Photo: Gavin Napier/Icon Sportswire

The Red Sox season has pinballed like a bouncycastle, starting with a 5-game winning streak after a 1-4 start, a 10-2 stretch in June after bottoming out at 5 games under .500, and now a 10-game winning streak, which immediately followed a 3-8 stretch.

When we’ve brought up the Red Sox defense on social media, we’ve often gotten negative reactions, as fans have dwelled on specific misgivings they have with the roster and the team’s 78 errors (2nd-most in MLB). But we’re here to tell you that as defense’s go, Boston’s is not so bad.

The Red Sox currently ranks 11th in Runs Saved. They have an outfield overloaded with defensive talent, a veteran left side of the infield, and an excellent starting catcher.

The Outfield

The Red Sox have – by Defensive Runs Saved – the best defensive outfield in baseball. Ceddanne Rafaela leads all center fielders (including the much-heralded Pete Crow-Armstrong) with 14 Runs Saved. Wilyer Abreu ranks 3rd among right fielders with 9 Runs Saved and when he missed time with an injury, Roman Anthony saved 5 runs in 17 games there. Left fielder Jarren Duran, who tallied an MLB-best 17 Runs Saved in center field last season but then moved to left field to accommodate Rafaela, has 4 Runs Saved there.

It’s not just about making catches. Red Sox outfielders co-lead in MLB in Runs Saved from their outfield arms with 11. Here’s an example of why from Abreu.

Boston has such a strong supply of defensive outfielders, they’ve moved Rafaela to other spots: shortstop last season and then briefly to second base prior to the break. But he’s most valuable in center field.

The Infield

Boston has a quandary at second base. Its best defensive player by far is David Hamilton, who has 15 Runs Saved in 86 games there over the last two seasons. But he’s also hitting .179 with a .505 OPS in 133 plate appearances in 2025.

Hamilton has 7 Runs Saved in part-time play. The player who has played the most there, Kristian Campbell has -14 Runs Saved, the worst total in MLB this season.

Similarly at first base, there seems to be a gap between Romy Gonzalez (0 Runs Saved) and Abraham Toro (-4). Both are trying to replace Triston Casas, who wasn’t doing well defensively prior to getting hurt (-5 Runs Saved).

There’s a little more certainty on the left side of the infield with Alex Bregman back in the lineup at third base (4 Runs Saved) and Trevor Story (1 Run Saved) at shortstop. Both are players with good defensive track records. Fans don’t shudder if a ground ball or line drive is hit their way.

Pitcher and Catcher

Fans do worry on balls that don’t make it to shortstop or third base or are hit back up the middle because that means Red Sox pitchers have to make a play. And that’s been a problem. Red Sox pitchers rank last among pitching staffs with -17 Runs Saved, -11 of which are attributable to range.

Behold a few examples.

But you could make a strong case that the Red Sox defensive MVP this season and maybe the defensive MVP for all MLB is catcher Carlos Narváez (apologies to him that it’s taken us 500-plus words to get to this). The Red Sox ranked 27th in Runs Saved from their catchers last season and their solution to fix that was to make a trade with the rival Yankees for Narváez.

This deal may help both teams in the long term (the Yankees got their No. 6 prospect, Elmer Rodriguez Cruz in return) but for the short term, it’s been a boon to the Red Sox.

The Red Sox lead the majors in Runs Saved from their catchers. Narváez ranks 1st individually with 13. Narváez is a decent pitch framer whose strength is throwing out potential basestealers. He’s been a standout all-around player. Boston is 42-25 when he starts, 11-20 when he doesn’t.

We suspect that if the Red Sox are in the hunt that they’ll be a team looking to make moves at the trade deadline and that valuing defense will be a priority. The team isn’t that far from having one of the best defensive lineups in baseball and if they do, that might stabilize their season … and perhaps send them into the postseason.