TORONTO — In spring training, there was a buzz building at Blue Jays camp about how reliever Yimi García was pitching. Three weeks into the regular season, we can see why.
“Yimi is on a different level right now,” manager John Schneider said.
Armed with the best stuff and command of his career, the right-hander has been dominant in the late innings this season while stepping into a bigger role as the team covered for injuries in the bullpen.
García has a 1.04 ERA in eight appearances, with 11 strikeouts and just one walk in 8 2/3 innings. But it’s not only García’s stat line standing out. The underlying numbers pop, too.
Never has García thrown harder than he has this season, averaging 97 mph on his four-seam fastball while touching 99.8 mph last week. He’s pairing his new power with improved spin rates and precision command, freely aiming up, down and side-to-side of the plate with his full arsenal of pitches.
Yimi García, K’ing the Side. ⛽️⛽️⛽️ pic.twitter.com/A6tfYcAYB7
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 13, 2024
García’s early performance has earned praise from his teammates and coaches alike.
“There’s no better bullpen arm in the big leagues right now,” Chris Bassitt said.
Tim Mayza added, “In person, this might be the best I’ve ever seen anybody throw, honestly.”
“I’ve been joking around with a few guys that just the way he’s throwing the ball right now, it seems like he could probably go out there with his eyes closed and have an idea of where the ball is going,” Mayza continued.
Back in February, pitching coach Pete Walker noticed García arrived at camp looking particularly strong, coming in a tick ahead of everyone else.
“It looked like he pitched in winter ball because he was so ready,” Walker said. García didn’t pitch competitively this winter, however.
In his 10th season in the majors, García has a career 3.55 ERA and has built a reputation as a reliable mid-to-late inning reliever even if his quiet and understated nature has meant he’s flown under the radar.
Ever since he signed a three-year deal with Toronto ahead of the 2022 season, García’s been a staple in their bullpen, often called upon in leverage situations. But last year, García’s numbers, on the surface, weren’t where he or the team wanted them to be, with a 4.09 ERA in 66 innings. There was some bad luck baked into his performance, but Walker believes García took some of the criticism over his 2023 season to heart, which motivated him to come into this season even better.
“It was honestly just a decision that he made. He knows his stuff has always been really good, but I think it’s just a drive and a focus to be exceptional this year,” Walker said. “It really started in spring training and it’s carried right through the season so far.”
Speaking through Blue Jays interpreter Hector Lebron, García said he didn’t prepare any differently this offseason compared to previous years. Asked how, at this point in his career, he’s throwing harder than ever, García chuckled.
“To be honest with you, I don’t have a particular reason, I can’t explain it,” he said. “All I can say is all the work that I put in every day, I guess it’s paying off right now.”
García is unique among relievers because his repertoire is more akin to a starter. Typically, a reliever has two, maybe three pitches and will master those. García has six pitches, including a sweeper he introduced this season.
Six pitches is a lot for a reliever, but the Blue Jays have encouraged García to reach into his full arsenal. However, Walker says the club didn’t always know the best way to deploy it until this season.
“We finally have a real game plan (for) how we’re attacking righties and lefties, and I think that’s made a huge difference for him,” Walker said.
This season, García has been focussing on throwing his four-seam fastball at the top of the zone where it can be “one of the better fastballs in the game,” Walker said, especially when it’s approaching 100 mph on the radar gun. He’s been throwing a harder sinker, as well, primarily to right-handers and the new sweeper has proven to be a weapon, too.
García and the Blue Jays started discussing adding the breaking ball at the end of last season, and then García worked on it throughout the offseason. García believes it’s a perfect complement for his other pitches.
“When you combine the sweeper with the slider, it’s a great combination for me,” he said. “One breaks down, one breaks to the side, and when I have those two pitches on, it helps a lot.”
García’s early-season performance has been especially impactful for the Blue Jays, in light of recent injuries to closer Jordan Romano and set-up man Erik Swanson. While they were in the IL, García, with Chad Green, stepped into the late-inning leverage role and performed masterfully, with García earning two saves. And while Swanson and Romano returned earlier this week, with how García is pitching, he’ll remain a go-to option in the late innings for Schneider and may even represent their best alternate closer if Romano is unavailable.
There may be no better example of García’s recent dominance than this week when he faced the heart of the New York Yankees order — Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton — two days in a row in the eighth and ninth innings and was perfect, going three-up, three-down in both appearances.
“It’s probably no tougher lineup than over there to do that against just in terms of how they can get on base and the damage that can do,” Schneider said. “It’s hard to do it once and then I think hitters are always getting feedback and always figuring something out as they’re seeing pitchers more and more. … It’s hard to do, and he’s made it look relatively easy.”
On the mound, García is an imposing figure — or, as Schneider said recently: “He’s a brick sh—house. … You don’t want to mess with him.” But off the field, the right-hander is naturally quiet — shy even, though his sunny demeanour still shines through. “He’s super positive all the time,” Mayza said. His relentless work ethic is readily on display, too.
“He’s just one of those guys that takes the ball. He doesn’t complain,” Walker said. “We communicate with him on how he’s feeling, but he has a willingness to take the ball every day. And I think the other guys see that ability that he has to do that, and that is something that translates and I think the younger guys learn from a guy like him.”
At 33 years old, a decade into his MLB career, García is raising the bar, but his fellow relievers, who have spent a lot of time with him over the past two seasons, aren’t surprised by what they’re seeing.
“He’s always had electric stuff, great stuff,” Mayza said. “It’s just now, he’s matching it with command and he understands what he’s trying to do with each and every batter that steps in the box. When confidence meets trust in your stuff, I think this is what you see.”
(Photo: Christopher Katsarov / The Canadian Press via Associated Press)
