One of the most remarkable parts of the 2020 baseball season was the emergence of Deivi García. Long one of the team’s top prospects (and a guy I had written about twice before, in different, small ways), García is a slight and unimposing figure, but put him on the mound, and he has this poise and stature that is impossible to ignore.
He debuted in grand fashion in a game against the Mets, looking dominant most of the way, then proceeded to put together a solid if unspectacular campaign. It was good enough to earn him a one-inning start in a postseason game, even if that move proved too cute by half as the Yankees couldn’t pull out that game, then had their rotation scrambled a bit of the rest of the Division Series against Tampa Bay. So it goes …
I spent a lot of time talking with good pitching minds for this story, and really enjoyed my two chats with Deivi and my long interview with Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake. I found it interesting to hear about the things that they worked on to help get the most possible out of the young right-hander (and then, as his 2021 season went up in flames — it was a total disaster that had everyone wondering how the team had ruined him — felt a little less clear about what I had written at the time).
Either way, I really liked learning more about pitching and about Deivi as I reported this story, and was pleased with how it came out. My thesis — that the best thing for both sides would be for Deivi to spend a lot of time in the minors in 2021 … well, I didn’t mean for him to spend that much time on the farm. And I think it’s way too early to write him off for good. That said, 2022 is going to be all kinds of interesting for the young, small right-hander.
https://www.mlb.com/news/yankees-magazine-deivi-garcia-s-bright-future