Rafael Flores has been a good hitter everywhere he has played. Yet no MLB team bothered to draft him. The New York Yankees were prepared to do so and passed. They eventually signed him and are delighted they did.

His setup, leg kick, swing and results remind some of New York’s super slugger Aaron Judge – who has 214 homers since the start of the 2021 season and currently leads the American League with 18.

Flores leads the Double-A Eastern League with 10 home runs. In 44 games this year for the Somerset Patriots, the 24-year-old has also hit .306 with 12 doubles and 36 RBI in 44 games. He has 13 multi-hit games, including six with three hits.

That’s no surprise to the 6-foot-4, 230-pound right-handed slugger who divides his time between catcher and first base and was named the Yankees’ 2024 Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America.

“The hitting side of my game, there’s no drastic changes anymore, I’m just trying to fine tune some things like my approach and my swing decisions,” Flores told Mike Ashmore of mycentraljersey.com at the start of the 2025 season. “This offseason, I’m just tried to feel the same things, feeling the same leg kick, feeling the same bat path. It’s kind of just clicked, and it’s been good so far, I love it.”

Now in his fourth year in the minors, Flores has a ,278 career average with 59 doubles, 41 homers and 149 RBI in 277 games.

He’s working hard to remain at catcher, where he has thrown out only 17 percent (45 of 271) runners attempting to steal in 132 games behind the plate. That’s why he has also played 103 games at first base. His hustle on defense does impress, however.

Building A Resume

Flores played baseball and basketball at Katella High School in Anaheim, then went off to nearby Cypress College for two years. In 49 games for the Chargers in 2018-20, he hit .342 (38-for-111) with 11 doubles, a triple and two homers. He had 24 walks to 14 strikeouts and drove in 28 runs.

After sitting out 2021, it was off to Rio Hondo College in nearby Whittier. The Roadrunners have produced three MLB players:

• Bobby LaFramboise played one year at the school, transferred to New Mexico, and made 27 relief appearances for the Seattle Mariners (2013) and Pittsburgh Pirates (2014-15), going 0-1 with a 3.63 ERA.

• John Urrea was a first-round pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1974. In four seasons in St. Louis (1977-80) mand one with the San Diego Padres (1981), the right-hander had a 17-18 record, 3.74 ERA and 9 saves. His best game came in his second MLB start following 28 relief outings. On July 28, 1977, he blanked the Atlanta Braves on five hits, fanning six without a walk.

• The Tampa Bay Devil Rays made Evan Longoria the third overall pick in 2006 out of Long Beach State. He played shortstop at Rio Hondo in 2004, batting .430 with 7 homers, 39 RBI. He burst upon the MLB scene in 2008, winning the American League Rookie of the Year Award and leading Tampa Bay into its’ first World Series by batting .272 with 27 homers and 85 RBI as a third baseman. In 16 seasons overall through 2023 with Tampa Bay, the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks, the three-time all-star hit .264 with 342 homers and won three gold gloves. He will officially retire on June 7 after signing a one-day contract with Tampa Bay.

Flores was sensational at the school. He hit safely in his first 13 games, starting with a 4-for-5 debut featuring two homers and four RBI. After going 0-for-6, he hit safely in another 12 straight games. In 39 games overall, he batted .380 (63-for-166) with 16 doubles, 2 triples, 9 homers, 41 runs and 36 RBI. He also had 19 walks to 19 strikeouts.

Off To Alaska!

After playing all his games close to home in southern California, Flores went to play in the Land of the Midnight Sun with the Alaska Goldpanners in the summer collegiate league. He hit .348 with 36 RBI in 28 games.

The Yankees signed him for $75,000 one week after the draft on July 25, 2002. His coach at Rio Hondo, Mike Salazar, told reporters then that The Bronx Bombers had been watching Flores for some time and intended to draft him in the middle rounds.

Scouting This New York Yankees Prospect

MLB Pipeline has him ranked 15th overall in the Yankees system and explains that Flores’ career path is like that of current New York catcher-first baseman Ben Rice.

Rice, 26, has 10 homers in 44 games for New York this year. He’s built about the same as Flores but hits left-handed.

Baseball America ranks Flores as the Yanks’ 10th-best prospect.

“That’s about right from what I have seen,” said a scout for a rival AL team. “He’s got raw power to the pull side, for sure, and doesn’t chase out of the zone. His strikeouts have come, from what I can tell, on pitch recognition, change of speeds. That gets the best of them.

“The best of them learn to adjust and become more selective. Flores has got to do that.

“Defensively, he’s got an average arm for a catcher but pretty good footwork for such a big guy. He needs to play there and gain experience.

“I think he could be an average catcher with big power, probably off the bench as a backup or in a platoon and get some ABs at DH and first base.”

The New York Yankees have the reputation of buying free agents. Shrewdly scouting players such as Rafael Flores at small schools sometimes pays off, too. If he becomes another Bronx Bomber, the 29 other teams have nobody to blame but themselves for not taking a chance on him.