Yadier Molina

Yadier Benjamín Molina (born July 13, 1982), nicknamed "Yadi", is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball catcher who played his entire 19-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB) and who is currently the team's Special Assistant to the President of Baseball Operations.

Widely considered one of the greatest defensive catchers of all time for his blocking ability and his caught-stealing percentage, Molina won nine Rawlings Gold Gloves and six Fielding Bible Awards.

A two-time World Series champion, he played for Cardinals teams that made 12 playoff appearances and won four National League pennants.

Molina also played for the Puerto Rican national team in four World Baseball Classic (WBC) tournaments, winning two silver medals.

When he retired after the 2022 season, Molina ranked first all-time among catchers in putouts and second all-time among catchers with 130 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS); among active players, he ranked first with 845 assists, 40.21% of runners caught stealing, and 55 pickoffs.

Along with pitcher Adam Wainwright, Molina holds the records for most games started and won as a battery.

As a hitter, Molina accrued more than 2,100 hits, 150 home runs, and 1,000 runs batted in (RBIs); he batted over .300 in five seasons.

Other distinctions include selection to ten MLB All-Star Games, four Platinum Glove Awards, and one Silver Slugger Award.

Yadier Benjamín Molina was born on July 13, 1982, in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, the youngest of three boys to Gladys Matta and Benjamín Molina, Sr. He attended Maestro Ladislao Martínez High School in Vega Alta.

Baseball in Puerto Rico is a significant part of the island's culture.

Molina's father played second base as an amateur and worked as a tools technician 10 hours per day in a Westinghouse factory.

The Cardinals' fourth-round selection in the 2000 MLB draft, Molina entered the major leagues in the 2004 season and quickly showed one of the strongest and most accurate arms in the game.

Over his career, he earned a reputation as a team leader, eventually formulating pregame plans to handle opposing hitters, including pitching strategies and fielder positioning.

Undeterred by the universal reservations about his offensive ceiling, the St. Louis Cardinals instead took Molina in the fourth round of the 2000 MLB draft and signed him for $325,000.

The Cardinals then invited Molina to major league spring training camp.

The all-time hits leader in Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (or Doble-A Beísbol) history, the elder Molina delivered a .320 career batting average and gained election to the Puerto Rican baseball hall of fame in 2002.

Molina's two older brothers, Bengie and José, also developed into distinguished defensive catchers with lengthy careers in Major League Baseball (MLB), and each of the three won at least one World Series championship.

Each day when he completed work, Molina's father went directly home, ate dinner with his family, and crossed the street from his family's home with his sons and his son’s friend Carlos Diaz to Jesús Mambe Kuilan Park, spending countless evening hours teaching them the fundamentals of the sport.

He remained hopeful that his sons would become professional baseball players.

Molina's catching aptitude showed as early as age five and developed quickly.

Nonetheless, he developed great competence in playing all over the baseball field and, as older brother Bengie recalled, always seemed to "be the first player taken in the youth league draft".

Molina appeared on five NL Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) ballots, including finishing fourth in 2012 and third in 2013.

Molina concentrated on infield positions until about age 16, when he began to develop the familiar Molina physique: as of 2013, he stood 5'11" and weighed 220 pounds.

Molina's father also sought to accelerate him on the diamond.

Following Yadier's suspension from a youth league about age 15, he anticipated the desistance would stagnate his development, so he searched for an alternative.

Against the wishes of coaches, family members and friends, he scheduled Yadier for a workout with the Hatillo Tigres, an amateur league team.

Molina made the team after a single workout and immediately became the starting catcher.

The Tigres' first baseman, Luís Rosario, was the one who recommended him to the organization.

The Tigres played in a league composed mainly of players 10 or more years older than Molina, well before he was eligible for the MLB draft.

Minnesota Twins scout Edwin Rodríguez followed and scrutinized Molina starting in high school.

He observed that Molina's skills closely resembled that of both his older brothers—both accomplished major league catchers —and decided that his defense was "polished" enough to be considered more advanced than most high schoolers in the United States.

However, Molina's hitting lagged behind his defense.

The initial report on his skill set was "defensive catcher, great arm, weak bat"; the closest comparable hitter as catcher was one whom the Cardinals eventually placed at the top of their organizational ladder, his future manager Mike Matheny.

Before he was drafted, Molina worked out for the Cincinnati Reds.

He put on a spectacle at Riverfront Stadium with his arm and bat that grabbed the attention of executives, scouts, and prominent former Reds players, including Johnny Bench and Bob Boone.

As Molina recalled, he left the session with the impression that Cincinnati intended to draft him.

When Hurricane Maria ravaged the island of Puerto Rico in September 2017, Molina began relief efforts for victims of the catastrophe, consequently receiving the Roberto Clemente Award in 2018.

He was a two-time selection to the All-WBC Tournament Team and was a member of the 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series.

The product of a baseball family, Molina was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

His father was an amateur second baseman and the all-time hits leader in Puerto Rican baseball, and his two older brothers, Bengie and José, also developed into standout defensive catchers with lengthy MLB careers.