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Adonys Guzman turned 22 on Thursday and received a big birthday surprise. The Pirates traded him to the Red Sox less than five months after they drafted him.
“I was just hanging out with my friend, playing some MLB: The Show,” Guzman said.
That’s when he noticed an incoming call from Pirates director of player development Michael Chernow. The Red Sox and Pirates completed a five-player trade that sent starting pitcher Johan Oviedo, Guzman and 26-year-old left-handed reliever Tyler Samaniego to Boston.
The Sox sent outfield prospect Jhostynxon “The Password” Garcia and 18-year-old right-handed prospect Jesus Travieso to Pittsburgh.
Guzman initially planned to go out to dinner and hang out with friends for his birthday. He instead stayed home to sort out everything that had just transpired.
“It’s been a pretty weird last 24 hours in terms of like, why would I get traded and things of that nature that I don’t really understand yet,” Guzman said by phone Friday evening. “But I guess it’s also a good welcoming to the business to understand that you can get moved at any time to anywhere.”
Guzman, a Pirates 2025 fifth-round pick out of Arizona, is a Bronx, N.Y. native who played at Boston College as a freshman in 2023 before transferring to Arizona. He is known for his excellent arm and defensive skills.
Coming out of high school in 2022, Baseball America graded Guzman’s arm an 80 (top of the scale) and his fielding a 70 (plus-plus) on its 20-80 grading scale.
“Guzman is somebody we liked as an amateur with a strong defensive profile, good swing decisions and good bat to ball skills,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said via email. “He’s somebody we think can thrive in our development system.”
Baseball America recently wrote, “His arm remains one of the best in class three years later with excellent carry on his throws that should help control the running game. He threw out 31% of basestealers in 2025.””
His arm strength especially began to stand out among his peers when he made the transition from the Little League field to the big diamond at 13 years old.
“I would get it to second base pretty well, throw out a lot of people,” he said. “And I would say probably at that age, I was like, ‘I have a pretty good arm. It’s probably one of my better tools.’”
Guzman also pitched growing up but he turned his attention primarily to catching at around 14 years old.
“I think I do a pretty good job behind the plate of receiving, blocking, all the fundamental skills,” Guzman said. “I also think I have good knowledge of the game and understanding of the game. … I think I provide pitchers comfortability behind the plate. I feel like I’m a very social guy and keep things light, so I think that that helps them as well on the mound when I’m behind the plate.”
As a kid, Guzman watched the Red Sox a lot — cheering for the other side.
“I loved the Yankees growing up for sure being a Bronx kid,” he said. “Jorge Posada was one of my big guys. I used to love Jason Varitek as well from the Red Sox. Watching those games and the competitiveness that took place in those games. The Yankees’ ‘Core Four’ and the Red Sox guys at the time, from (Dustin) Pedroia, (David) Ortiz, all those big names. But I was a big Yankees guy growing up.”
He also would watch videos of Hall of Famer Pudge Rodriguez and four-time Gold Glove catcher Tony Peña, who retired about six years before Guzman was born.
“Tony Peña was a big one for me growing up,” he said. “He was a bench coach for the Yankees for a while and that’s where I learned to do like the kickstand thing where the catcher puts his leg all the way on the (ground) and they do like a mini split.”
Peña, who played for Boston from 1990-93, was known for his unorthodox stance behind the plate and his cannon arm. He threw out 70 attempted base stealers in 1986. He led the league in caught stealing in 1984 (63), 1985 (62) and 1991 (40).
“My family is Dominican, and he was obviously a big Dominican catcher, a big influence in Dominican culture,” Guzman said. “So my father introduced me to him at a young age and told me about the catching stance. And I’d be 8, 9 years old in my Little League in the Bronx doing that stance. Everybody’s like, ‘Oh my God, what are you doing?’’
Guzman uses a one-knee down stance.
“I don’t think it’s as exaggerated as like Tony Peña used to,” he said. “I like to feel my heel being able to push off a little bit just in case I have to throw with a delayed steal or things of that nature. But it’s still part of my receiving stance.”
Guzman spent 2023 at Boston College, then transferred to Arizona in 2024.
“We had a great year my freshman year, and then the coaches ended up getting jobs elsewhere, which is what led to my transfer to Arizona, where I followed our pitching coach at Boston College that year,” he said.
After that season, head coach Mike Gambino left BC to take the head coaching job at Penn State. Guzman followed coach Kevin Vance to Arizona.
“Arizona was lacking a little bit of catching depth, and he thought I’d be a great fit, somebody who could come in and have results and help improve our pitching staff who had struggled the year before Vance got there,” Guzman said. “So I think that’s why he offered me and invited me to come out to Arizona with him.”
Guzman said he played with several seniors and fifth-year student-athletes at BC and they helped him to understand scouting reports. He used that to help him become a better hitter in the coming years at Arizona.
“I think one of my best attributes is that I do put the ball in play a lot,” he said. “I like to have that as one of my main attributes as a hitter — the fact that I don’t strike out and put the ball in play.”
The right-handed hitter batted .328 with a .411 on-base percentage, .496 slugging percentage, .907 OPS, nine homers and 12 doubles in 62 games (271 plate appearances) for Arizona as a junior in 2025. He added 44 RBIs, 43 runs and 27 walks compared to 32 strikeouts.
He had more walks (26) than strikeouts (19) his sophomore year at Arizona.
“I like to consider myself a gap-to-gap hitter,” he said. “I think like most hitters do, I have a little bit more power to my pull side. But I think I do drive the ball well to the opposite-field gap and drive the ball well the other way. I like to stick gap to gap. I don’t like to think pull happy because of shifts nowadays and things of that nature.”
Despite Baseball America grading his arm an 80 coming out of high school, he went undrafted.
“I wouldn’t say I was surprised I didn’t get drafted,” he said. “Going into it, I kind of had the understanding that high school catching is a difficult market and a difficult thing to assess, especially for scouts.”
Guzman spent most of his time at the Pirates’ spring training and player development complex after getting drafted last July. But Pittsburgh assigned him to Low-A Bradenton during the final series of the year.
He played in one game, going 2-for-5. His first professional hit was a home run.
“It was a dream come true, honestly,” he said. “Obviously I’ve always dreamed of playing professional baseball and to go out there and perform. And the one game I did have was a major confidence boost more than anything. Just understanding that I can play at this level, and I am good enough and skillful enough to play at the level.”
Guzman said he’s excited and grateful for his new opportunity with the Red Sox.
“Growing up in the Bronx, I always watched the Red Sox. They were one of the teams that I always had my eye on,” he said. “Their competitiveness, the rich history they have, the great players they’ve had in the past and present. I’m extremely excited to get out there and learn from them, what they have to offer, how they can develop me.”