Brian Navarreto is back home
The Puerto Rican catcher started his baseball journey in Jacksonville, and now he is back 8 years later
Brian Navarreto steps into the batter’s box. It is the bottom of the fifth and the Jumbo Shrimp have a 4–1 lead. Brian Miller stands on second and Jesús Sánchez is on third. There are two outs. Navarreto has already hit a triple today and is feeling good. In fact, he is feeling really good. He is finally home. Navarreto is playing in his second game for the Jumbo Shrimp, but not his second game for a team from Jacksonville.
Navarreto was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, where he developed his love for baseball. As a little leaguer, he found his calling as a catcher and quickly started to gain some attention for baseball skills. One of the scouts who was interested in Navarreto was Rolando Baez, brother to current Chicago Cubs’ infielder Javy Baez, from Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville.
Navarreto would eventually share something in common with the Baez’s. The Baez’s were also from Puerto Rico before moving to Jacksonville in 2005 to get better medical treatment for Javy and Rolando’s sister, Noely, who was born with spina bifida. While in Jacksonville, the Baez boys had gotten involved in the baseball program while attending Arlington Country Day School. Javy started to excel on the field for the Apaches, spring boarding that to a major league career. Meanwhile, Rolando found a place on the bench at Arlington Country Day School as a coach. Rolando stayed with Arlington Country Day and in 2011, decided to make a trip back to his home country of Puerto Rico to find the next Javy Baez for the Apaches. That’s when he met Navarreto.
Rolando sat in on a couple of Navarreto’s practices and games and immediately knew he had found a star. Rolando approached to Navarreto and offered for him to move to Jacksonville and play high school baseball for Arlington Country Day. Rolando explained to Navarreto that through his brother Javy’s experience, Navarreto he would have the best chances of making it to the major leagues if he moved to Northeast Florida. Navarreto talked it over with his family and decided to take Rolando up on his offer. In 2011, Navarreto moved to Jacksonville and enrolled at Arlington Country Day as a junior.
The transition to the United States was tough for Navarreto. He was a shy teenager in a foreign country. Looking back on it, Navarreto said he was “afraid of everything” when first coming to Jacksonville. The hardest part of moving to Jacksonville, though, was overcoming the language barrier.
“It was hard,” said Navarreto. “I didn’t know English by that time. I couldn’t speak. Even like when [I] went to McDonalds, I didn’t know how to say, ‘Hey, can I get a [number] 1.”
Navarreto said he was afraid to speak sometimes because he might mess up or trip over his words. However, if he wanted to be a catcher in the Major Leagues, Navarreto knew he had to learn English so he could communicate with his pitcher. He had to get over his fear of messing up, and stop caring what other people thought.
“I was just like, ‘Well, I am not afraid anymore,” Navarreto said. “I’m just going to talk, and if you understand, you understand, and if you are going to correct me, that’s fine, I will take that, but I’m not going to be afraid anymore.” With that out of the way, Navarreto started excelling on the diamond.
While at Arlington Country Day, Navarreto quickly gained attention for his great defensive skills as a catcher and also his powerful swing at the plate. In 2012, he was invited to participate in the Perfect Game All-American Classic, an amateur all-star game. In the contest, Navarreto went 1-for-2, hitting a triple in the sixth inning.
That performance, coupled with his success at the Arlington Country Day School, helped put Navarreto on the map. In the 2013 MLB Draft, Navarreto was picked by the Minnesota Twins in the sixth round. He spent the next six years in the Twins organization playing in almost every level of their farm system. In 2018 and 2019, he was invited to spring training with Minnesota in Fort Myers, but barely missed the cut each year. In December of 2019, Navarreto signed with the Miami Marlins as a free agent.
The signing turned out to be a blessing to realizing his dream. On August 23, 2020, Navarreto made his Major League debut. After being up and down the Minor Leagues for years, making it to The Show was an emotional experience for the catcher.
“I was crying,” said Navarreto. “Because all that I had been through during these couple years, it had been tough.”
In that debut game against the Washington Nationals, Navarreto also notched his first big league hit on a single to center field. “It was a special moment for me,” said Navarreto. “It was awesome.”
“It was a special moment for me” — Brian Navarreto
This season, Navarreto is back in Triple-A. Waiting for his chance to break into the big leagues again. He’s back in Jacksonville. Back where it all started, at one of his homes.
With a 1–1 count, Navarreto steps out of the batter’s box and readjusts his batting gloves and takes a couple more practice swings. The next pitch is up and inside, but Navarreto gets a hold of it. Right away, Navarreto knows that this ball is gone. “I hit that ball and I went like, ‘Oh boy! That ball is going,’” said Navarreto. He launches the ball over the left field wall and gives Jacksonville a 7–1 lead over Norfolk.
“Oh boy! That ball is going!” — Brian Navarreto
It is the perfect welcome to a long-overdue homecoming.
“I appreciate the fans of Jacksonville. It is a really cool city” — Brian Navarreto
