Know Bo: What to expect from Bo Naylor, the Guardians new catcher

CLEVELAND — Bo Naylor entered the Guardians clubhouse at Citi Field ahead of a doubleheader against the Mets last month, spotted his last name and started to set up shop in his locker. Then, he realized the navy Naylor jersey hanging in the cubby had his brother Josh’s No. 22, not his No. 23.

He took a few steps back and scanned the room to find his actual locker, five stalls to his right.

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“It’s something we’ve been dreaming of for a long time,” Bo Naylor, 23, said about playing with his brother in the big leagues. “I don’t think that’ll ever get old.”

Now, it’ll be routine, the Naylor brothers sharing a clubhouse and an infield and occupying a couple of spots in manager Terry Francona’s lineup.

There’s a lot on the plate of any catcher, especially a rookie, and especially a rookie transitioning to the majors in the middle of the season for a team with postseason aspirations. Last summer, the Cubs’ Willson Contreras was an impending free agent on a team headed nowhere, and yet, the Guardians and other teams checked in on him and opted to pass at the trade deadline. Part of the equation: It’s difficult for a catcher to build a rapport with a new staff on the fly. There’s risk involved in turning over the reins to an unfamiliar catcher.

In Cleveland, Naylor doesn’t need to be some savior, even though The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked him as the No. 55 prospect in baseball entering this season. For one, Naylor has worked with many of the Guardians pitchers before, either in the minors or in spring training. He partnered with Cal Quantrill throughout the winter in advance of their time on Team Canada for the World Baseball Classic. This isn’t “nice to meet you,” it’s “nice to see you again.”

And, well, with respect to the recently exiled Mike Zunino, if Naylor merely demonstrates a pulse at the plate (or behind it), he’ll be halfway to the production Cleveland’s catchers have provided this season. Guardians catchers rank last in the majors in batting average (.165), on-base percentage (.235), slugging percentage (.262), wRC+ (37), strikeout rate (36.2 percent) and fWAR (minus-0.6).

For Triple-A Columbus, Naylor posted a .254/.393/.498 slash line, with 13 home runs, 12 doubles, and nearly as many walks (49) as strikeouts (52). Even if he takes some time to adapt to big-league pitching, his walk rate the past two seasons in the minors should offer him a promising baseline. Aside from a random, solid season from Yan Gomes or Roberto Pérez, Cleveland hasn’t had a catcher as capable with a bat since Carlos Santana crouched behind the plate a decade ago.

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And while Francona will have other options — David Fry has historically fared well against lefties, for instance — he doesn’t necessarily need to adhere to a strict platoon with the left-handed-hitting Naylor.

Naylor vs. RHP in 2023: .890 OPS
Naylor vs. LHP in 2023: .824 OPS
Naylor vs. RHP in 2022: .896 OPS
Naylor vs. LHP in 2022: .797 OPS

How else can Naylor excel?

For one, his arm strength. Naylor has completed velocity programs designed to boost his arm strength behind the plate. He’s been clocked at 100 mph on throws to second base on occasion. Among 60 qualified catchers, Cam Gallagher ranks 40th in arm strength; Zunino ranked 57th. As Guardians coaching coordinator Luke Carlin stressed to me last fall in talking about Naylor’s arm: “It’s not easy to do that. He had to work for it. He had to earn it.”

Before this season, Naylor had nabbed one-third of potential base runners in the minors. This year, that percentage slipped to 17 percent. Francona last month suggested Cleveland’s pitchers bear much of the responsibility for not holding runners well enough. Naylor and several team evaluators have noted he has worked on the efficiency of his transfer when throwing to a base.

Zunino rated as one of the worst defensive catchers in the league this season, with ghastly results in pop time, blocking and Defensive Runs Saved. Gallagher’s metrics glisten. He’s tied for the league lead in DRS with seven, despite having about half the playing time as the other contenders. He ranks in the 98th percentile in framing. He has, however, thrown out only 18 percent of potential base stealers. The league-average rate is 22 percent.

Carlin spoke highly of Naylor’s maturity and makeup, comparing him in that regard to Steven Kwan, Triston McKenzie and Sam Hentges in terms of young players who acted older than their age. He said he remembers watching former Arizona teammates Stephen Drew and Justin Upton, in their early 20s, navigate their ways through the daily rigors of the majors. Carlin marveled at how they seemed like they had spent a decade in the big leagues and how he “was nowhere close to that as a player.”

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No development better conveys Naylor’s makeup than how he took it upon himself to learn Spanish. And not just to familiarize himself with some popular lingo, or a few baseball terms, but to speak it almost fluently. In spring training, it was eye-opening to watch as he taught Jhonkensy Noel how to play chess, delivering instructions in Noel’s language. That sort of communicative effort can only help him, and reflects why Carlin said, “This kid’s got it.”

Naylor said he spent much of his time in Triple A working on “the mental side of the game,” including his game-calling ability, his thought process at the plate and his rapport with the pitching staff. Now, his progress continues in the big leagues, where he’ll first have to locate the proper locker.

“Bo has grown a lot and so have a lot of the guys,” Carlin said, “but they had a head start coming in. They had good makeup when they walked in the door.”

(Top photo: Chris Coduto / Getty Images)

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