Jul
3
2011

Amazins’ Sign Venezuelan Catching Prospect, Jose Garcia

An article by Hojo's Mojo

According to Baseball America, the Mets have signed Venezuelan catcher Jose Garcia. Bonus terms were not immediately available.

A 16-year-old from San Felipe, Garcia was considered one of the top catchers this year. He’s a 5-foot-11, 180-pound switch-hitter with a line-drive swing and good catch-and-throw skills.

NYFS posted this short bio on Garcia:

JOSE GARCIA, C
VENEZUELA
B-T: B-R Ht.: 5-11 Wt.: 180
After Jose Ruiz and Marck Malave, Garcia is expected to be the next in line among Venezuelan catchers. Garcia, who is from San Felipe, has skills on both sides of the ball with an athletic, lively frame. He’s good mechanically behind the plate, with good hands and a solid arm that plays up because of his quick release. He gets high marks for the catching intangibles that scouts and managers like to see. His hands are also an asset in the batter’s box. He has a level, line-drive swing and makes good contact. His power is below-average now. Some scouts think it will stay there, while others think he might have a tick more in him. He’s a switch-hitter, but his righthanded swing is more advanced. The Mets have been tied to Garcia.

Glad to see the Mets get into the IFA game and more importantly get a legit catching prospect in the pipeline.

About the Author: Rob Johnson

8 Comments + Add Comment

SFloridaMetsFan July 2, 2011 at 6:28 pm

Awesome. I don’t get how they can project anything with a 16 year old though.
- Bryan July 3, 2011 at 6:04 am
  
  That 16 year old named Reyes projected out pretty well.
jessep July 2, 2011 at 7:01 pm

Probably the same way they projected anything about Jose Reyes when he was signed at 16?
Clayton Collier July 2, 2011 at 9:30 pm

Agee must be doing backflips right now!
Lifelongmetsfan July 2, 2011 at 11:26 pm

16? Geez.. If this kid was signed by McDonalds to work slinging burgers he wouldn’t be allowed by law to work more than 20 hours a week and not past 9pm! Quite the out-sourcing, cheap labor MLB teams have going on with these young expendable Latin players. Sign up a bunch, if one breaks down, send the kid packing and it’s… “NEXT!…” I wonder how many Latin kids “make it” out of every kid’s signed? Anyone know? I recently watched the movie, “Sugar”
- Donal July 3, 2011 at 2:06 pm
  
  Keep in mind, most of these kids are signing to money that’s at the very least enough start a real business for their family(like Reyes did) or get an education and get out of poverty. That is a lot better than the draft system some people want to switch to.
  
  Is it a perfect system? No. There is a level of exploitation, especially by crooked team officials and agents. But it is a lot better than most of the “solutions” that have been presented.
Lifelongmetsfan July 2, 2011 at 11:44 pm

Just found an excellent paper written by a student named Vanessa Marie Miller on the subject of the exploitation of Latin baseball players. Def. worth reading!
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/journals/jihr/v4/n2/6/
Nicholas Pugliese July 4, 2011 at 2:15 pm

That bio you took from NYFS is actually from Baseball America. To update this they report is Garcia signed for “sandwich-round” money which is around $700-$900k.

NL East Standings

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Braves	23	18	.561	-
Nationals	23	19	.548	0.5
Phillies	20	22	.476	3.5
Mets	16	23	.410	6.0
Marlins	11	31	.262	12.5

Last updated: 05/18/2013

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