There’s Just No Game at One O’Clock
By David Villavicencio
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Bryan Garcia was living the dream.
The 24-year-old right-handed pitcher got a taste of the show in 2019 and was in big league camp for the first time this spring. On top of that, Garcia was competing for a spot in the Detroit Tigers’ bullpen with the start of the 2020 Major League Baseball season quickly approaching.
“The last three spring trainings before this year, I couldn’t participate because I was hurt,” Garcia said. “So this one was different because I had only experienced minor league spring training three years ago. And then coming back finally and being able to go to big league camp is awesome. Just being around all the guys and the coaching staff and experience the big leagues again, in a different way because I was finally healthy and with no restriction, was definitely a lot of fun.”
Then everything was put on hold.
COVID-19, the worldwide pandemic that began in China and rapidly spread across the globe, was reshaping the way the world operated. NCAA athletics were suspended and multiple professional sports leagues had put their seasons on hold.
MLB followed suit on March 12, canceling the remaining two weeks of Spring Training and postponing the start of the 2020 regular season.
“I was scheduled to pitch that day and I was getting ready for the game,” Garcia said. “Not really sure what’s going to happen, but I try to focus on my routine. There were rumors that games had already been canceled and possibly having to be suspended, so we went into that game with a pretty good feeling and understanding that this will be the last game for a while.”
Garcia and his teammates were correct with their assumptions, as Detroit manager Ron Gardenhire and Executive VP of Baseball Operations and General Manager Al Avila met with the players, coaches and staff in the Tigers’ clubhouse after the game to inform them all of MLB’s decision to suspend play.
The news was expected, but it still hit hard.
The start of a MLB season had not been delayed since 1995, when the players were coming back from a strike. For a player like Garcia, who impressed over his seven outings this spring and was making a strong case to be on the Tigers’ Opening Day roster, it was a bit disappointing to learn that the season was on hold.
“The feeling of disappointment didn’t last long because you can see it all over the news,” Garcia said. “This is a big deal, so there’s more kind of understanding that we have to be safe and understanding that people have to get to their families and make sure that families are safe. Yeah, I was excited and ready to go for the season. But I was completely understanding and I’m ready to work on things that I need to work on, and get better to make sure that when we do start again, I’m better than when I left.”
The former All-American closer at Miami refuses to be deterred by the circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak or the unknown surrounding the 2020 MLB season.
“I think you’ve got to kind of find the silver lining in everything,” Garcia said. “I was really excited for the season. I think I had a really good shot of making the club. But that doesn’t mean I can’t make it whenever we do get started again.”
OVERCOMING ADVERSITY
A roadblock to the major leagues is nothing new to the Miami native, who starred at Christopher Columbus High School before a stellar three-year career with the Hurricanes that included a pair of trips to the College World Series.
Garcia, who was a rising star in the Tigers’ farm system after being selected in the sixth round of the 2016 MLB Draft, climbed three levels in 2017 and finished the season at Triple-A Toledo. But he experienced a significant setback following his stellar 2017 season and underwent Tommy John surgery in February 2018.
“I was one step away from living the dream and making the big leagues and then I had to get shut down for 16 months with surgery,” Garcia said. “The whole surgery process and the trainers and the strength coaches here, the guys that handled everything with me did a great job. They made everything easy to kind of cater to what I needed to do better with my body and making sure I’m improving on my deficiencies with my body. That was great and the rehab process was great with no setbacks at all.
“I think I came out of it much better than when I went down,” Garcia said. “And then after that, it was just kind of battling and understanding what I had to do to compete and get outs because in that first year back you kind of have to learn how to pitch again.”
After climbing to the highest level of the minor leagues, Garcia started his comeback trail in 2019 with the Class A Advanced Lakeland Flying Tigers and there was definitely an adjustment process once he returned to game action.
“It was a little different because I wasn’t as comfortable,” Garcia said. “You have been away from the game so long, so the game is a little faster than you remember it and your pitches aren’t working like they used to sometimes so you got to find a way to get outs and compete. I think I did a pretty good job of that and learning on the fly.”
