Rookie left-hander Jaime Garcia surged onto the scene for the St. Louis Cardinals, winning 13 games and finishing third in the National League Rookie of the Year vote.
With the departure of veteran starting pitcher Joel Pineiro last winter, the St. Louis Cardinals were left with an opening in their 2010 rotation. Young left-hander Jaime Garcia seemed a legitimate contender – on paper at least.
Pitching coach Dave Duncan and manager Tony La Russa dampened expectations, making it clear on multiple occasions over the winter that Garcia would be better served to return to Triple-A Memphis for 2010. With the then-23-year-old coming off August 2008 Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery, the Cardinals braintrust wanted to protect their youngster through fewer and potentially less stressful Triple-A innings.
Garcia had returned late in the 2009 season to make nine very effective minor league appearances. Knowing his potential since he was drafted in 2005, we had named him our top prospect in the Cardinals system coming into the season.
In mid-February, Garcia reported to the major league spring training camp in Jupiter, Florida on a mission. He blew those Memphis plans out of the water by pitching so well (3.00 ERA, 20:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 24 innings) and with such poise that La Russa and Duncan had no choice. The native of Reynoso, Mexico would be their fifth starter.
As the regular season got underway, Garcia continued to exceed expectations. Not only did he lock down that rotation spot, he essentially became the team’s third starter alongside Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter.
Through the first two months of the season, Garcia made ten starts, posting an eye-catching 1.32 ERA. Providing a good reminder of the team’s struggles as a whole this past season, Garcia was pinned with two losses and three no-decisions in those outings.
During the middle third of the year, Garcia’s ERA crept up slightly, but he made just one start in which he was charged with more than three runs. At the end of July, his ERA was a run higher, but still spectacular at 2.33.
Following a couple of uncharacteristic four-run outings to begin August, Garcia pitched his best game of the season on August 22. He tossed a three-hit complete game shutout against the soon-to-be World Champion San Francisco Giants. Garcia fanned six and issued no walks.
On September 18, as a precautionary measure, La Russa announced that Garcia would be shut down for the remainder of the season. No one apparently told the pitcher the news as he reacted with surprise. After meetings with the skipper and general manager John Mozeliak, the club backed off the decision temporarily.
Without Garcia pitching in game action again, they made it official one week later.
The 24-year-old last took the mound on September 13, finishing with a stellar 13-8 record, 2.70 ERA and a 132:64 strikeout to walk ratio over 163 1/3 innings and 28 starts.
Those 13 wins, the most by a first-year National League pitcher, propelled him into being a legitimate Rookie of the Year contender, but his relatively slow finish ultimately damaged his candidacy. Garcia still came in a very respectable third in the voting.
Following the season, Garcia was selected to the 11-man 2010 Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team and was named the Cardinals’ team Rookie of the Year as well.
While the Cardinals did not reach the playoffs with Garcia, it is difficult seeing how they could have won as many as 86 games without his rookie-year emergence. The only left-hander in the rotation seems poised to remain there for at least the next five seasons.
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[...] veteran stopgaps 14. An even worse year at third 13. The muddled middle 12. Herzog to the Hall 11. Garcia’s emergence 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. [...]
Since there are a few early votes in the 15-16 range, I expanded the selections to include a 17-18 option.
Sorry for the OT but I had to post this.
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_31f9b9c0-0d1b-11e0-83b9-0017a4a78c22.html
There seems to be some feeling that Garcia will have a sophmore slump in 2011, but I have yet to see any objective facts to back that up. He was shut down early but it was not because of injury, it was just caution. I see no reason why he can’t equal or exceed his 2010 performance in 2011.
Here’s what I posted to BB and CC a week or two back:
“I’m not suggesting that Garcia won’t improve as a pitcher as I’m sure that he’ll only continue to get better. However, his 2010 stats were boosted by a heck of a lot of luck, and there’s not a great chance that he’ll end up with another 145 ERA+ in 2011.
Garcia had an outstanding ERA of 2.70 in 2010. His FIP was 3.41, showing that he got a bit lucky in terms of batted balls and the distribution of his baserunners. A 7.3% HR/FB rate is entirely unsustainable, so his xFIP was even higher at 3.73. Still very good, but not spectacular as his 2010 ERA would suggest.”
I would definitely expect some regression out of Garcia.
