Jaime Garcia of St. Louis Cardinals Continues To Impress

Lost in the very oddly played, sometimes head-scratching 20-inning marathon on Saturday between the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals was the starting performance turned in by LHP Jaime Garcia.

The Cardinals’ rookie was very good on Saturday.

Garcia matched Mets ace Johan Santana pitch for pitch, giving up just one hit (a blooper by Angel Pagan), walking two, and striking out five in seven innings. He now has an 0.69 ERA in two starts (13 IP) this season.

Garcia also looks like he is learning quite well from pitching coach Dave Duncan. In his two starts, Garcia has gotten 23 groundball outs. Keep the ball down and pound the strike zone—a philosophy that Duncan has used seemingly for the last 50 years.

Garcia’s next start will be against the San Francisco Giants, and he will go against Tim Lincecum. That means in three starts Garcia will have faced Yovani Gallardo, Santana, and Lincecum. That’s called earning your stripes.

Here are some other facts about Garcia:

Age: 23

Throws: Left

College: None—went to Sharyland High School in Sharyland, TX

Drafted: 22nd round of the 2005 Draft

Minor League Stats

2006 Single-A and High-Single A: 10-5 with a 3.27 ERA, 131 K’s, and a 1.19 WHIP in 155 IP

2007 Double-A: 5-9 with a 3.75 ERA, 97 K’s, and a 1.34 WHIP in 103.1 IP

2008 Double-A and Triple-A: 7-6 with a 3.65 ERA, 100 K’s, and a 1.34 WHIP in 106 IP

*2009 Rookie, High Single-A, and Triple-A: 2-2 with a 2.87 ERA, 41 K’s, and a 1.04 WHIP in 37.2 IP

Keith Law Ranking and Analysis

Ranking: N/A

Analysis: N/A

*Garcia underwent Tommy John surgery in 2008, which is why he started out the 2009 season in Rookie ball.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg