The New York Yankee’s prospect Deivi Garcia is confident. Still, his performance in yesterday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies did not spell good for him getting that coveted fifth spot in the Yankees rotation. Garcia made his spring training debut yesterday, and it didn’t go well; he gave up two runs in two innings of work.
In the first, GarcÃa was just one strike away from retiring the side when center fielder Scott Kingery jumped on a pitch that Garcia left up in the zone, and Kingery made him pay for it slamming a big home run. Leading off the bottom of the second, right fielder Odúbel Herrera absolutely crushed a fastball over the that Garcia threw right in the heart of the plate. Herrera’s homer was a 373 feet bomb to straightaway right. He struck out three along the way as well do his start wasn’t a total loss, but his ERA was an inflated 9.00.
“We have so much talent here. We have a lot of young players that have so many different abilities,” he said. “I think the key for me is to stay healthy. I think if I’m able to stay healthy, that’s what’s going to give me the best chance at helping this team,” Garcia said through an interpreter.
The New York Yankees 2021 pitching rotation is pretty well set up, with Gerrit Cole leading off, then Corey Kluber, Jameson Taillon, and Jordan Montgomery holding down the fourth spot. But the fifth starter job is pretty much up for grabs. Deivi Garcia is just one pitcher that is looking to hold down that spot. Domingo German, Michael King, Nick Nelson, and non-roster invitee Jhoulys ChacÃn are in the mix. Prospect Clarke Schmidt is out of the equation. The 25-year-old entered the spring hoping to compete for the fifth spot in the Yankees’ rotation and still expects to be a factor in the majors, though now that won’t occur as soon as he would have liked.
The only one of these pitches that has pitched well early in New York Yankees’ spring training is Nick Nelson. Still, Garcia and German are the front runners. But there is no question that Garcia’s poor outing certainly didn’t help his cause. If he has another bad outing, he will likely not picture for that fifth spot. Tomorrow Domingo German will get a chance to show why he deserves that fifth spot in the rotation when he takes on the Detroit Tigers at George Steinbrenner Field in St. Pete.