Four appearances with Lakeland were followed by three more in Double-A Erie before he returned to Toledo and shined, proving he had regained the form that helped him be such a fast riser in the Detroit system two years prior. But that success on the mound would not have been possible without Garcia’s hard work and growth as a player.
“There is nothing as lonely of a time when you’re a player than when you’re hurt,” said Doug Mientkiewicz, a 12-year MLB veteran who managed Garcia at Triple-A Toledo in 2019. “Even as a big leaguer, you feel like you’re an alien from a planet that no one’s ever heard from before because you’re hurt, you can’t help the team and they don’t really pay attention to you. I can’t imagine what it’s like as a minor leaguer, even as hyped up as Bryan was and as great as he did before he got hurt. It’s a lonely time and you mature a ton as a player.”
Mientkiewicz got to know Garcia really well in the season he spent managing the hard-throwing right-hander, calling him one of his all-time favorite players that he has ever managed. The two formed a strong bond and Mientkiewicz knows Garcia has the right mindset to be a successful pitcher for many years to come.
“I remember him talking a little bit to me about how he felt like he let everybody down because he got hurt,” Mientkiewicz said. “Those are the guys you hang on to because there’s more to it than just them. They’re not just trying to go out there and pitch well for their own personal accolades. Those come with your success. Those come with you being available every day. The guys like that that are used to winning, they find a way to get it done.”
Garcia made 31 appearances for the Mud Hens, striking out 33 batters and posting a 2.97 ERA. When MLB rosters expanded in September, the Tigers called up their prized reliever prospect and his lifelong dream of playing in the Major Leagues became reality.
“It was the most satisfying to make it to the big leagues last year,” Garcia said. “You go into that surgery and you always hear the good stories of the guys that come back just as they were or even better sometimes. But you never really hear about the guys that don’t make it back or possibly have to get a second one before they’re even back. A lot of guys do not realize how difficult it is, so the fact that I was able to do it and get to the big leagues in my first year back was incredible.”
The rapid ascent from injury to the big leagues seems simple, especially for a player with the talent and determination that Garcia possesses. But Mientkiewicz is quick to point out just how challenging it is to accomplish what Garcia did a year ago and how much better of a player he is because of it.
“People don’t realize how hard it is to come off of Tommy John,” Mientkiewicz said. “People think, ‘Oh, gosh, his arm strength is back.’ Well, a lot goes into that. Touch and feel is huge for pitching and Bryan is not a guy that can just rear it back and throw it by people. He can be, at times, but he is more of a touch and feel reliever with velocity.
“Sometimes, the biggest enemy of a reliever is feeling 100 percent and I’m sure Bryan had a lot of games out there where he felt really, really, really good,” Mientkiewicz said. “And my point to all this is the fact that as you get a little worn down, your touch and feel become better. And he was always full of energy that he was wanting to manhandle his fastball, manhandle his slider, manhandle his off-speed stuff. And that’s a tough thing to go through, because he was used to being used every day and that touch and feel comes at the second or third day. Well, he never had that last year and I think he learned a lot.”
TAKING THE NEXT STEP
After making seven appearances for the Tigers a year ago, Garcia went into the offseason hungry to improve and put himself in a position to be back in the big leagues in 2020.
“He evolved himself through last year to survive and not only survive, but be successful and those are the guys that make it,” Mientkiewicz said. “It’s an ever-evolving game and it’s always adjusting and Bryan found a way to always adjust no matter what the situation was or if he had it that night or not.”
Garcia reported to Spring Training early and enjoyed the daily competition with his teammates, always eager to prove he belonged on the Opening Day roster when camp broke. He certainly made a case for himself over seven innings of work this spring, allowing just two runs on four hits to post a 2.57 ERA.
