Rule 5 Draft Prospect Profile: Oliver Garcia
During a pitcher's rise through the Minor Leagues, their roles can change several times. They will jump around from starter to reliever based on how their pitches are developing, new players entering the system, or to give them a change of pace. For pitcher Oliver Garcia, he is in the middle of a transition from the starting rotation to the bullpen, and he is thriving. A move to the bullpen helped him jump three levels of the Minor League ladder and allowed him to go from a low-90s pitcher to a mid-90s pitcher with a fastball reaching 95 miles per hour. At 22-years-old, this former outfielder converted pitcher is looking to show his chops on the mound in 2021.
He is in his first year of Rule 5 Draft eligibility and his new and improved velocity could make him an intriguing option. He didn't get a chance to show his stuff at Low-A Ball in 2020, but he continued to work at home to improve his pitch command. Now that he knows he is a full-time bullpen option, he can worry about just letting it fly rather than having to save himself to go deeper into games. While he is still in Low-A Ball at 22-years-old, he has shown the ability to quickly climb the ladder and that is what the Pirates are hoping for. With a young pitcher who is so athletic, however, the Pirates have to hope that no team sees his ability in the Minor League portion of the Rule 5 Draft and scoops him away from the organization.
A Change of Pace
When the Pirates went down to the Dominican Republic prior to the 2016 season, they were in the market for pitching depth. Oliver Garcia was patrolling centerfield at the time, using his speed to track balls down in the gaps. However, what drew the Pirate's interest was his rifle of an arm from center field. They decided to try him out on the mound, and his fastball registered between 91 and 92 miles per hour. He impressed the Pirates enough to sign a professional contract and join the Pirates Minor League farm system. He was 18-years-old at the time of his signing and he would end up joining the DSL Pirates bullpen for the 2016 season.
Garcia impressed over 17 appearances for the DSL Pirates going 4-3 with a 2.61 ERA over 41.1 innings of work. His strikeout rate wasn't too great at 13.4% and he walked an average amount of batter at 9.4%. However, the area that he did excel at was missing the oppositions bats. Opponents hit just .248 off of him during that first professional season and he became a go-to-guy of sorts for the DSL Pirates. He only allowed more than two earned runs in an outing once all season and pitched 11 straight scoreless innings to end the season. Towards the end of the season, Garcia showed off his ability to go three or four innings at a time, so the Pirates tried him out as a starter in 2017.
He stayed with the DSL Pirates during the 2017 season and went 2-2 with a 2.15 ERA over 11 starts. He began to learn how to command his fastball, and his strikeout rate jumped nearly 10 percent to 21.1%. In 54.1 innings of work, he walked one fewer batter than he did the year before and proved to be one of the better pitchers in the DSL. Of his 11 starts that season, he turned in nine quality starts and didn't give up a run until his third start of the season. With the success on his side, Garcia was promoted to the Appalachian League in 2018 where he continued his career as a starting pitcher for the Bristol Pirates. However, he took a downhill turn as he went 2-4 with a 7.28 ERA in 10 starts. Opponents hit .298 against him that season and the Pirates ended up having to shut him down in mid-August due to ineffectiveness.
He would once again be with the Bristol Pirates in 2019, but this time as a member of the bullpen. He got back to his former success in nine appearances with the Bristol Pirates, going 0-1 with a 2.57 ERA. The move to the bullpen allowed Garcia to play into his velocity, and he began to miss bats more frequently. He struck out 20 batters and walked just four in 14 innings of work. He did so well that the Pirates advanced him to the West Virginia Black Bears in late July of 2019. It would be a short stint in Morgantown as he appeared in five games, six innings of work, and didn't allow a hit while striking out seven. He finished 2019 with Low-A Greensboro and appeared in six games, going 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA. He didn't have as good of control in Low-A walking four batters while striking out six. With such a short time at each level, it was hard to gauge anything in a small sample size.
Garcia On The Rise
After being so effective at all three Minor League levels he pitched at in 2019, you would have loved to get the chance to see Garcia pitch in 2020. It looks like his new path to pro baseball is as a short reliever, and it suits him with his upper 90s fastball. He showed that he can control his pitches in the lower levels, but his four walks in six innings at Low-A ball are concerning. At 22-years old, he is still on track in terms of his development and will look to continue to move up the Minor League ladder in 2021. His velocity and athleticism are both going to be enticing options for another team, but not seeing him consistently pitch at any of the three levels might hurt his Rule 5 Minor League draft stock in the Minor League portion of the draft.
As for Garcia's 2021 projection, he will probably start the year with Class Low-A Greensboro. He only appeared in six games with the Grasshoppers and had some control issues in those outings, despite keeping a low ERA. Garcia still has some development to do with his off-speed pitches, and if he can get those secondary pitches working, there is a good chance he could move to Bradenton before seasons end. Look for Garcia to be used in higher leverage situations and in one to two-inning stints throughout the season. Garcia is going to be an intriguing prospect to watch over the next couple of years whether he is still with the Pirates or part of another organization.
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