3 Yankees prospects playing way onto the roster, and who they’d replace

Yankees prospects who can make an impact: Deivi Garcia

Have you forgotten about Deivi? The starting pitcher of the 2020 ALDS Game 2. He is actually still considered a prospect, as he has not reached the qualifications to graduate from his prospect status. In his major league stint in 2020, he had a sub-5.00 era, allowing six home runs, and 19 earned runs in that span. Although he was hit around hard at times, which led to a hard-hit rate of almost 40% (FanGraphs), he showed multiple flashes of brilliance, keeping the Yankees in multiple games during the sprint of 2020. However, he’s only pitched in two MLB games since the loss in the ALDS in 2020.

In the two games he has pitched since 2020, he pitched 4.0 innings in both and allowed two and four runs to both the Guardians. He allowed one home run and eight balls hit hard (95 MPH+).

In short, a couple of credible sources (Pinstripealley.com’s Esteban Rivera), cited multiple causes for Garcia’s decline. The most notable was a change in his arm slot. This led to a change in the shape of his once deadly 12-6 curveball, which went through the entire length of the strike zone. After the change in the arm slot, the curveball has become a shell of what it once was. A drop-off in velocity does not help either, as the curveball became a meatball over the heart of the plate for the last two years.

However, good signs have been shown this spring, as Garcia has only allowed one run on two hits and a walk this spring. So far, his fastball topped out at 98.2 MPH, an improvement from past seasons (BaseballSavant). He used a Curveball that has more break, on both horizontal and vertical planes. His curveball now has almost 10 more inches of horizontal break on average, which should be part of a good comeback recipe for Garcia.

Even if he maintains a good spring training, it is unlikely that Garcia will grab the 5th starter spot left vacant by the shoulder injury to Frankie Montas. However, it is possible that the injury to Tommy Kahnle would open a bullpen spot. The long reliever role could fit well for Garcia, as it looks to be Clarke Schmidt or Domingo German in the bidding for the 5th starter. The Yankees can also move him up and down, as he has 1 option remaining.