Good fastball, good slider from reports. Stats suggest high K, high walks type of guy ...a.k.a. guys like Paredes, Abreu. If he throws strikes, he should be fine in the pen. If he has command, he may be able to start a few games. Hopefully, he can be used to bridge the gap to Taylor, Paredes, and Pressly. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/top-40-prospects-houston-astros/ 19. Luis Garcia, RHP Signed: July 2nd Period, 2017 from Venezuela (HOU) Age 23.2 Height 6′ 1″ Weight 216 Bat / Thr R / R FV 40 Tool Grades (Present/Future) Fastball Slider Curveball Changeup Command Sits/Tops 60/60 60/60 45/45 40/45 40/40 92-94 / 97 This guy is built like a tank, he has an ample and enviable lower half and electric arm that generates mid-90s velo (one source saw Garcia crest 100 but we can’t find another who’s seen over 98), and a plus slurve. We’d like to see a third pitch before bumping Garcia into a late-inning relief FV tier. https://www.mlb.com/prospects/astros/luis-garcia-677651 Luis Garcia RHP, Houston Astros Report (20-80 grading scale) FASTBALL 60 CURVEBALL 45 SLIDER 50 CHANGE UP 55 CONTROL 45 OVERALL 40 First eligible to sign out of Venezuela in 2013, Garcia didn't find an interested club until Houston gave him $20,000 in 2017. He has added velocity throughout his pro career and reached high Class A midway through 2019. If he hadn't just missed qualifying, he would have led the Minors in strikeout rate (13.9 per nine innings), just ahead of fellow Astros right-hander Cristian Javier Garcia worked with an upper-80s fastball when he turned pro, parked in the low 90s in his first full season and operated at 92-95 mph and topped out at 97 in 2019, with the requisite high spin rates and riding action typical of Houston prospects. His best secondary pitch is a changeup that fades and neutralizes left-handers. His breaking pitches aren't as advanced, though his newer slider is an upgrade over his softer curveball. With a short arm action and a complicated delivery, Garcia may be headed for the bullpen. To remain in the rotation, he'll need to improve his control and command while coming up with a quality breaking ball. Even if he's not a starter, his bat-missing ability would play nicely in a multi-inning relief role.
I like Garcia. Still has a chance as a starter and with his velo he could be a good one. But of course it’s more likely he ends up in the pen. He’s like Paredes, and while his stuff isn’t quite as good, his body type makes me think he will have more stamina and thus a better shot to stick in a rotation.
I feel like that overall rating of 40 makes no sense when all of his pitches and control are 45 and above.
I did a quick analysis of age, level, and pitch scores about 9 months ago to create estimated overall FVs, and Javier, Paredes, and Garcia all seemed to have their overall scores biased low by a decent amount on FanGraphs. Garcia not as much as the other two, but that is mostly due to him being at a lower level. There appears to be a bias against how Astros tandem pitch in low levels and how the Astros are more willing to reward production with early promotions. It doesn't make sense to me. This bias will probably go away if the Stros young guns keep performing.
Garcia's pitches by Z-score compared to other RHP. Nice fastball with some electric secondary pitches. Even the cutter has nice movement to it.
Is your table showing Z-scores (dimensionless) or the unit differences from average with the units listed on the table?
Thanks. The units on the table threw me off at first. And for Buck....Me thinks Garcia throw ball good.
If I was god I would just make Luhnow the next Commissioner. If you're gonna piss them off, piss them all off. And I really think he'd do a good job, hearkening back to the last 2 independent ones, Giamatti and Vincent. "Independent" is key. That helped kill MLB faster than most other things...when ownership decided to fire the last true Commissioner, strip the Office of all it's actual power, and put one of their own, some guy named Selig, in his place. Bart Giamatti's death is possibly the worst thing that ever happened to MLB.