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Yeudy Garcia’s Lack of Fastball Command Has Been a Mystery

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BRADENTON, Fla. – Yeudy Garcia was the best story in the farm system last year. The right-hander from the Dominican Republic got an aggressive promotion to West Virginia, skipping over a few levels to spend his first season in the US (and second season in pro ball) in full season A-ball. He started off in the bullpen, had success, and quickly moved into the rotation, where he went on to post a 2.10 ERA and a 112:41 K/BB ratio in 124.1 innings.

Garcia’s success came with a fastball that would routinely sit 93-96 MPH, touching 97. The velocity was easy, and the movement on the pitch was excellent, making it extremely difficult for opposing hitters to square up on pitches. He didn’t have much beyond a fastball for most of the year, working throughout the season to develop his slider. But the fastball was good enough to get him results, and at times, looked like it could rival the best fastballs in the system.

That version of Yeudy Garcia hasn’t returned this year. The fastball velocity has consistently been down, sitting around 92 MPH all season. He has touched as high as 96, but nowhere near as frequently as he did in 2015. He’s also not seeing the same movement on his fastball, and has a serious lack of command, leading to a lot of high pitch counts. Most starts this year have seen him averaging around 20 pitches per inning.

“[It’s] lack of command. Falling behind in counts. Not being able to finish guys,” Bradenton Manager Michael Ryan said of the high pitch counts. “A lot of foul balls. A lot of three ball counts. Your pitch counts can get up very quickly if those things happen. He needs to be a little bit more efficient.”

The Pirates gave Garcia an extra day of work last week by pitching him on six days rest, due to the high pitch counts. They brought him back again on Sunday and had him throw four innings, piggybacking with Justin Masterson. But the command wasn’t there again, and he ended up throwing 89 pitches in those four innings.

So far, Garcia’s struggles have been a mystery, although Ryan did say recently that he’s healthy.

“There’s definitely days when it’s coming out good, and there’s definitely days when it’s not. That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Ryan said. “Don’t know if it’s a delivery thing. Don’t know if it’s a mental thing. Don’t know if it’s preparation. That’s what we’re here trying to figure out.”

Garcia mentioned through a translator that he didn’t throw in the off-season, due to instruction from the Pirates after his high innings count last year. That could be a possibility, but you’d think that would no longer be an issue by the end of May. He has also been working on his mechanics, as the Pirates try to find answers with his delivery.

The surface results haven’t been bad, with a 2.76 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 42.1 innings. But digging a bit deeper, you see that Garcia has been lucky. He’s walking almost a batter every other inning, and his batting average against is .271, up from .204 last year. He’s also not getting as many ground balls, going from 54% to 50%, and a 1.5 GO/AO ratio to 0.9 this year.

With his fastball command struggling, Garcia has leaned heavily this year on his slider. The pitch has improved since last year, and can be a strikeout pitch at times. However, it’s still inconsistent, and it’s not a good enough pitch to be using it as often as he’s using it this year.

“I think you can see that he goes to his off-speed a lot,” Ryan said. “It seems like when a pitcher is going to his off-speed so much, that’s the only thing that he feels comfortable with. He’s got to get his fastball command a little bit better, and he will.”

The fastball velocity loss is a concern, but it’s not a huge concern. It’s great to see a pitcher sitting 93-96 and touching 97, but 92-93 and touching as high as 96 can still work if you’re commanding the pitch. Garcia isn’t commanding his fastball. He’s not seeing the same movement on his fastball, and seeing some serious control problems, especially against lefties (.819 OPS and 11.4% walk rate vs .628 and 9.6% against righties). If the command and movement from last year return, then Garcia could have success at his current velocity, while reducing the slider usage to a level where the pitch can be more effective overall.

Garcia is a priority arm at the lower levels. The Pirates will do everything they can to try and find answers to the current problem. You hope that he gets back on track by the end of the year, and continues the progression he made last year. But right now it looks like he’s taken a step back, and there’s no answer as to why this has happened.

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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