“I think I had a great spring,” Garcia said. “All you really heard was spots were open to make the club, so that was all I was worried about. I was worried about focusing on what I could do and how could I help this club win games in the big leagues. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of that, of making that case. But ultimately, this whole deal happened and we had to shut it down. So we’ll see what happens when we pick it back up.”
The COVID-19 pandemic halted the baseball season, but Garcia continues to work. The Miami native decided to remain in Lakeland, Fla., home of the Tigers’ spring training complex. He is one of a dozen players who chose to remain at the facility.
“It’s different because when camp started we had 70 guys, so there were a lot of guys and we had a lot of competition going around,” Garcia said. “Everyone was kind of excited because the season is right around the corner. Now, there is a lot of unknown. Not a lot of guys stuck around because obviously they want to go home to their families and be safe where they are, which is completely understandable. But I thought since I knew I could use facilities here, and I didn’t really know what would be available back home, it was better for me to stay.”
That decision is not an easy one for any player to make. The Tigers emphasized to every player that if they chose to stay, they should not travel back and forth to see family or others. Doing so would potentially expose the players and anyone else who is at the Tigers’ facility to COVID-19.
“As long as those facilities open, I’ll be up here because I can get my work done and that’s all I’ll have to focus on,” Garcia said. “I’ll be here until they tell me that I can’t be anymore, which hopefully won’t happen. If it does, then I’ll go back home and be with family because, at that point, nothing else would be open.”
Garcia chooses to find the positive in every situation. It’s that mindset that helps him continue to succeed despite experiencing obstacles throughout his career. Instead of sulking because the season is delayed, Miami’s all-time saves leader is using the delayed start as an opportunity to get better.
“It’s not too often where you get at least two months midseason to figure out some things that you have to fix,” Garcia said. “As a pitcher, you’re always learning and figuring things out because every year is a little bit different in what you have and what you don’t. So the fact that I get two months now to work on things I knew I had to fix and that’s all I have to worry about is great. I don’t have to worry about competing and being able to get outs in a game. I can actually work on the things I know I have to work on, so I’m excited about that. Obviously, I would love to be playing, but it’s something that I can see a silver lining in. I’m excited to use this time to better my craft and work on things.”
Mientkiewicz knows the gifted right-hander is making the most of the current hiatus because that is what he has always done. Whether it was preparing to pitch, rehabbing from his injury or even working in the offseason, Garcia has always been the type of player to maximize every day and make sure he is always at his best.
“As an organization you go through guys that you’re worried about,” Mientkiewicz said. “For example, we would worry about guys that went home for the offseason. We had them on the straight and narrow during the season under supervision and we send them on their way and we’re concerned about them. He’s not one of those guys. I think that the Tigers, at least in the time I was there, respect this guy and understood that he’s going to do what he has to do to stay ready and stay prepared.”
Just as he was diligent in his rehab from Tommy John surgery, Garcia is supremely dedicated to his routine. The 2016 NCBWA Stopper of the Year goes to Joker Marchant Stadium every day just like if he was still in the middle of Spring Training.
“Nothing has changed for me at all,” Garcia said. “It’s pretty much the same deal except there’s no game at one o’clock. You go about your normal day. You come in and warm up, go out and stretch, play catch and throw a bullpen that day if we want and then work out. It’s pretty much the same. There’s just no game at one o’clock.”
So Garcia and his remaining Tigers’ teammates get to work every single morning and return to their apartments in the afternoon. After returning from the field, Garcia will make lunch, watch some television and call family. The routine remains the same as it did when everything was normal and Garcia appreciates that his loved ones in Miami are supportive of his decision to stay in Lakeland and continue to train.
“They understand that it was probably better from the job standpoint to stay up here,” Garcia said. “And there’s obviously a lot less going on in Lakeland than in Miami, so that’s a plus as well. I mean, obviously they want me to be home and spend time with them, but it’s pretty much the same as during the season where I’m gone and this is in the same timeframe. They understand and they’re supportive of that. I can’t wait to see them so hopefully this can finish up pretty soon and travel will be allowed and I can see my family or they can come up here and see me.”
