A great regular season in 2017 pushed the Indians to the end of the 2018 amateur draft, but being the 29th overall pick didn’t diminish the expectations of Noah “Bo” Naylor, the 18 year old Canadian catcher. Let’s take a look into the player that Burning River Baseball ranked as the best catching prospect in the Indians system and 10th best overall.
The brother of Josh Naylor, who himself was a first round pick back in 2015 by the Padres, Bo made a name for himself in his own right by winning the high school home run derby in 2017 at Marlins Park in Miami. Not only a significant power threat, as a catcher he provided an opportunity for the Indians to get a high ceiling offensive player at a generally low production position.
With that possibility in mind, the Indians took Naylor in the first round, but he was a late signing, holding out for a signing bonus of just over $2.58M (he was slotted for $2.33M). The late signing as well as the extreme early success of both Arizona League Indians teams took some of the spotlight off Naylor and allowed him to slowly work his way into the line-up.
It can’t be said whether this coddling was necessary or not, but he managed a .343/.410/.486 batting line over his ten games. While this was impressive on its’ own, the most impressive part of Naylor’s game early was his power to the gaps. These hard hit fly balls often turned into outs near the wall, but few other players on the roster could do as much. While Billy Wilson (on Naylor’s Indians 2 team) and Miguel Jerez (on Indians 1) outpaced Naylor in home runs, they both did so by pulling the ball to Goodyear Ballpark’s shallow corners. Even Major Leaguers struggle to blast the ball out to center in Goodyear, yet the 18 year old catcher nearly did so regularly all summer.
Ultimately, he hit just two home runs and three doubles (although he had three triples as well), but still managed a slugging percent above .400 in his 33 games. More svelte than your average catcher, Naylor was also a threat on the bases as he stole the first base of his career the second time he reached base, then went on to take four more while being caught just once. While he could follow the normal path of the catcher by putting on weight, destroying his knees and becoming less mobile, there could be another route for Naylor through the Indians system.
As soon as he had his legs under him in Arizona, the Indians decided to test him further by moving him to third base. While he caught in high school, there were inklings as soon as he was drafted that Naylor could be moved to an infield position. Leaving no stone unturned, Naylor eventually played five games at third, committing two of his three errors on the season at the hot corner.
Coming into the draft, the biggest knock on Naylor was his defense and first hand experience furthers that case. As a catcher, he has great reaction time, both in blocking pitches in the dirt and his pop time, but his arm is no where near as accomplished as his bat or glove. His quick reaction time is an asset at third base as well as catcher, but again the arm strength is the real issue. There was some talk of him playing second at some point, but the Indians did not get into that during his short run in short season.
When it comes down to it, Naylor is still incredibly young (he turns 19 next month) and just like I expect his deep fly balls to left and right center to eventually leave the park, I expect his arm strength to improve. There have been many examples of players in the Indians system to gain a few MPH as they moved up the levels and Naylor won’t necessarily to be an exception to that.
That being said, his ultimate position is still in flux. In 2018 he was regularly used as a DH in addition to catching and third, but it would be a shame to designate such an athletic player be exclusively a hitter so early in his career. There is also the risk of knee and concussion problems associated with catching that would preferably be avoided.
One problem with moving Naylor away from catcher is that they have no significant depth at the position in the minors. Li-Jen Chu and Eric Haase are legitimate options in AAA, but there is very little between them and Naylor as far as MLB potential is concerned. At his level Brayan Lavastida (15th round pick in 2018), Eric Rodriguez (21st round, 2018) and Yainer Diaz (2016 international free agent) each showed promise, but the catching crews in Mahoning Valley, Lake County and Lynchburg were absolutely dreadful.
This puts Naylor in a similar position to Francisco Mejia prior to his 2018 trade to San Diego, but at least the Indians aren’t waiting until the last second to try out a new position this time. Naylor is obviously most useful as a catcher as his hitting prowess is a rare find behind the plate, however, if he can’t fit there long term, it is best to move him elsewhere as soon as possible. Ultimately, it will be Naylor’s ability more than the Indians need that should force the decision.
Because of this uncertainty as well as his limited experience in 2018, I expect Naylor to return to Goodyear in 2019 for both extended spring training and the AZL. Rodriguez was promoted to Lake County late in 2018 and he may stay there or drop to Mahoning Valley, so between him and Felix Fernandez, Jason Rodriguez and Angel Lopez, they will at least have the catching covered in short season and A ball. This could allow Naylor to be the veteran of sorts in the AZL and allow him to work out further at catcher, third and possibly second base. With an ETA still many years off, there is no time like the present to find what he is best at and to focus solely on that position.
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