bad, and that can’t all be on the pitchers.
Furthermore, I read numerous times last year that Bo had improved defensively as a Catcher in AAA. So this year he allows those steals?
Between the overly LH hitting line-up and a Catcher that can’t throw out base stealers in AAA (something opponents are aware of), 2023 is going to continue to be ugly. Thankfully the Guardians are in a division with the White Sox, Royals and Tigers. The Twins are the only one in the division that resembles a decent ML team.
Balanced schedule is expectedly hurting weak ALC, but thought Cleveland would still be good for around 90 wins heading into season.
It will be interesting to see if their FO trades Bieber and ditto Brewers w/Burnes to again reload a little on the fly.
Good observation, cwsOverhaul. That’s the first I’ve heard about the effects of the balanced schedule. What other teams has the balanced schedule hurt or helped?
It hurts/exposes all the Central teams in both leagues and helps the East and West divisions.
It might take another expansion of the playoffs for any Central division team to win a wild card berth again.
To be fair Zunino, Viloria, and Gallagher are completely responsible for the horrific offensive output by CLE catchers this year. Fry was kept in the dugout dungeon until his breakout game on Thursday. Naylor will be a big improvement over the aforementioned 3 even if he takes his ABs blindfolded with no bat.
When is the last time two brothers played on the same team?
The last brother duo on the same team that I know for certain was the Cal & Billy Ripken. There might’ve been more recent ones but none that come to mind.
Roberto and Sandy Alomar Jr. were an awesome brother duo in Cleveland.
Most recently are Taylor and Tyler Rogers in San Francisco.