At only 21 years old, the New York Yankees can afford to take their time with pitching prospect Deivi Garcia. However, if they feel like he’s ready to contribute, they will, most likely, not hold him back.
Garcia, a right-handed pitcher with a power arsenal and a bit of a control issue, took huge steps last season, going from Class A-Advanced to Triple A, and he’s already knocking on the door in the major leagues.
He’s been opening eyes since last season, when he had a 16.81 K/9 in Class A-Advanced, 14.59 in Double A and 10.13 in Triple A. He had good ERAs in the first two stops (3.06 and 3.86, respectively) but struggled a bit in Scranton with 5.40.
The Yankees’ most prized pitching prospect
He isn’t very tall, but the Yankees feel like his high-speed fastball and power curveball are already major league-ready.
“He has a great demeanor. He handles himself with a lot of confidence. You can tell, when he’s on the mound, he believes that he’s very capable. And his ability to spin the ball is really impressive,” were the words of New York Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone this week in his latest conference call with the media.
To succeed in the majors, Garcia is going to have to cut down the walks. In 40.0 Triple A frames, he handed them out at a 4.50 per each nine innings pace, which could be problematic in the bigs since he is prone to the long ball (1.80 HR/9 in those 40.0 innings.)
“He’s been working on some things about his delivery, and he has made some strides with it since spring training started,” Boone said.
Is Deivi Garcia ready to take the next step and help the Yankees as a multi-inning reliever, a traditional bullpen arm or even as a starter in 2020? Only time will tell, but he is already making quite the impression.