It’s not a secret that Deivi Garcia hasn’t progressed this season, at least not as the New York Yankees had hoped. While battling command issues, the right-hander, who opened the season as the Bombers’ number two prospect by some publications, just hasn’t positioned himself as an option to contribute to the 2021 Yankees, despite impressing in last year’s shortened campaign.
It’s probably safe to say, at this point, that Garcia isn’t the Yankees’ number two prospect anymore. Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza have leapfrogged him in the internal rankings, among others.
But that doesn’t mean Garcia should be counted out entirely as a prospect. Yes, he has been bad at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with a 7.41 ERA in 15 games (14 starts), but he still has youth on his side.
“He’s a young man,†manager Aaron Boone said according to NJ Advance Media. “Sometimes, especially when you’ve had the kind of success that he’s had and you rocket through the system and you come up last year and you have some varying degrees of success with us in the big leagues, sometimes you expect it to be easy and it’s not.â€
He’s not ready to help the Yankees, but it’s not fair to label him as a bust
Garcia’s struggles have forced the Yankees to rely heavily on Nestor Cortes Jr. and Luis Gil, just to name a couple of pitchers.
But Deivi Garcia is still 22, and remains the owner of an impressive curveball that can consistently get swings and misses. Once he sharpens his fastball command, everything else will fall in place. But he isn’t failed prospect. He’s just not ready.
“There’s growing pains that happen,†Boone said, “especially for very young and even very young, talented players sometimes. This has certainly been that type of year for him and hopefully he continues to learn from it and ultimately becomes better for going through these kinds of struggles that are inevitable for all of us that play this game long enough.â€
The Yankees hope he can show some progress soon.