Enter the Password. The Red Sox are promoting outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia to the majors. Katie Morrison-O’Day of MassLive reported the news. Outfielder Wilyer Abreu is going on the injured list, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Abreu has been battling some calf tightness in recent days.
Garcia, 22, was an international signing out of Venezuela back in 2019. His professional debut was delayed by the minors being canceled in 2020. Since then, he has climbed the minor league ladder, posting gaudy offensive numbers. Though he sometimes has received more attention for his unique name, which led to his delightful “Password” nickname, he has been creeping up prospect lists.
Last year, he split his time between Single-A, High-A and Double-A. He got into 107 games overall, hitting 23 home runs and slashing .286/.356/.536 for a wRC+ of 149. The Sox added him to their 40-man roster in November, to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He has continued hitting this year. He has appeared in 99 games between Double-A and Triple-A with 20 homers, a .289/.363/.512 line and 133 wRC+.
Despite the strong production, the Sox haven’t really had a place for him. Their outfield picture has been cluttered all year, which also kept Roman Anthony down on the farm for a while. Anthony eventually got called up and joined a group that includes Jarren Duran and Abreu. Masataka Yoshida is often in the designated hitter spot but jogs out to the outfield on occasion. Ceddanne Rafaela had been the club’s regular center fielder but he has been spending a lot of time at second base to help the Sox clear the outfield logjam.
That crowding also seemed to push Garcia onto the trading block. His name reportedly came up in talks as the Sox tried to get Joe Ryan from the Twins ahead of the deadline, but nothing got done there. Ryan stayed in Minnesota and Garcia stayed with the Sox. Abreu’s injury has finally opened a path for Garcia to get to the big leagues.
It’s unclear if Garcia is up for good or if it will be a short spell. Abreu’s injury has been lingering for the past few days. Since he wasn’t immediately placed on the IL, that suggests it’s fairly minor. Presumably, the Sox will backdate his IL placement by three days, meaning he could be back in a week. That could squeezed Garcia back down to the minors, though rosters also expand from 26 to 28 on September 1st, which could help him stay.
At this point in the calendar, he likely won’t be able to exhaust rookie eligibility. It’s too late for him to get 45 days of big league service time. He also probably won’t be able to get 130 at-bats. That means he’s likely going to still be a prospect going into 2026, which could be relevant for the prospect promotion incentive.
If Garcia is on two of the three prospect lists between Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline, then he could be PPI eligible. The Sox would need to call him up early enough in the 2026 season to earn a full year of service. If they did so, Garcia would earn them an extra draft pick by winning Rookie of the Year or by finishing top three in MVP voting during his pre-arbitration years. Garcia is already ranked the #78 prospect in the league by Baseball America and #77 at MLB Pipeline, though he didn’t crack the most recent ESPN update.
That will be a matter for the future. The logjam will still be present going into next season, unless the Sox make an offseason trade sending out someone like Duran or Yoshida. For now, the Sox are in a tight postseason race. They are 68-59, currently in possession of the second Wild Card spot in the American League. The top spot is held by the Yankees. The Sox are a game and a half back and the two sides kick off a four-game series in the Bronx tonight. Garcia will jump right into the middle of all of that and will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
Photos courtesy of Rick Cinclair, Imagn Images
“Enter the Password.” hahaha That’s fantastic! How long have you been sitting on that one?
Knowing Darragh’s affinity for puns from the podcast, a very long time xD
Meow – I think Darragh is great, and his humor is much appreciated.
It’s supposed to be about having fun, and he gets it!
He dropped an awesome Married With Children reference at the start of this week’s podcast.
I’ll just call him J-Gar.
Perhaps the only first name with “J, Y, and X”. Unless another Jhostynxon unborn will appear in the future.
Best opening line in website history!
Nah
Bubba, Carson and “The Password” getting the in the past day who’s next?
Samuel Basallo also finally got The Call a few days ago.
It’s officially debut season, baby!
For whom the bell TOLLE s is next..))
Lawlar & Wetherholt
Darragh, you made my day with that article intro.
Great opening line…didn’t see this one coming
That sucks for abreu
For all the Marcelo Mayer is always hurt whiners…. where are the Same Wilyer Abreu is always hurt statements?
Wilyer abreau was never looked at as a top prospect or future franchise pillar ..its unfair and a different standard but is what it is
Fen – Yeah he’s a bit injury prone, for sure.
What this really means is we will be seeing a lot of Romy/Hamilton at 2B with Rafaela back in CF ….. not good.
