The top three prospects for the Boston Red Sox are all pushing for an Opening Day roster spot during spring training.
Jhostynxon Garcia, who is nicknamed “The Password” for the unique spelling of his first name, isn’t at that point yet, but he hopes to join Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer in the big leagues by season’s end.
“My goal is ultimately to have at least a couple games toward the end of the year in the big leagues,” Garcia told MassLive’s Christopher Smith through translator Daveson Perez.
That may be a difficult goal for Garcia to achieve given the logjam the Red Sox could encounter in the outfield, but not an entirely unrealistic one. The 22-year-old Venezuelan made waves last season with impressive pop in his right-handed swing to climb three levels in Boston’s farm system.
Garcia finished the season at Double-A Portland, where he batted .263 with two home runs and 10 RBIs. He finished the campaign batting a combined .286 with 23 home runs, 66 RBIs and 17 stolen bases across all three stops.
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The Red Sox certainly see potential in Garcia, who the organization signed as an international free agent in 2019. Boston added him to the 40-man roster prior to this past November’s Rule 5 draft. Garcia, who stands around 6 feet and 215 pounds, is ranked as Boston’s 12th-best prospect by SoxProspects.com.
“Good swing,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters, per Smith. “He moves in the outfield, too. He’s a big dude but he moves.”
Garcia is expected to begin the season with Portland and will have to continue to impress if he wants to reach his goal. His promotion to the majors could also hinge on where the Red Sox are in the standings late in the season.
While making it to the big leagues is in the back of Garcia’s mind, he understands there is still a lot of work left for him to do. He’ll certainly want to cut down on his strikeout rate after fanning 24 times in 114 at-bats with Portland.
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“Last year was a really good year but the one thing I had (some difficulty with) was laying off certain pitches,” Garcia said. “So that was something that I worked on this offseason.”
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