Scouting Report Freddy Garcia

Freddy is in his 13th big league career (turns 35 next month), and has turned into a "crafty righty", or a serviceable back-of-the-rotation pitcher. He made 2 All-Star teams back in the 2001 and 2002 with the Mariners. His career record is 135-90, with a 4.11 ERA and 1.30 WHIP, but he hasn't posted a sub-4 ERA since 2005 with the White Sox, when he was throwing 91-92 mph. He's a fly-ball pitcher who got victimized by U.S. Cellular Field last year, and it is possible that the same thing will/is happening this year at the New Yankee Stadium (when will people stop saying New?)

Garcia has seen his velocity steadily drop over his career due to shoulder issues (rotator cuff and labral repair in 2007), and his average velocity is now 87 mph (93 mph in 2002). He realizes that's not going to be very successful in the big leagues, so he only throws it 36% of the time, and relies heavily on his 81 mph slider (26%), and his split-finger (20%, 79 mph). He also throws a curve (72 mph), and a change-up (80 mph), to keep hitters guessing and giving them different looks. So far this year, his curve, split and slider have been above average pitches for him.

So far this year, he's 2-3 in 6 starts (1 relief appearance; 36 1/3 innings), and has posted a 3.22 ERA (4.71 FIP), 1.35 WHIP, with an average K/9 (7.4), and below average BB/9 (3.7, but that was mainly due to one game he walked 5 batters). His ERA is so low due to a high strand rate (86.5%, 73% for his career), and a low BAPIP (.269, .282 for his career). He has been prone to the long-ball, allowing 6 home runs, and they've all come in the last 4 games (23 1/3 innings).

He's faced the Mets twice in his career, once in 2003, and once in 2007; if anyone bothers to try to gain any information from these stats, you are wasting your time.

Freddy Garcia would've been a typical Omar Minaya "scrap-metal" pick-up, but he is a lot better on the Yankees as their offense can cover up for some of his mistakes.