Pratt was drafted during the 6th round of the 1985 amateur draft. Considered a good prospect, Pratt skipped the entry-level Rookie League and instead was catapulted into the New York–Penn League, where Pratt, barely 18 and out of high school, spent most of his time facing Latin American players with years of professional baseball experience and older American players drafted out of premier universities. This appeared to be a mistake for Pratt, who batted .134 in his first professional appearance and was occasionally pinch-hit for with pitchers (who do not bat in the NY-PL), although he displayed outstanding defense.\n', '

The Red Sox refused to admit their mistake and have Pratt repeat the level in 1986, and instead promoted him to the full-season South Atlantic League. Pratt improved, however, and was easily the best catcher on the team, the Greensboro Hornets. He again played excellent defense and was a favorite receiver of Greensboro pitchers, and although his hitting had improved greatly from his debut season, he was still overmatched at the plate, batting .241 and striking out 114 times with only 30 extra-base hits.\n', '

He was again promoted in 1987, this time to the Florida State League, where he enjoyed the first full-success of his career. He received a lot of playing time in Spring Training with the Boston Red Sox and was again the best catcher for their A-ball affiliate Winter Haven Red Sox. At Winter Haven, Pratt batted a more-impressive .258 and lowered his strikeout total while continuing to play excellent defense.\n', '

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