Bo Naylor is headed back to Columbus to start the 2023 season. This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise — Naylor may be the future at catcher, but it’s difficult to deny that he could use some more work in Triple-A.
The Guardians added several catchers in the offseason to prepare for this, most notably Mike Zunino, who will get the lion’s share of innings behind the plate if he can stay healthy. Naylor’s demotion means that a battle for the backup spot is underway between Cam Gallagher, Meibrys Viloria, and Bryan Lavastida. Among those, only Lavastida currently occupies a spot on the 40-man roster, meaning the other two would require a move if they win out of spring training.