There have been high regards for New York Yankees pitching prospect Deivi Garcia. People are saying that he should be a starter for the team in 2020. But, the Yankees need to be cautious with him and build their team as if he didn’t exist this offseason.
Pitchers Are Available
Of course, everybody knows that there are some huge arms out on the free-agency market, but none are more prominent than Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg.
It would be an ideal situation if the Yankees could sign one, if not both of them, but others like Madison Bumgarner and Zack Wheeler are also on the market. They need to focus on this over wanting to use Garcia as a starter in 2020.
Not Completely Proven
A lot of the high regard for Garcia came after a hot stretch for him in AA but wasn’t that great after he was promoted to AAA. His ERA was near 5.50 with a 1-3 record. He has been inconsistent over his career; some levels he had a lot of success at and others not as much.
If the Yankees had him starting in 2020, I can tell you that he would get shelled every time that he went out there. He isn’t ready.
Pressure
Playing for the Yankees organization comes with a lot of stress, and often the weight is also felt in minors. With a lot of news about his success and a potential call up in 2019, the pressure probably got to him. His name was being mentioned a lot, and that gets to a player.
A lot of guys also kind of flatten out at the AAA level, and there are no better examples than Luis Cessa and Chance Adams. Both pitchers were great in AA but never had much success after. Could Garcia be another victim of that curse?
I think that Deivi Garcia has the potential to be good, but all I’m saying is that the Yankees need to act like he doesn’t exist when building their team this winter. If they plan to put him in the rotation and he struggles, they won’t have a fallback option.
You can never have too many pitchers, and if Garcia proves himself in 2020, there’s no reason why he can’t make it into the rotation, just not when camp breaks.