Last month, Baseball America identified Red Sox catching prospect Johanfran Garcia as the top backstop to play in the rookie-level Florida Complex League this season.
Garcia, who Boston signed for $850,000 in January 2022, made his stateside debut in early June after appearing in 40 Dominican Summer League games last year. In 42 games for the Sox’ Fort Myers-based affiliate this summer, the right-handed hitting 18-year-old batted a stout .302/.408/.497 with 10 doubles, two triples, five home runs, 32 RBIs, 21 runs scored, three stolen bases, 19 walks, and 37 strikeouts over 179 trips to the plate.
Behind the likes of batting champ Natanael Yuten, Garcia posted the ninth-highest batting average among qualified FCL hitters. The native Venezuelan also ranked 11th in on-base percentage, sixth in slugging percentage, seventh in OPS (.904), eighth in isolated power (.195), and seventh in wRC+ (137), per FanGraphs.
Defensively, Garcia made a team-leading 22 starts at catcher for the FCL Red Sox. The sturdy 5-foot-10, 196-pounder logged 176 2/3 innings behind the plate, allowing only two passed balls and throwing out 12 of 33 possible base stealers. He also made nine starts at first base, where he did not commit a single error in 73 innings.
When evaluating Garcia, who he ranked as the No. 9 prospect to play in the FCL this year, Baseball America’s Josh Norris wrote: “[Garcia] showed plenty of upside on both sides of the ball, and was particularly intriguing for his combination of hittability and all-fields power. He showed a solid knowledge of the strike zone and bat-to-ball skills, though his in-zone whiff rates might be a touch higher than is ideal and scouts noted his swing could get a bit long every now and then.
“Behind the plate,” Norris continued, “Garcia shows plus-plus arm strength but will need to watch his conditioning to assure he maintains the flexibility to stay behind the dish.”
Shortly before the FCL season drew to a close in late August, Garcia and several other Red Sox prospects made the jump to Low-A Salem for the remainder of the 2023 minor-league campaign. Making his full-season affiliate debut on Aug. 15, Garcia limped to the finish line to some degree by slashing just .203/.279/.305 with one home run and five RBIs in 15 Carolina League Games.
With that being said, Garcia was at least able to end the year on a high note. He went 5-for-17 (.294) with two walks in five September contests and would have had the chance to do even more damage if it weren’t for Salem’s final two games of the season getting cancelled due to inclement weather. In that time, he got the chance to play with his older brother Jhostynxon, an outfielder who joined the Red Sox organization as an international free agent in 2019.
All told, Garcia hit .274/.373/.442 with 13 doubles, two triples, six homers, 37 runs driven in, 29 runs scored, six stolen bases, 24 walks, and 61 strikeouts in 57 games (247 plate appearances) between the FCL and Salem Red Sox. With Salem specifically, he allowed two additional passed balls and threw out seven of 27 would-be base stealers in the process of logging 83 more innings behind the plate.
Garcia, who turns 19 in December, is currently regarded by Baseball America as the No. 23 prospect in Boston’s farm system. That ranks third among catchers in the organization behind only Kyle Teel (No. 4) and Nathan Hickey (No. 10), who both made it up to Double-A Portland this year.
While Teel and Hickey already have some experience in the upper-minors, Garcia did “put himself on many teams’ radars” this year, according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, which could make him a popular target in trade talks. If he does remain in the organization through the winter, though, Garcia is projected to return to Salem for the start of the 2024 season in April.
(Picture of Johanfran Garcia: Bryan Green/Flickr)
Blogging the Red Sox 