Toronto Blue Jays News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Yimi García has been the Blue Jays’ bullpen saviour

Originally posted on Bluejaysnation | By Mitch Bannon | Last updated 5/17/24

Where would the Blue Jays be without Yimi?

The Jays currently sit with the third-worst bullpen ERA in baseball (5.03) and have four blown saves. Tim Mayza, Génesis Cabrera, Erik Swanson, and Nate Pearson all have ERAs over five. Chad Green, Swanson, and Jordan Romano have all missed time due to injuries.

For a team that expected to have a strong stable of relievers, Toronto’s bullpen has been anything but. The exception: Yimi García.

How Good Has García Been?

García has filled every role in the ‘pen so far this year. Only he and Trevor Richards have at least 15 innings in relief this year. He’s got at least two appearances in each of the sixth, seventh, eighth, and nine innings. He’s got two saves, six holds, and a win, too. Most importantly, he’s done it all in elite fashion.

Of relievers with at least 15 innings pitched this year, Garcia has the lowest batting average against at .091. That’s ahead of Mason Miller, Edwin Diaz, and Emmanuel Clase. He’s one of just three relievers in baseball who’s stranded every runner he’s inherited.

García has always flourished by attacking the zone, but his success this year has come from a unique combination of increased strikeouts and decreased walks — it’s a pretty simple recipe, others should try it. Prior to a two-walk outing on Wednesday, Garcia was on pace for his lowest walk rate since 2018. The strikeouts don’t hurt either, as he’s rocking a full-season career-high 11.1 K/9, too. The last time he posted a strikeouts per nine over 11 García posted a 0.60 ERA for the 2020 Marlins.

And from a Blue Jays bullpen that’s wildly struggled with allowing homers this year, García’s allowed just one bomb.

What’s Different?

Okay, so he’s been good. But how exactly is Yimi finding this new level?

Simply put, he’s gripping and ripping the fastballs. García is throwing his four-seam fastball and sinker a combined 54% of the time, and his four-seamer is now his most-used pitch. He’s been able to do this because the pitches are coming in hotter than ever before.

Via The Nation Network

In 2021, García’s average velocity on his fastball and sinker were 94.9 and 93.8 MPH, respectively. This year, they’re up to 96.6 and 96.0 — both marks are career highs. Couple that with the great command he’s always had — four-seamers mainly away from lefties, sinkers in and down to the lefties — and you’ve got an elite reliever. Great command and increasing velocity is an easy explanation for García’s 99th percentile expected batting average.

Will it Continue?

If you look at the expected stats, they’ll tell you to tuck yourself in for a full season of great Yimi. He’s rocking a .139 expected average and 1.46 expected ERA — that’ll do.

But, there are a few reasons for concern. For starters, García has a .121 babip. That means just 12% of the balls he’s allowed in play have fallen for hits, about 18% below league average and 14% below his career average. That’s a stat that usually normalizes over time.

But the bigger concern for me here is workload. The Jays had four relievers pitch over 15 innings by May 16th last year — Swanson, García, Romano, and Richards. Both Romano and Richards (significantly in this case) saw their second-half ERAs skyrocket compared to the first. Romano, Swanson, and Richards also found themselves on the injured list in the final two months of the season.

I get it, García has been the guy so far this season, so it’s fair to ride him hard. But, the bullpen saviour can’t survive a whole season in that role. A few other guys are going to step up and ease the load, if García’s going to maintain this dominance

This article first appeared on Bluejaysnation and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: