Red Sox catching prospect Johanfran Garcia wants to follow in the footsteps of Salvador Perez and Yadier Molina
This offseason the Red Sox traded their top catching prospect, catcher Kyle Teel, leaving questions on who will be the next catcher of the future for Boston.
One catching prospect that not many people have talked about has been Johanfran Garcia. The 20-year-old catcher has a ton of upside and is viewed as a bat-first catcher with the ceiling of an everyday player beyond the dish.
Garcia was off to a hot start in 2024, but an ACL injury cut his season short. The Venezuelan was mashing for the Salem Red Sox, batting .385 (20-for-52) with a .467 on-base percentage, a .596 slugging percentage, and a 1.063 OPS, two homers, and five doubles in 14 games (60 plate appearances), before suffering his knee injury.
With his surgery behind him, Garcia is working out in the weight room and spent the summer at JetBlue Park rehabbing. In September, Garcia began to do some light catching work and will ramp up more before getting to camp next month.
Garcia started playing the game at four years old with his older brother, “The Password,” Jhostynxon Garcia, who shot up through the system in 2024 and was added to the Red Sox 40-man roster, protecting him from the Rule 5 draft in December.
With his brother being someone he’s looked up to growing up, other Latin-born players, like fellow catchers Salvador Perez and Yadier Molina, have made an impact on him and the player he’s becoming in the Red Sox system.
“Always, all my life, watching baseball and all that, I've been Salvador Perez or Yadier Molina,” said Garcia through translator Fabian Castorena while on “The Pesky Podcast” last week. “The truth is, when I was younger, I was more of a Yadier Molina (fan), and now more than anything, I've been looking at Salvador Perez and seeing him a lot.”
Garcia wants to emulate these players and their styles as he gets back from his injury and he continues on his professional career.
“I've always wanted to copy him, one of the two,” Garcia said. “My thought has always been between the two, to think how I can imitate Molina and my dear friend, Pérez. You know, two of the greatest catchers that we have in the game so far. You know, Molina earlier in his career and Perez later in his career. Trying to emulate them at different types of their careers, take a little bit of both into his game, and to, you know, find the success, hopefully, that those guys have found in the big leagues.”
Once healthy, Garcia can begin to make a bigger impact in the Red Sox farm system and put his name in the conversation as someone who could impact Boston a few years down the road. His goal right now is getting his knee stronger, getting healthy, and hitting the training room hard. In the process, he will lean on his idols to refine his game and look to have a big 2025 season once he debuts.