I voted for the 11-12 victory total because i think his second year will be a year of adjustment.by him and the league to him.Hitters will adjust to him the more they see him and Garcia to the hitters.I think Cards will continue to be cautious with him.
Enough with the negativism Bw.
IMO, whether he wins 8 or 16 depends on the team around him. Hopefully it will be 16.
The success of Garcia (like that of McClellan) has origins. The Cards diagnosed they were underscouting one of the best amateur talent pools, Texas. They hired a scout for Texas who brought with him awareness of Garcia.
Garcia was a 30th rounder of the Os in 04, coming out of a high school near the Mexican border. He went unsigned. A year later, without playing, he went about the 22nd round. He had an impressive debut in 06 and was revealed to have been undervalued. By taking a chance on Garcia’s pitch quality, not collegiate statistics, the Cards got lucky and found a plum, helping make up for bad luck with high round lefties Haberer, Norrick, Furnish. The success owed to improved scouting and to taking more chances, lower in the draft.
Its unusual to find a ML calibre starting pitcher at a low round. Some examples are Roy Oswalt and the Astros also once came up with a good pitcher out of a small college in Pennsylvania, Miller. There must be plenty more examples during baseball history. The Cards once came up with guy who went on to earn a Cy Young award with another team, signed out of an Arizona high school at a low round (was his name John Denny? )
Starting pitching is so important to ML success and veteran pitchers cost so much as a result (e.g., Lohse, Westbrook, Carpenter) that is very important to sign and develop homegrown starting pitchers, like Garcia.
Anybody else catch Jaime’s guest appearance on MLB Network? It’s been replayed several days in a row… He handled himself on camera quite well.
Jaime is an excellent individual. Well spoken and has manners like that of a southerner. We got to know him when both He and Colby roomed together in Palm Beach. He’s a good kid.
Before that appearance, I’d never seen Jaime speak at any length and was quite impressed.
As a pitcher, three things really stood out to me about his 2010… maturity, toughness and poise. He pitched at a level far beyond his years, acquitting himself well from the start, being paired against three team’s #1 pitchers in his first three starts… Gallardo (MIL), Santana and Lincecum… winning one, losing one and taking a no-decision in the 20-inning marathon. He gave up nothing in that game, pitching Santana to a draw. Two of those three guys were CY winners… but it didn’t seem to faze or overawe him in the least. And he was 4-0 vs. Cincy, including a win in the brawl game.
Undoubtedly, he has the tools and the pitches to be a good one.
FIP and all the SABR stuff aside, what I saw him do consitently is pitch himself out of trouble… getting the GIDP or the big K when the situation demanded it. There were a few times when command seemed to escape him, but he was almost always able to bounce back. He clearly began to wear down later in the year, benefiting from extra days rest, which were few and far between.
I think it was smart to shut him down early. He’s going to be a weapon for this team for some time to come. I wouldn’t be the least surprised to see him make those predicting sophomore slump eat some of those words… just like he made TLR/Dunc eat those words about starting 2010 in Memphis.
It seems like some express disappointment expressed about draftees Craig, Luna, Henley. The feeling may be they do not project impressively at the ML level. I still regard these signees as draft day successes, because obtained in the 8th or 9th round. They seem solid value, for where drafted. If the Cards have minor league talent issues, these seem more with the choice and cultivation of higher draft picks, a shortfall not to be pinned on Craig, Luna, and Henley.
A word on Garcia………….. his release was/is similar to Santana and Liriano…….in their beginning……………. Santana had to tune down the slider……Liriano blew it out the elbow, and has taken his time coming back to full speed………. he needed to focus his next “peak” on a payday year….. an important consideration.
Garcia has already blown it up………..he used his full resources to secure a place this year. To start his clock going. The straight arm slider from that angle is devastation to hitters……… and to the elbow………he was forced to shorten up by August in consideration of these many variables. He sees the issues as they pertain to his career.
He will likely pitch with some reserve this year (Santana wisdom) ……..thus his numbers will reflect that I’m sure…………..still a good pitcher………probably not dominant.
Garcia is not likely to start off with a 1.32 ERA through 10 starts, so it will be hard to compare his start this year with last. He will have a poorer defense behind him, we know that. On the other hand, it has to be unlikely he will have an offense with a cleanup hitter hitting sub .200 with RISP like the first half last year, so clutch run support might be easier to come by. If team chemistry is better that will help too. His success all depends on how the team performs around him.