Deivi Garcia was just named the Yankees number one top prospect, so is it possible that he makes the Opening Day roster in the Bronx?
Deivi Garcia was another named player during the July trade deadline many teams wanted but Cashman did not want to trade him. Many fans believed at the time that the team will make a trade for an elite starting pitcher, but that was not the case. Garcia had quite the 2019 season in the minors. With the way he was pitching, it was expected we would see him during the September call-ups, but clearly that did not happen. Let’s look at the breakdown of the right-hander.
This season, Garcia pitched for the Tampa Tarpons, the Trenton Thunder and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Between all three minor league clubs, in 26 games Garcia went 5-9 with a 4.28 ERA.
Even though Garcia struggled throughout Triple A, here’s what former pitching coach Larry Rothschild stated to Brendan Kuty of NJ.com back in September on why he was not called up and as to what the young pitcher’s future holds: “……. I think he was tired. We’ll see in spring training. It would be nice to think that’s a possibility but I think realistically, he’s probably going to need a little time, just to get his feet on the ground and get things going in Triple-A and see where it takes him.”
Garcia reminds me of Luis Severino in a way. Since Garcia struggled as a starting pitcher in Triple A they put him in the bullpen. The same thing happened with Severino when he was in the majors. Struggled as a starter at first but when he went to bullpen, his career was on the rise.
As to whether Garcia gets called up to the main roster in the beginning of the 2020 season, I can definitely see him working on his mechanics during the winter. All eyes will be on him and other top prospects during Spring Training. It will be interesting to see how he does come February and you never know he might be in the rotation or bullpen at some point next season.