Shouldn’t this open up Ceddane to stay at second?
Duran can play center, let Anthony and Password handle the corners. Yoshi can DH, or apparently get the occasional start in left.
Dirty – It’s not early season anymore, not a good time to focus on breaking in a very inexperienced rookie. I think PW will be a bench player. But yeah, ya never know with Cora.
FPG – probably going with Anthony / Duran / Jhostynxon in the OF. Yoshida at DH. Rafaela at 2B.
Which in my opinion is a crime, but I’m also not a huge fan of Hamilton at 2B.
Oh I forgot about Eaton lol, he could fit in somewhere too.
Logically I fully agree, but hey, they called him up. Might as well see what the kid can do. I know somebody had to get pulled up with Wilyer on the DL, but it would be stupid to just have him waste away on the bench if he’s going to be here without at least getting a shot to do something.
Dirty – Nobody wastes away on Cora’s bench, not with his love of L/R matchups! LOL
Even if he doesn’t start, he’ll get into games.
True that!
Looks like this is the lineup for tonight’s game:
Sox tonight: Anthony RF, Bregman 3B, Duran LF, Story SS, Lowe 1B, Yoshida DH, Rafaela CF, Hamilton 2B, Narváez C, and Giolito RHP.
Let’s get a big win tonight, we need one bad!
Facing two lefties this weekend in the bronx expect him in the lineup at least a couple of times
Rsox – It will be interesting for sure. Romy/Hamilton will play 2B and it will be Duran/Anthony/Yoshida against RHP and Rafaela/Anthony/PW against LHP? I dunno, I think Duran will sit for one game max.
I don’t think Cora is dumb enough to bench Duran for two games this weekend.
I would expect Duran and Anthony in all 4 games with Yoshida/Lowe/Hamilton in the lineup against righties with Gonzalez/Garcia/Eaton in against the lefties
Rsox – The two lefties he would be facing are Rodon and Fried, two of the best in the game.
Against LHP Cora had benched Mayer and even Anthony early on because he feels the difference between MLB lefties and AAA lefties is mammoth. So I wouldn’t expect him to change that approach.
But who knows, it’s Cora …..
Fried got left in the boiling oil a little too long and he’s, well, …
So sticking with Rafaela at 2B? Interesting move. Feel like his glove and bat is their best option at CF but whatever.
It’s a shame that the Red Sox won’t have Abreu for their upcoming 4 game series in Yankees Stadium. He loves hitting there and plays great defense there too!
With that said, I’m super excited to see what Garcia can do in the majors, let alone at Yankee Stadium with their playoff season on the line. The Red Sox generally don’t like to bring kids up in high-pressure situations to make their debuts, but they had no choice. The Password has been on fire since being promoted from AA Portland to AAA Worcester. Now let’s hope he walks tall and carries a big stick into Yankees Stadium this weekend!
Should have traded Abreu in a deal to get Joe Ryan… When you get a chance check out his Hitting Zone statistics, specifically in the top 3 Quadrants of the strike zone…….
Best lede ever!
THE PASSWORD!!!!!!!
Sucks to lose Abreu but excited to see what Jhostynxon can do
Just think maybe could have had someone to pinch hit for Toro in the Orioles series instead of playing one man short?
The password is invalid. Your team has been locked. Too many unsuccessful tries to win. But it is password time in Boston!
Is that a silent J?
JOES-tin-son
Trey – No.
Okay I’ll explain it to everyone one last time …..
When an H follows a J, the H is silent ….. like Jhonny Peralta.
And the X is pronounced like an S.
So it’s pronounced JOES-tin-son
I think its a hard Y, not a hard J to start his name. Like Coach Yoast from Remember the Titans 😉
Otto – You’ve reminded me of when Abreu first came up.
He told the reporters his first name is pronounced “WILL-GER”.
Then he eventually changed his mind and went with “WILL-YER”.
I think it depends on whether he wants to use the Spanish pronunciation or the English pronunciation.
JAJAJA!!
Man what a scramble score his name would be!!!
I see what you did there! The ‘m’ is silent just like the ‘h’.
Genius!
Kid has a real pretty swing and not many holes in his game. Doesn’t get a lot of attention because of the other big name prospects that have come through, but this kid could be the RF of the future. Still convinced Abreu winds up in Minnesota this offseason in a Joe Ryan trade.
Can’t say he looks that good… we will see
Another inferior prospect to Spencer Jones that gets hyped by BA simply because of the team he plays for.