The sad story of Christian Garcia

Christian Garcia received rave reviews from MLB Fanhouse scout Frankie Piliere in late March, comparing his curveball to A.J. Burnett’s. Unfortunately, you probably won’t be hearing about him again this year.

Since 2006, Garcia has made a mere 32 appearances due to multiple significant injuries. In five starts with Trenton last year, he compiled a 0.71 ERA.

In his 2010 debut with Trenton, he left the game in the sixth inning after 69 pitches with an apparent arm injury. He had tossed 5 2-3 shutout frames and allowed just two hits and a walk.

An MRI revealed yesterday he tore an elbow ligament, leaving his status uncertain for the year. The full details of the injury and timetable for his return have yet to be reported, but it really, really doesn’t sound good.

Newman’s notes on Yankees prospects

Yankees VP of baseball operations Mark Newman had a lot to say about the Yankees prospects yesterday. Beat writer Chad Jennings separated them into posts on the pitching and position players. Here they are in short:

Pitchers
Aroldis Chapman:

Newman said the reports were exactly what he expected: Huge fastball. Spotty command. Inconsistent secondary pitches. “But if you don’t like that, you need to be in another business,” Newman said.

“(He would start in) A or Double-A,” Newman said. “Wherever it is he pitches, he needs to be comfortable and he needs to work on the command and secondary pitches. And when he gets that, he’s going to take off.”

Wilkin De La Rosa & Jeremy Bleich:

De la Rosa and Bleich will be in a Double-A rotation that will most likely include recent 40-man addition Hector Noesi. Noesi made just nine High-A starts last year, but Newman said he will “probably” open in Trenton.

Christian Garcia:

Put Chris Garcia in the Double-A rotation as well. The high-ceiling, often-injured right-hander is currently throwing and should be ready to open the season back in Trenton.

Dellin Betances:

Newman said Betances should be ready to pitch close to the start of the season. He’s slated for High-A Tampa.

Alan Horne:

“He’s healthy. He’s got to come back and see if he can recapture it.”

Andrew Brackman:

“Brack’s got stuff that’s top-of-the-rotation stuff,” Newman said. Brackman’s overall numbers were bad last season, but through his last four appearances he pitched 10 scoreless innings, walking none and striking out nine.

Position players
On Brett Gardner’s bad jumps:

“We can simulate everything in the minor leagues except the three decks,” Newman said. That third deck makes the ball difficult to track, and it takes some getting used to.

On Juan Miranda being benched in the Dominican Winter League:

“I think they brought in one of their superstar guys,” Newman said. “But (Miranda) played well.” Through 13 games, Miranda has a .409 average with two home runs and 11 RBI.

Jamie Hoffmann:

“He’s a big guy that can run. He’s a toolsy guy. I hope we can keep him because I really like the guy.”

Colin Curtis:

The good news is, Curtis destroyed the Arizona Fall League with a .397 average, .472 on-base and five home runs. That’s an offensive league, but still, those are great numbers. “He led the league in OPS. Everything being relative, relative to the rest of the league, he was still really good.”

Catching situation:

Triple-A: Jesus Montero
Double-A: Austin Romine
High-A: undefined
Low-A: Kyle Higashioka
Extended ST: Gary Sanchez and J.R. Murphy

Yanks lose offensive showdown

The Yankees lost a 33-hit affair to the Reds on Sunday, 13-11.  The Yankees had six players with multi-hit games (Brett Gardner, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano and Kevin Cash) and three players with a homer (Gardner, Cano and John Rodriguez).

All seven Yankee pitchers gave up at least one run in the slugfest.  Christian Garcia gave up four runs in the seventh (three earned), and took the loss.

Full box score here, if you want to check it out.

Yankees face the Astros later today at 1:05 p.m. in Kissimmee, Fla., just in case you are in the neighborhood.