NEW YORK — When Sunday’s lineup for the Boston Red Sox arrived, it did so without Carlos Narváez’s name penciled in, yet again.The 27-year-old catcher, who started 106 games behind the plate in his rookie season last year for the Red Sox, has seen his playing time cut in recent weeks thanks to the emergence of unheralded journeyman Mickey Gasper.Narváez didn’t appear in either game of the weekend’s rain-shortened series in New York in which the Red Sox dropped the Sunday finale to the New York Yankees 6-1. New York broke open a 1-1 tie with two outs in the bottom of the eighth by scoring five runs to waste a strong 6 1/3-inning effort from starter Ranger Suarez, with Gasper catching.After starting 31 of the team’s first 50 games behind the plate, splitting time with catcher Connor Wong, Narváez has appeared in just four of the team’s last 12 games as the Red Sox now carry three catchers.“It wasn’t expected, I’m not going to lie, it’s not easy,” Narváez told The Athletic. “But I’ve just got to be ready. Last year is last year; whatever happened, happened. It’s a different year, different situation, and I’ve got to be a professional. I’ve got to be ready to play every day no matter what the situation is, just be ready.”Though Narváez struggled at the plate to start the year, so did most of the team’s hitters. He thought, despite hitting .221 with a .635 OPS on May 20, he’d continue splitting catching duties with Wong thanks to his standout defense. Prior to Sunday’s game, Narváez was tied for third in the majors among catchers in fielding run value (6), fourth in blocks above average (6) and tied for seventh in catcher framing runs (3). Since the start of 2025, he has caught 38 runners stealing, the most in the American League and tied for second in the majors.“It’s not a fun spot to be with a couple days off (between games), but it is what it is,” he said. “I’m a team player, I’m a leader of this team — or at least that was the case last year, and in my mind that hasn’t changed. Just going to be there for whenever the team needs me, and my job is to be ready for that.”Narváez said he has not talked to interim manager Chad Tracy about his playing time.“I haven’t talked with nobody, and nobody has talked with me,” he said. “But like I said, I get it, I’m a part of the team and I understand what’s going on, but on my end I just have to be ready. No one is telling me anything, if something changed — clearly something changed — but I don’t know, just be ready for the opportunity, and that’s it.”When Gasper was first called up on May 7 to take outfielder Roman Anthony’s spot after he landed on the injured list with a sprained right ring finger, it marked a surprising move given the Narváez-Wong catching tandem.Initially, it appeared Gasper would be a switch hitter available as a late-inning bat off the bench. He’d been hitting well at Triple A with a .296 average and .948 OPS in 28 games.But then he kept hitting in the majors. With the Red Sox desperate for offensive sparks, Tracy seemed to find what he was looking for in Gasper, and his playing time grew.Gasper has now played in 21 of 26 games since being called up, starting at catcher in eight games, designated hitter in six, first base in two, and coming off the bench in the other four.“Very tricky,” Tracy said of how he manages the catchers’ playing time. “That’s a situation that I look at every single day. I got three catchers, all capable, Wonger starting to swing the bat better, very obvious how well Mickey has swung the bat, and pretty obvious that he’s actually done a good job behind the plate. … It’s not easy, it’s a daily thing, but Mickey’s at-bats have kind of forced us to get him in there.”Through 21 games, the 30-year-old Gasper is hitting .303 with a .726 OPS.Meanwhile, Narváez is hitting .214 with a .603 OPS in 38 games. Offensively, he hasn’t been the same player as last year, one who played through a second-half knee injury that required offseason surgery. Still, Narváez finished last year hitting .241 with a .726 in 118 games.“That’s the tough spot in a big-league situation when you play every day — if you miss a couple of at-bats today, you’re in there tomorrow and can fix it,” he said. “When you’re in this spot, you’re not in there tomorrow. So that’s the toughest part about it.”With a reduced role in recent weeks, Narváez has used his pre-game workouts to simulate game action, adding extra work in the cage, catching more bullpens and taking time to throw down to the bases to keep his arm on target.Pitching coach Andrew Bailey acknowledged the awkward situation among the catching group but praised Narváez and Wong, whose playing time has been less impacted, for helping Gasper get up to speed with the pitching staff.“Hats off to Narvy and Wonger, who’ve obviously seen a dip in playing time,” Bailey said. “The teammates, the leaders that they are, we have catcher’s meetings every day, and their voice carries a ton of weight because they’re a little more up to speed on the current lineups (than Gasper). So when we talk through hitters or teams, they’re able to share, and Mickey is kind of soaking it in.”Narváez has been in a similar playing-time situation before.As a Yankees prospect coming up through the system in 2023 and 2024, New York’s system was flooded with a wealth of talented catchers.In 2024 at Triple A, Narváez shared playing time with Luis Torrens, J.C. Escarra, Agustín Ramírez, Ben Rice and Josh Breaux. It was part of the reason the Yankees were comfortable dealing Narváez to the Red Sox in exchange for right-hander Elmer Rodríguez in December 2024.As this year’s trade deadline draws closer, teams across the league have been interested in Boston’s surplus of big-league catchers. Wong in particular has garnered interest, but Narváez said he’s aware anything could happen.“The best memories of my life came last year, my whole life changed,” he said of his rookie season. “I wanted to be a Red Sox forever — I want to be a Red Sox forever, but like I said, this is a business, and whatever happens, happens.”