Faced with increasing rotation needs, the Rockies are slated to promote prospect Rico Garcia, according to MLB.com’s William Boor (via Twitter). Corresponding roster moves aren’t yet known; Garcia will require a 40-man spot.
Just a 30th-round pick in the 2016 draft, Garcia has steadily increased his profile. He has thoroughly dominated the Double-A level, turning in a sparkling 2.07 ERA with 9.9 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 in 135 frames over 24 starts split about evenly between 2018 and 2019.
Garcia has run into some long balls since moving up to Triple-A, however. He owns an ugly 7.16 ERA with 7.3 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, and 2.1 HR/9 in 55 1/3 innings this year at the highest level of the minors.
Before his recent rough stretch, Garcia had earned placement in top-thirty prospect lists produced by MLB.com and Baseball America. He also warranted a mention from the Fangraphs prospect team, though the assessment there was that his limited secondary repertoire foretold a future in the bullpen.
The Rockies will evidently give Garcia a shot to show he can stick in the rotation before considering him for a relief job. But this promotion may be as much about immediate need as it is a desire to give a showcase to a promising young hurler. Garcia would have commanded a slot on the 40-man this fall regardless, in order to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
I’m gonna say that having to call a guy up with an ERA over 7 pretty much defines “We’re having pitching problems.”
Yeah, that’s obviously not a good sign. That said, league average ERA in AAA easily above 5. The 18th best ERA among qualified starters in AAA this season is 5.08, hugely due to the insane surge of home runs at that level.
Rico has seen his home run rate quadruple since his promotion to AAA and he pitched like an ace in AA, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see his results lie somewhere between his AA & AAA (also, I’m not a Rockies fan, just a guy who has been blown away by the HR surge in AAA).
Al Gore says the home run surge is a symptom of global warming. Both minor and major league pitchers are the victims of decreased moisture levels in the lower atmosphere, and the correspondingly reduced drag on projectiles such as baseballs.
Some blame Rawlings; however, tighter laces is not the real reason. If we want baseball to come back to normalcy, than we all need to drive electric cars and stop using plastic.
Al Gore has spoken!
Al Gore will say any change in anything is a symptom of global warming. That’s what he does. It’s how he went from being a millionaire to a multi-billionaire. He will continue to do it as long as it makes him more money and keeps his name relevant. He also claimed that he was responsible for the invention of the internet. Never trust anyone that’s getting rich by convincing people to trust them. Especially if they don’t practice what they preach. Al Gore’s carbon footprint is probably a thousand times larger than every single employee and patron of this site combined. Those jumbo jets he owns burn a lot of fossils fuels.
And let’s not forget ManBearPig
Wow, thank you for that info. I had zero idea that a plus-five ERA could land you in the top 20 in any league!!
And he gets Boston tomorrow…
AG Spalding’s corpse ran into some long balls in the PCL. Ball is hot down there.