Yankees mishandled Deivi Garcia: ex-catcher Erik Kratz

Deivi Garcia is moving on and the Yankees are to blame, according to one of the club’s former catchers.

Erik Kratz shared his opinions on the former can’t-miss prospect on Thursday’s “Foul Territory” podcast after the hurler was designated for assignment on Monday.

Kratz was behind the plate for Garcia’s MLB debut in 2020, the final of the former catcher’s 11 big league seasons.

Kratz, who considered himself a role model for Garcia, going so far as to calling him his “hijo,” or son, blamed the front office for Garcia’s career going off the rails.

“The didn’t want to trade him because they felt like there was so much upside for him and now he’s DFA’d,” Kratz said.

“They did him wrong in the organization is the sense of the coaches they had to coach him through being a 20-year-old in the big leagues.

“It’s a prime example of a guy they could’ve traded for whatever the Yankees needed, it would’ve been a big piece coming off the years he was having in the minor leagues. They didn’t do it and now anybody can have them,” Kratz concluded.

That anybody is the Chicago White Sox, who claimed Garcia off waivers Thursday and optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte.

Garcia, 24, has spent most of the 2023 season in the minors.

He posted a 5.67 ERA in 28 appearances this season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre as a multi-inning reliever.

The former starter pitched in two games this year for the Yankees and picked up a three-inning save in May. 

“Just really has struggled to find that consistency,” manager Aaron Boone said Monday. “Has had some injuries that derailed him a little bit in different seasons.

“But really just struggled, whether it was certain times the stuff would come and go, other times the command was an issue.” 

Garcia, once a top-100 prospect, flashed some of his potential during the COVID-shortened 2020 season when he recorded a 4.98 ERA in six starts.

He even started the infamous Game 2 of the ALDS against the Rays, allowing a run before the ill-fated decision to insert lefty J.A. Happ in the 7-5 loss.

But Garcia then only made two starts for the Yankees in 2021, giving up six earned runs in 8 ¹/₃ innings, and had a 6.89 ERA last year between Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Double-A Somerset.