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Yankees: Deivi Garcia posts adorable Erik Kratz tribute on IG story

Adam Weinrib
Adam Weinrib

Yanks Go Yard

Deivi García #83 of the New York Yankees pitches in the second inning during game two of a doubleheader baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 4, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)

Yankees battery Deivi Garcia and Erik Kratz is very much in lockstep with each other.

New York Yankees budding young ace Deivi Garcia and 40-year-old catcher Erik Kratz call each other “hijo” and “padre,” and nothing about it feels forced.

Kratz is the ultimate “taxi squad” member even in non-pandemic seasons, and a willing participant in the success, mediocrity, and failure (whatever happens, happens!) of most MLB franchises over the past two decades. He’s a coach-in-waiting who the Yankees shouldn’t wait very long before making a coach.

And though he acts as a father figure to every young pitcher he comes in contact with, it’s clear that he and Garcia have something special going on, as evidenced by their exceptional first two MLB games together. They haven’t been trouble-free; in fact, they’ve featured a lot of Garcia trusting his stuff to get out of self-imposed jams, the mark of a true confident pitcher operating in his comfort zone.

Kratz went viral on Friday for his extremely emotional response while recalling what it means to be a mentor to Garcia, and the young righty paid the compliment back following his Friday night start.

Yes, Deivi, Kratz is very special. So are you.

There’s too much to like about Kratz for us to sum it up in a well-adjusted, 300-word tribute to his relationship with Deivi Garcia and the Yankees’ other developing Latin pitchers. The man himself elucidated it better than we ever could, picking up a little Spanish along the way to make things easier.

His mannerisms on the field belie his age, but his nurturing relationship with every kid who needs it make it clear where he stands in the grand spectrum of the game.

A man like Kratz can float from team to team for decades without any outsiders knowing exactly what type of special ingredient he brings to a franchise’s chemistry.

Luckily, the secret sauce has leaked out again in 2020 — Kratz is special, and his sons know it all too well.

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib is a Content Director on the FanSided network, and has been the co-editor at Yanks Go Yard for 6 years. He also co-hosts The Baseball Insiders Podcast thrice weekly, alongside FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray, as well as the Yanks Go Yard Podcast. Previously, he was a Senior Editor at 12up.com, and has been covering MLB and NFL for 10 years. He was also a headline and features contributor at ClickHole and Onion Sports, as well as the Associate Producer of the ESPN 30 for 30 film "Believeland". An avowed fan of the New York sports teams -- specifically the Yankees -- as well as the North Carolina Tar Heels, you can find Adam complaining mid-game on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn if the game goes really poorly.