Sitting within the passenger seat of his hitting coach’s 2022 Honda Accord final 12 months, Rafael Flores began suggesting ways in which Kevin Martir may make his inside a bit of extra fashionable.
“If you want to make the leather seats look really nice, you should get this,” Martir recalled Flores saying of some car-care product.
“What made you think of that?” Martir, then the Yankees’ Double-A hitting coach, responded.
Earlier than Flores turned a rising prospect within the Yankees’ system, the 24-year-old detailed automobiles for a good friend’s startup firm in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic robbed the catcher of a spot to play, so Flores spent the 12 months in an on-call cellular auto spa, driving to prospects for automobile washes, customizations and extra close to his house in Anaheim, California.
“It was just me and [my friend] grinding it out during that time. He’s gotten a lot better. He’s got a whole setup and everything now,” Flores mentioned. “It was mobile detailing, so we were in a van driving to people’s houses.”
Like his good friend’s enterprise, Flores has loved a glow-up of his personal over the previous couple of years.
Tall however skinny throughout his time at tiny Katella Excessive Faculty, Flores didn’t obtain curiosity from any prestigious applications as a teen. As an alternative, stints at two California junior faculties, Cypress and Rio Hondo, bookended his time as a automobile detailer.
“He calls himself a JUCO bandit,” Martir mentioned, mentioning a preferred time period for proficient however ignored gamers like Flores. “He’s not used to all the flashy stuff. He has that chip on his shoulder, and he talked about it.”
That chip didn’t cease rising following an All-State season at Rio Hondo, as Flores ventured to Alaska for summer season ball in 2022. There, he sat in his room, watched the MLB Draft and anticipated his title to be referred to as.
That by no means occurred.
The final decide of the draft got here with a sense of dismay, however Flores barely had time to course of his feelings earlier than Yankees scout Dave Keith referred to as. Keith had been watching Flores, and he wished to make a suggestion of $75,000.
A grateful Flores gladly accepted with out hesitation.
“I’m telling you, maybe 10 seconds later, I get a call from my scout,’” Flores remembered. “It was a rollercoaster of emotions. You go from, ‘Dang, I don’t get to play pro baseball’ to ‘they’re giving me a chance!’”
The Yankees have been the one workforce to make Flores a suggestion. He additionally attended exercises with the Dodgers and Braves, however he mentioned these periods “didn’t feel very serious.”
Flores instantly made one thing of his alternative, smacking two homers over 4 Rookie stage video games in 2022. His actual introduction to professional baseball got here the next 12 months, nonetheless, when the Yankees assigned Flores to Excessive-A Hudson Valley regardless of solely having a handful of minor league contests beneath his belt.
“We all kind of thought, ‘Let’s see what he can do,’ because he was age appropriate for [High-A], but he hadn’t really faced that type of pitching before,” Yankees vice chairman of participant growth Kevin Reese mentioned. “But he’s done nothing but hit.”
Reese is true about that.
After slashing .259/.346/.367 with eight house runs and 41 RBI at Hudson Valley in 2023, Flores cut up his time between Excessive-A and Double-A Somerset final season. He raked, hitting .279/.379/.495 with 31 doubles, 21 dingers and 68 RBI over 124 video games.
Flores is now the Bombers’ tenth finest prospect, per Baseball America. His 2024 efficiency earned him the publication’s Yankees Minor League Participant of the 12 months award, in addition to an invitation to main league camp this spring.
Whereas the Yankees lately reassigned Flores to minor league camp, he impressed massive league coaches and can have one other alternative to take action when he performs within the second annual Spring Breakout sport on Saturday.
“He’s a pretty complete player for as young as he is. And as limited as his professional career has been, he’s pretty well-rounded,” mentioned director of catching Tanner Swanson. “I’m not sure if he had realistic ambitions of being a major league player three, four, five years ago, but I’m sure he does now.”
Added assistant hitting coach Casey Dykes, who took a liking to Flores final spring: “You could tell confidence and energy oozes from him by the way he goes about his business and his body language.”
Dykes additionally mentioned that Flores is “mature beyond his years,” an evaluation others agreed with. As for the right-handed swinger’s expertise, Dykes highlighted Flores’ pop and talent to regulate the zone, although there’s some swing and miss in his sport.
Behind the plate, Flores’ receiving, blocking and game-planning have earned optimistic critiques from coaches and minor league pitchers he’s caught. His inexperience and the Yankees’ catching depth prevented Flores from being an actual candidate for the membership’s backup backstop job this spring, “But he certainly could be,” Swanson mentioned. “He’s that skilled.”
Flores’ future could also be 90 ft away from the plate, although, as he frolicked studying first base final 12 months, very like Ben Rice, one other pure catcher.
With a 37-year-old Paul Goldschmidt on a one-year deal and Austin Wells trying just like the Yankees’ long-term catcher, first base may assist one of many workforce’s different younger receivers discover constant main league enjoying time sooner.
“I love it. I’m a catcher. I’m handsy. So that transition is so easy. And I’ll take the at-bats, for sure,” Flores mentioned of first base, echoing sentiments shared by Rice. “As long as I hit, I’ll find a position. Doesn’t matter where I’ll be. I’ll play anywhere, as long as I can play.”
That Flores is even eager about methods to expedite his path to The Present is a testomony to how far he’s come since his transient draft day disappointment.
Some, like Martir, really feel Flores has already confirmed improper those that handed him by. However even after a breakout minor league season and surprising hype from prospects boards, Flores continues to be fueled by his lackluster pedigree.
“I didn’t really come from a big school. I didn’t come from a big background,” he mentioned. “I feel like my whole career, I’ve had that chip on my shoulder, and I use that to my advantage. I use it to motivate myself. I use it to fuel my game.
“It sounds cliche, starting from the bottom, but I technically did.”
