The Yankees announced today that outfielder Alex Verdugo has been placed on the paternity list. Catcher Carlos Narváez was recalled in a corresponding move. The backstop will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
Narváez, 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% of those trips but also walked in 15.3% 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 Narváez as the #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 Narváez for his strength with controlling the running game and “fair” work in terms of receiving and blocking.
The Yanks added Narváez 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. Narváez 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. He’s currently hitting .211/.376/.342 at Triple-A this year, walking in 18.8% of his plate appearances.
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. With Verdugo gone, the Yanks still have plenty of ability to cover the outfield between Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Trent Grisham, Giancarlo Stanton, Taylor Trammell and Jahmai Jones.
Why so angry !!!!! Holding out for the Angels?
cooper: I’ve never seen a player so angry making it to the majors. It had to be his life-long dream but there he is, looking like he needs a shot of Metamucil.
Alex, your job is to play baseball. Your wife’s job is to go birthing. You’re a team so you can support your team.
This post may or may not be serious.
Lord – On the field he’s been knocking ’em out.
Off the field he’s been kn ….. eh, nevermind ;O)
Careful what u say.. it’s NYC and NE in general. It’s doogie himself who may be preggo.
Got to be careful to not offend that crowd lest they retreat into some self defined safe space forever.
I’m pregnant with the absurd amount of Wendy’s I just consumed. Really looking forward to passing this “food baby” sometime in the next few days.
Craven – I just had Wendy’s for lunch yet again. It’s the darn app that gets me every time with their $1 daily specials. Last month every week it was a $1 Single and $2 Double, I bought each of them every week.
Now I really need to hit the gym!
Fever- Some of the items in the articles lead to jokes that just write themselves and could go on forever.
What can be written/left to imagination is possibly the best part.
john – Very true! That’s why win or lose I always try to have fun, life is too short to not enjoy it.
Apps are my downfall. When they offer me points, my competitive nature means I must collect them by buying!
Lord – I know, right? Even when I don’t use the app, I find myself entering the receipt information to get the points like with McDonalds.
My favorite is Jersey Mikes, on my birthday they give me enough points for a free 6 inch sub. So good, so good!
Gosh, with all the egregious commentary on safe spaces, one self aware intellectual pioneer might realize that they’re merely just pining for a safe space from safe spaces.
Soon as verdugo kinda starts hitting he’s going to birthing? Missing nonsense like that is one of the reasons they get paid millions. I bet if he had to forfeit his salary for those days he’s not with the team he wouldn’t go. Or if he was offered a fancy new necklace to play he’d play.
178 – When you say birthing are you implying birthing classes? If so that’s not how I interpreted his absence.
We all like to joke around, but being there for your wife when she’s about to give birth is a must.
I wonder if this grilling of Verdugo is coming from guys who don’t know what to be there when your children arrives. Other than being deployed,in prison or in a hospital bed, there’s no excuse, so being with your family it’s a must.
And Alex is under the shalow of Jason Domínguez
Frankie – The former Astros relief pitcher? LOL!
If you mean Jasson, I think it’s far more likely Dugie gets re-signed than Soto. I expect Judge to move back to RF, Dugie in LF and Jasson in CF.
It would be cool to have your MLB debut happen because of a child being born. Narvaez and little Verdugo Jr. will always have a bit of trivia in common.
hiflew – There are 8 MLB debuts that happened thanks to Vladdy Sr ;O)
I’m trying to figure out how you can be recalled and making your MLB debut..
When you are on the 40 man roster in the minors they call it recalled because you were optioned to the minors from the majors during Spring Training. So technically you are being recalled since you were on the ML roster in spring. If you are not on the 40 man roster, they call it selecting your contract. Just semantics, but fun semantics.
Thanks Hiflew.
I don’t like the Yankees’ chances of scoring 15 runs again tonight now.
The Red Sox scored 5 after 17 the night before. Just win baby…
I find this to be puzzling.
I think they may send Austin Wells down to work on his hitting to bring up a reliever. Trevino has been hitting well.
No. Wells has been hitting lately and Trevino will revert back to a pumpkin soon enough.
The entire White Sox roster should go on paternity leave after making the Rays their sons.
The Yankees are the greatest story in sports
Since Wells has shown himself not yet ready to hit major league pitching, this is Narvaez’ chance to make a big impression at this level and jump past Wells in the organization’s pecking order.
I’m not ready to write off Wells yet (his recent 4-for-13 over 5 games lifted his slash line to .159/.328/.509) but he is not where he needs to be to job-share with Trevino. Maybe Narvaez is.
Narvaez is being called up, not being recalled. Yo can only be called up once to make your debut and this is it for him. If he is sent down he can then be recalled as needed.
Nope
now there’s a haircut you can set your watch to!
I recall this dude Narvaez. Liked the play rock em sock em robots and sip his Gatorade
Why wouldn’t they bring up Ben Rice or Agustin Ramirez who are both higher prospect catchers and better numbers. Ramirez has 9 homers and Rice has 6.
Cuz Narvaez is on the 40 and in AAA. Ramirez in AA (although maybe not for long) and Rice not on 40. You’re welcome.
Carlos looks like he ate a bad taco