When the Cleveland Guardians decided to take a chance on catcher Bo Naylor with the No. 29 overall selection in the 2018 MLB Draft, they expected him to be a future franchise cornerstone.

The talented catcher sure showed signs of it early in his career.

He straight up dominated, slashing a line of .241/.348/.433 for an OPS of 781 across four different levels of the minor league system. His bat was consistent and powerful, blasting 72 doubles and 57 total home runs.

However, that minor league production simply didn’t translate to the major league game.

Not at all.

Across his three real seasons in MLB, he’s been really inefficient at the plate. He’s put together slashing lines of .205/.286/.384 for an OPS of .670, a far fall from where he once was.

So, his time is beginning to tick. In 2026, he has to bounce back and showcase that once highly-touted play both at the plate and behind. If not, his job is gonna be up for grabs just as quickly as he secured it just three seasons ago.

In 2025, Naylor became an incredibly reliable caller behind home plate. He can control the game behind, keep the young pitchers calm and pick off base runners. By the end of the season, he was top 5 in catching base runners stealing with 27. He also had posted an average ERA of 3.74 per pitcher when he was catching.

Those two numbers alone shows how lethal he is in the field.

But again, the hitting is truly what let down the Guardians.

He finished the campaign with a batting average of .195, not getting on base very much, either with a percentage of .282. The biggest problem for Naylor in the majors has been strikeouts. He has a strikeout rate of 27.1% in his big league career, and it peaked at 31.4% last season.

But the fortunate thing is, he started trending in the right direction towards the back half of the year, right in the heart of the team’s miraculous comeback to win the division.

In September, Naylor was smashing the ball. He put up averages of .290 from the plate with an OPS of .872, adding on three home runs, 16 home runs and a staggering 13 stolen bases. Not only did he have the power back in his game, but he also showed glimpses of speed on the base paths.

He finished the year with better percentages as well, coming in at career-high marks in walk rate at 11.4% and barrel rate of 9.5%.

These are all good things, there’s no question about that.

But, Naylor needs to be consistent. He needs to put up numbers above .220 in batting average, slugging percentages over .400 and an OPS of .800 or more. Those are lofty goals at this point, but he’s shown that he can get there at other levels of the game.

The only question is can he put it all together in the big leagues.

Naylor will have a chance to get right back into baseball action on the diamond in late February with the start of Training Camp.