The New York Yankees called up right-hander Deivi Garcia to make his MLB debut against the New York Mets and he did not disappoint. After being in the minors for just four seasons, Garcia showed promise that he can hang in the big leagues.
Throwing six full innings while allowing four hits and no earned runs, Garcia fanned six and walked none. The 21-year-old is known for his high spin rate fastball and curveball, which he dazzled during his outing.
Deivi Garcia's curveball pic.twitter.com/Z5E5d3gGYj
— Nick Pollack (@PitcherList) August 30, 2020
One of the biggest concerns scouts had with Garcia was with his control and constantly falling behind in the count. Today, Garcia did the exact opposite. He threw just 75 pitches during those six innings and 51 of them were strikes.
Garcia retired the first nine batters he saw and kept the Mets’ offense on their heels all day. One of the biggest reasons why Garcia was able to have so much success was the way he releases the ball. His mechanics hide the ball until the very lasts second which makes the time shorter for the hitter to pick up the ball. This makes a 92-93MPH fastball almost look 95-96MPH. While watching his outing, Garcia was beating a lot of hitters on the inner half to the plate, which proves they were late on his fastball.
A little history was made today by Garcia as well, as he is the youngest pitcher in MLB history to record 6+ strikeouts with 0 BB and 0 ER in his debut start (minimum five innings pitched).
I think New York Yankees fans can expect to see more of Deivi Garcia this season. The Yankees rotation still isn’t where they want it to be, and unless Brian Cashman goes out and snags a big arm in a huge trade, the Yankees will take whatever they can get.
The bombers extended their record to 19-13 which places them in second place for the AL East behind the Tampa Bay Rays. The next game will be against the Rays, which will be the beginning of a three-game series.