Prospect Watch: Oliver Garcia
When pitching prospect Oliver Garcia was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2015, not much was made of the signing. Garcia was only hitting in the low to mid-80s and his lanky frame was not that impressive to the team. However, he has since grown out and has upped his velocity by almost ten miles per hour and is putting his name on the map. He is now hitting consistently at 95 miles per hour out of the bullpen and has had an ERA higher than three only one time in his first four seasons of professional baseball. He has been a bit of a late bloomer for Pittsburgh, entering his age 23 season in 2021, but he is starting to hit his stride and should advance through the Minot Leagues at a high rate.
Last season, he jumped through three levels of the Minor Leagues playing in rookie ball, Class A Short Season, and Class Low-A baseball. He didn't stay in any of the three levels for too long but put up impressive overall numbers going 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in 28 innings of work. It was the second season that he was moved to the bullpen full time and the transition helped out his velocity immensely. Because of this, he produced the highest strikeout rate of his career setting down 33 batters in those 28 innings of work and allowing a career-low opponent batting average of .206. His control was the best it had been in his professional career, but it was still a little high as he walked 10 in 28 innings of work. He is still transitioning into the reliever time, but it is an adjustment that so far he is making nicely.
Garcia grew up in San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic, and was traveling far and wide performing in showcases. He wasn't the most impressive pitcher on the circuit, but he showed good mechanics and a good repertoire of pitches that caught the eye of international scouts. He was small for his 6'3 frame, but scouts said that he had room to grow into his body as he matured as a pitcher. Many of the other 30 clubs passed him up because of his size, but the Pirates decided to take chance on the 17-year-old and signed him on October 30th, 2015. The Pirates weren't sure what capacity they would use Garcia in at the time, but they sent him to the Dominican Summer League Pirates for the 2016 season.
Once with the DSL Pirates, Garcia started pitching out of the bullpen and showed higher velocity hitting between 90 and 92 miles per hour during that first year. He mostly served as a long-reliever for the Pirates appearing in 17 games and throwing 41 innings of works. He posted a 2.61 ERA, but wasn't striking out batters at a very high rate and had some control issues throughout the season. He was more of a pitch to contact pitcher and he did a good job of keeping the ball on the ground posting a 42.2 ground ball percentage. Because of this, he avoided the long ball, allowing just one all season, which helped keep him out of too much trouble.
Garcia's start to professional baseball went off without a hitch as he did not allow a run in any of his first four appearances and posted a 1.63 ERA into the month of July. He never allowed more than two earned runs in an outing and showed decent control throughout the season. He routinely worked two to three innings of work and kept his velocity up throughout all if his outings. With that in mind, the Pirates decided to try Garcia out as a starter and came back to the Dominican Summer League where he joined the DSL Pirates starting rotation. It was a transition for Garcia as he went from throwing as hard as he can to trying to keep his velocity up over a long stretch.
His run as a starter in the DSL went even better than his relief stint, as he dropped his ERA and worked in 14 more innings than the year before. He dropped his ERA to 2.16 and posted a 2-2 record in those 11 starts spanning 54.1 innings of work. However, his strikeout rate ended up decreasing as he set down 21.1% of the batters he faced. He still showed good control, with just 16 walks that season, but his velocity took a dip again. Despite all that, he was still finding ways to get outs on a consistent basis as he dropped his opponent batting average to .224 and continued his high groundball rate.
Garcia showed that he had the stamina, lasting five innings in all but one start, and for the most part he showed promise as a starting pitcher. Nine of his 11 starts went down as quality starts, and his ERA would have been a lot lower had it not been for his last start of the season. He ended up getting roughed up for four runs on six hits while lasting five innings of work. Other than that, he was solid for the entire season. Because of his success, Garcia would remain in the starter's role and ended up moving up to the Appalachian League for the 2018 season where he pitched for the Bristol Pirates in 2018.
The move ended up hurting Garcia and he posted what was the worst season of his professional career to this point. He was knocked around by Appalachian League hitters and posted a 7.28 ERA in 38.1 innings of work. He wasn't keeping the ball down as much as he had in the years before, giving up about one home run for every nine innings of work. His strikeout rate saw a severe drop, 18.3%, and a stiff increase in his walk rate throughout the season, 12.3%, in his 10 starts that year. Opponents were hitting the ball off of him more than ever before with a .246 opponent batting average.
Garcia had lost the stamina that he had the season before and only lasted five innings or more in three of his ten starts. He was getting hit hard all season, giving up more than two earned runs eight times that season and he just never found the same success rate that he had in seasons past. Because of his struggles, he didn't make a start after August 12th, 2018. With him struggling so much in the rotation, the Pirates decided it was time to move Garcia back to the bullpen. Not only could he use his velocity more effectively, but it would get him back into the mindset that he has to get outs and can't allow any giveaway.
It would end up being the best thing for Garcia, as the move to the bullpen kicked his professional career into overdrive. He would start the season back with the Bristol Pirates, this time as part of their bullpen. He would appear in nine games for Bristol and was still getting hit around, but posted a respectable 2.57 ERA. He appeared as the team's closer on several occasions and picked up two saves during the season while finishing eight games. He saw a return of his high strikeout rate, setting down 20 batters, and he got his pitches under control, walking just four batters. With his success in rookie ball, and after spending the past three seasons there, the Pirates decided to see how his stuff would play in A ball.
He got promoted to the West Virginia Black Bears and needed only five games to make the impression he needed. He did not give up a hit in any of those five outings, with only two men ever reaching base against him on a walk. He struck out seven batters in six innings of work, and his 95 miles per hour fastball was lighting up the New York Penn League. He would then get promoted to Low-A Greensboro by the end of the season and appeared in six games as the team's closer. His ERA was the highest it has ever been at 3.38, but all three of the earned runs he gave up came in two outings. His better control helped his success, and with the higher velocity, he was getting the ball by hitters more consistently.
He was pitching with confidence during the end of the season, giving up just one earned run in his final four innings of work. It was a season that kicked his career into high gear and showed that he could have success in Low A ball. I feel that the move to the bullpen is going to end up being permanent and something that is going to help the young right-hander. Look for him to be back in Class Low-A when Minor League baseball resumes in 2021, but with him starting to get older, he might get a chance at pitching in Advanced-A. If he can continue to up his velocity and have good control, he should be able to have success as a late-inning relief prospect.
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