BSN Exclusive: Rico Garcia set to make MLB debut and discusses journey to big leagues

Part of Rico Garcia’s offseason workload involved an art project. No, seriously.

Proudly displayed outside the Rockies clubhouse at the Salt River Field complex in Scottsdale, AZ, was a standard 22”x24” poster board Garcia created depicting the history of Hawaiian baseball players, from the initial (Johnnie Williams, 1914) to the first All-Star (Charlie Hough, 1986) all the way to the six active players.

With his promotion and start on Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox, he’ll need to add himself to a list that’s up to 45 players, joining Miami’s Jordan Yamamoto as the other new addition, should he decide to make revisions. 

“One of his first assignments was to make some Hawaiian dishes and snacks, which he did really well,” manager Bud Black said of some friendly hazing Garcia experienced when attending his first big league Spring Training.

As the 50th state, Hawaii is practically a country unto itself, nestled in the Pacific Ocean just 2,500 miles off the coast of California. A gallon of milk costs $7.32, gas is $4.00 per gallon and one of the best baseball training facilities in Honolulu is a 24-Hour Fitness.

“It’s right down the road from my house,” Garcia said of his practical offseason workout location. “There’s a gym that all professional athletes train at – you know, UFC Featherweight Champion Max Holloway and (Rangers’) Isiah Kiner-Falefa trained there. But it’s kind of a far drive for me, cause I live on the other side of the island. So you know, I just went to 24 and just kind of did my own thing.”

The 25-year-old’s road to the majors began in 2018 when he pitched rather well in the relatively hitter-friendly California League, throwing an even 100 innings with a 3.42 ERA before continuing to have success at Double-A with the Hartford.

“You know, I kind of just took it day-by-day,” he said of his experience in High A. “That was like my first time being in a full season from start to end, and it was just mostly just trusting my teammates and my coaches, because they helped me get out of a lot of tough situations. And besides the success, I feel like I got a lot of improvement out of it from the pitching standpoint.”

The secret to pitching at The Hangar, the home ballpark for the Lancaster JetHawks, is using precisely the mindset Colorado wants all of its pitchers to have throughout the minors and when toeing the slab at Coors Field. And it’s not really a secret.

“I pitched the same way as I was at home or away. That’s kind of the same mentality that I kept.”

It kept rolling with the Yard Goats after his promotion to the Eastern League on July 2 last year. In 11 starts, Garcia was even more dominant, pitching to a 2.28 ERA with a respectful 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (61 K to 20 BB). 

“Yeah, it was a huge moment (getting promoted to Hartford),” Garcia shared. “You know, my Dad’s side of the family is from there, so just being able to share the news with them and my Mom was a great experience. But you know, I wasn’t really expecting anything. I was just taking it day by day.”

After enjoying a few weeks pitching in Scottsdale during the Cactus League, he picked up where he left off at Hartford, making 13 starts to the tune of a 1.85 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP. Though life got increasingly harder in the pinball machine known as the PCL, his 7.16 ERA was far from indicative of his ability.

“(Garcia) came into camp ready to pitch. He’s had seasoning in Double-A and Triple-A against some good competition. You’re going to see a fastball in the low 90’s, a breaking ball and a good changeup. Some good arm action; he’s an athletic pitcher,” Black said of eighth Rockies player to make his Major League debut this season.

It might seem hard to believe that every club passed on Garcia 29 times during the 2016 MLB Draft. Eventually, Colorado selected the University of Hawaii Pacific righty in the 30th round. A chip on his shoulder or major motivator?

“I guess you could say that, but I mean at the end of the day, I kind of just, you know, not worry about myself, but I control what I can control kind of thing. So I think that’s the mentality that I have, and you know, it’s just being a great teammate to other people. And that’s kind of how I take it everyday.”

Garcia becomes the third pitcher in franchise history to be drafted in the 30th round or later and make a start of the club, joining Adam Bernero and Mark Brownson. He and his new teammates hope it goes much like it did for Brownson, when he tossed a complete game shutout in his debut back in 1998.

As impressive as Garcia’s journey to the majors – from Division II to being taken in 30th round – it should be noted that 32 of the 41 players taken in the first round of 2016 Draft have yet to reach the majors.