New York Post, Monday, August 19, 2019nypost.com40
W
HILE Deivi Garcia pitched
out of the bullpen Satur-
day for the first time this
season, it’s what the Yankees top
prospect did — not when he did it
— that stood out most.
The 20-year-old right-hander,
who signed for $200,000 out of
the Dominican Republic in 2015,
threw five no-hit innings for Tri-
ple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre,
striking out seven and surrender-
ing an unearned run. Despite
walking five batters, it repre-
sented a third straight solid outing
for the 5-foot-9, baby-faced starter.
Over the past few months he has
risen from High-A to the doorstep
of the majors, and from fourth to
the top of the Yankees’ prospects
rankings on MLB.com.
Garcia came in after one inning
for Yankees reliever Ben Heller
— who underwent Tommy John
surgery last year and was making
his first rehab start since suffer-
ing a right forearm strain this
season — and it could portendwhat’s to come for Garcia.
Earlier this month Yankees GM
Brian Cashman said Garcia would
come out of the bullpen if called
up to the Yankees this season,
which could become a possibility
when MLB rosters
expand to 40 on
Sept. 1. It’s un-
clear, however,
whether the Rail-
Riders will con-
tinue pitching
Garcia out of the bullpen.
Cashman said multiple teams
were interested in Garcia at the
July 31 trade deadline, but the Yan-
kees opted not to deal him for a
veteran pitcher to shore up their
inconsistent staff.
The buzz surrounding Garcia
took off one night in June when he
fanned 15 in six innings in Dou-
ble-A, and showings like that
earned him a start in the MLB Fu-
tures Game in July, where he
pitched a 1-2-3 inning and was
promoted to the RailRidersshortly thereafter. Because of his
small stature and lively stuff, he
has drawn comparisons to fellow
countryman and Hall of Famer
Pedro Martinez and the Mets’
Marcus Stroman.
“What’s not to
like?” a scout said.
“He’s young with
incredible poise.
Pitches with a
four-pitch mix
[mid-90 mph fast-
ball, power curveball, improving
changeup and slider], can throw
all pitches over the plate. Doesn’t
look 20 in his mannerisms. He is
impressive to watch.”
With Double-A Trenton this
season, Garcia struck out 87 in 11
starts (an impressive 14.6 strike-
out rate), along with a 4-4 record
and 3.86 ERA.
With his new team, Garcia is
1-3 with a 5.01 ERA in seven
games. He has fared better in his
last three appearances, pitching
to an 0-1 mark with a 2.70 ERA,16 strikeouts and four earned runs
over 13 ¹/₃ innings as he transitions
to better competition and a differ-
ent ball than the one he used while
climbing the baseball totem pole.
To prepare Triple-A pitchers for
the next level, the league ditched
the standard minor league ball for
the version many major league
pitchers complain was purposely
altered before this season to boost
home run numbers, a claim com-
missioner Rob Manfred has re-
peatedly denied.
Many players say the ball be-
came tighter with lower seams af-
ter its manufacturer, Rawlings,
was purchased by a private invest-
ment firm and MLB in 2018. There
have been 2,195 home runs in Tri-
ple-A as of Sunday, compared to
1,555 all last season.
Garcia said through an inter-
preter last week his usually reli-
able curveball slips out faster than
it did in Single-A and Double-A,
though he hasn’t been forced to
change his grip on the pitch likeMasahiro Tanaka has on his trade-
mark splitter.
It is just another hurdle to be
overcome, as Garcia has come a
long way since thinking he’d make
it to the major leagues as a middle
infielder.
“I never liked it,” he said of
pitching.
But the Yankees brain trust
saw his arm in action during a
2015 tryout, and convinced
him it was the way to go.
What about coming
out of the bullpen in
The Bronx in Octo-
ber?
“I’m confident
that I could
do it,” Gar-
cia said.
mfischer@
nypost.
comBEATING
BUSHES
THE
Mark Fischer
Yanks nearing some major relief
By DAN MARTINIn addition to Luis Severino
facing batters for the first time
before Sunday’s 8-4 loss to
Cleveland as he comes back
from the lat strain that has side-
tracked his season, Dellin Be-
tances threw a bullpen session,
as he attempts to come back
from a lat strain of his own.
Severino and Betances will
go to Tampa on Monday to
continue throwing when the
Yankees head out on a nine-
game West Coast trip.
Betances, according to Aaron
Boone, is slated to have an-
other bullpen session Tuesday
when he will throw 15 pitches
before sitting down and throw-
ing another 10, to simulate
pitching multiple innings.
“He’s building up,’’ Boonesaid and if he rebounds well af-
ter that, he “would be very
close to facing hitters.”
If Severino and Betances can
rejoin the Yankees next month,
they could have company.
General manager Brian
Cashman has said if top pitch-
ing prospect Deivi Garcia gets
called up this sea-
son, he’ll be used
out of the bullpen
and that process
began Saturday
night, when the 20-year-old
right-hander entered in the
second inning for Triple-A
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and
tossed five hitless innings.
He also walked five batters
and struck out seven after Ben
Heller tossed a scoreless first.
After beginning the season
with Single-A Tampa, Garciahas jumped to SWB, where he
has made seven appearances,
the last three of which have
been solid.
The Yankees figure to rely
more heavily on their bullpen
in October and the final month
of the regular season could de-
termine who’s a part of it.➤The Yankees
scored a run for the
208th straight
game, tied for the
third-longest streak in MLB
history. The record is 308
games, set by the Yankees
from 1931-33.➤Luke Voit (core) will
head to SWB in his come-
back and could be in a rehab
game by Friday.
Boone said they would be“pretty aggressive” with Voit, hop-
ing that he could get enough at-
bats to be able to rejoin the team
in time for its next homestand,
which begins August 30.➤Thairo Estrada
became the latest
Yankee to hit the
10-day IL with a
strained right
hamstring that
Boone said he
suffered run-
ning out a
ground ball
in Satur-
day’s win.
Tyler
Wade
was re-
called
from
SWB.YANKEES
NOTES