diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/sql/qa/single-node/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/qa/single_node/RestSqlIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/sql/qa/single-node/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/qa/single_node/RestSqlIT.java
index 516ab28c80f4e..3765c45562153 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/sql/qa/single-node/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/qa/single_node/RestSqlIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/sql/qa/single-node/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/qa/single_node/RestSqlIT.java
@@ -39,4 +39,20 @@ public void testErrorMessageForTranslatingSQLCommandStatement() throws IOExcepti
             containsString("Cannot generate a query DSL for a special SQL command " +
                 "(e.g.: DESCRIBE, SHOW), sql statement: [SHOW FUNCTIONS]"));
     }
+
+    public void testErrorMessageForInvalidParamDataType() throws IOException {
+        expectBadRequest(() -> runTranslateSql(
+            "{\"query\":\"SELECT null WHERE 0 = ? \", \"mode\": \"odbc\", \"params\":[{\"type\":\"invalid\", \"value\":\"irrelevant\"}]}"
+            ),
+            containsString("Invalid parameter data type [invalid]")
+        );
+    }
+
+    public void testErrorMessageForInvalidParamSpec() throws IOException {
+        expectBadRequest(() -> runTranslateSql(
+            "{\"query\":\"SELECT null WHERE 0 = ? \", \"mode\": \"odbc\", \"params\":[{\"type\":\"SHAPE\", \"value\":false}]}"
+            ),
+            containsString("Cannot cast value [false] of type [BOOLEAN] to parameter type [SHAPE]")
+        );
+    }
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/sql/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/parser/ExpressionBuilder.java b/x-pack/plugin/sql/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/parser/ExpressionBuilder.java
index fdb0f554ccd51..a6aed7cbe44d5 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/sql/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/parser/ExpressionBuilder.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/sql/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/sql/parser/ExpressionBuilder.java
@@ -129,7 +129,8 @@
 
 import static java.util.Collections.emptyList;
 import static java.util.Collections.singletonList;
-import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.ql.type.DataTypeConverter.converterFor;
+import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.sql.type.SqlDataTypeConverter.canConvert;
+import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.sql.type.SqlDataTypeConverter.converterFor;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.sql.util.DateUtils.asTimeOnly;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.sql.util.DateUtils.dateOfEscapedLiteral;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.sql.util.DateUtils.dateTimeOfEscapedLiteral;
@@ -700,6 +701,9 @@ public Literal visitParamLiteral(ParamLiteralContext ctx) {
         SqlTypedParamValue param = param(ctx.PARAM());
         DataType dataType = SqlDataTypes.fromTypeName(param.type);
         Source source = source(ctx);
+        if (dataType == null) {
+            throw new ParsingException(source, "Invalid parameter data type [{}]", param.type);
+        }
         if (param.value == null) {
             // no conversion is required for null values
             return new Literal(source, null, dataType);
@@ -717,6 +721,10 @@ public Literal visitParamLiteral(ParamLiteralContext ctx) {
         }
         // otherwise we need to make sure that xcontent-serialized value is converted to the correct type
         try {
+            if (canConvert(sourceType, dataType) == false) {
+                throw new ParsingException(source, "Cannot cast value [{}] of type [{}] to parameter type [{}]", param.value, sourceType,
+                    dataType);
+            }
             return new Literal(source, converterFor(sourceType, dataType).convert(param.value), dataType);
         } catch (QlIllegalArgumentException ex) {
             throw new ParsingException(ex, source, "Unexpected actual parameter type [{}] for type [{}]", sourceType, param.type);