When Fermin has a goal, he's 'unstoppable'

This story was excerpted from Anne Rogers’ Royals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

In the fall of 2018, Royals Minor League catching coordinator J.C Boscan sat down with a young catcher named Freddy Fermin to set goals for the winter and upcoming year.

Fermin, who signed as an international free agent with the Royals in 2015, had just wrapped up his second season stateside, playing for the now-defunct Rookie League teams in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Burlington, Iowa -- quite the culture change for the young Venezuelan.

In this meeting before instructional league started, Boscan laid out what he thought Fermin needed to work on, and then he asked Fermin what his own goals were.

“I need to work on my English,” Fermin adamantly told Boscan. “I am a catcher, and I need to communicate with my pitchers better. That’s my goal.”

Five years later, as Boscan watches Fermin serve as the Royals’ backup catcher to his mentor and hero, Salvador Perez, in the Major Leagues, Boscan tells that story when he’s asked to describe Fermin.

“It hit me. It told me that day that this kid is up to something,” Boscan said. “It’s really hard for a person to tell you, ‘I need to work on my English.’ I know to this day he is still working on it. I know he wants to be better. I know his family is super proud of him, too. I will never forget that moment because it told me so much about who Freddy is as a person.”

Fermin is a 28-year-old rookie who doesn’t play every day. But as a backup catcher, he is essential to the roster -- and he is also playing well, with an .815 OPS in 27 games. He gives Perez days off and helps out where he’s needed, treating games he’s on the bench like games he’s playing.

“My mindset is, do everything to be ready,” Fermin said. “Whatever it is, [I’ve] got to be ready and work hard.”

In 2015, Fermin was nearly ready to give up baseball. At 19 years old, he wasn’t getting noticed by teams because of his smallish size. He had already been through plenty of hardship growing up in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, and it was getting harder to envision his dream of playing baseball. The Royals were Fermin’s last chance; he worked out at the Dominican Academy with newly signed players and stood out to Victor Baez, now the Royals’ Dominican Academy field coordinator.

“He’s not just here to work out,” Baez told assistant general manager Rene Francisco, detailing Fermin’s strong and accurate arm.

The Royals signed Fermin for less than $10,000. One chance was all he needed. As he slowly made his way through the Minors, playing at every level of the Royals’ organization, his receiving skills got better. His bat became serviceable with sneaky strength.

And Fermin became someone on whom the Royals knew they could count.

“He’s a workhorse,” Boscan said. “Sometimes I have to tell him, ‘Freddy, that’s enough.’ He’s never told me, ‘Hey, I’m good.’ He wants to work and is open to information at all times.”

Off the field, Fermin worked just as hard to learn English so he could better communicate with his teammates. He asked for extra classes with education/ESL coordinator Monica Ramirez. In Arizona, the two met at 5:30 a.m. to study before practice, then again after practice. During the COVID-19 shutdown, they met at safe distances to hand off worksheets, then practice over Zoom and WhatsApp.

“He needed a lot of practice, repetition, a lot of work,” Ramirez said. “I never wanted him to get discouraged, and every time I corrected him, he just kept going. Kept working. He was unstoppable. It made me very proud.”

Even now, Fermin and Ramirez will talk about the interviews he does with media -- all in English, without a translator. Ramirez uses Fermin’s story as an example for her young Latin students. Fermin won the organization’s Carlos Fortuna Award in 2019, which is given annually to the Royals Minor League player who is dedicated to improving his English.

And in ‘22, Fermin passed the English test and graduated from Ramirez’s program.

“My English isn’t perfect but I’m getting better every year,” Fermin said. “Monica helped me so much. She influenced most of the Latin players we have in the organization. She is a big part of our careers. She helps with teaching, with translation, helping us learn the culture. She is incredible.”

Those who work and play with Fermin rave about his determination and his personality. As his English improves, so do his leadership skills. Pitchers love throwing to him. When Austin Cox made his debut on May 4, throwing to Fermin calmed his nerves.

“When he came out there, it felt really familiar,” Cox said. “And he was like, ‘Hey, me and you. This is what you’ve always wanted.’ And that set with me. As soon as I got the first batter in there, it was game on, me and Freddy.”

Fermin has done it all to get to this point, grinding through nearly six years in the Minors. He played in extended spring camp when he was younger. He stayed in Arizona over the winter months. He has played in winter ball, both in Panama and his native Venezuela. Last winter, he was named MVP of the Venezuelan Winter League and unanimously selected as the league’s Rookie of the Year after leading the league with a .404 average and ranking second in on-base percentage (.482) and OPS (1.048).

“All of that made him who he is today,” Boscan said. “It’s a joy to watch that kid smile, and now I’m seeing him on TV almost every night. Joy is the only way I can explain it.”

Fermin made his debut in 2022 as one of eight Minor Leaguers added to the Royals’ roster in Toronto with 10 Major League players on the restricted list. The journey has not been easy for Fermin. But those four days in Toronto were all he needed to know that it was worth it.

“This is what you work for since you are little,” Fermin said. “Growing up, this is what you talk about. This is everything to us. Making your debut, it is a dream come true. Playing in the big leagues, it makes all of that hard work worth it. I have learned a lot to get here. I am still learning now.”

Fermin hasn’t taken anything for granted at the big league level. He never will, no matter what his role is or how long he is here.

And that is the joy in watching him play.

“When students like Freddy make it, and you see his accomplishments and how he acts in the Majors, it gives you energy and strength and motivation to keep working,” Ramirez said. “... The first interview I saw of him in the Major Leagues, I cried. I lost it. I was so proud. I was in awe of him and everything that he has done -- the amount of sacrifice, the hard work -- to get there. It’s priceless. It just melted my heart. Tears came out like they are coming out now.”