CINCINNATI — Julian Garcia sat in the media interview room outside the Cincinnati Reds’ clubhouse at Great American Ball Park and looked at the assembled reporters and cameras, just waiting for someone to ask him a question ahead of his big-league debut.
The 31-year-old right-handed pitcher’s journey has led him all over the professional baseball world, but this was the first time he’d been here, literally and figuratively. A 10th-round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies a decade ago, Garcia was a member of the independent Kansas City Monarchs of the American Association a year ago, and now he was in a major-league park as a big leaguer. And nobody was saying anything.
“Hi,” he said, breaking the ice. “I’m Julian.”
The Cincinnati media had been waiting for the broadcast team to set up its camera, but Garcia didn’t know that.
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The ensuing question-and-answer session with Garcia was too brief to completely recount his path to the majors. Garcia’s circuitous route includes:
• Playing college baseball at Division II Metropolitan State University of Denver.
• Being drafted and spending six seasons in the Phillies’ organization.
• Taking the 2023 season off after the Phillies released him.
• Teaching private lessons to Little Leaguers and making his own highlight reels to send to teams during his year away from competitive baseball.
• Spending nearly two full years with the Monarchs.
• Signing with the Reds late last year to join Double-A Chattanooga.
• Dominating Triple-A with Louisville to start this season.
• Clearing the TSA PreCheck line at the Atlanta airport Sunday night and immediately being greeted by Louisville Bats manager Pat Kelly, who told him he was going to Cincinnati on Monday and then embraced him.
“The Baseball Reference (page) really shows the journey,” said Rob Coughlin, the Reds’ senior director of professional scouting. “The last time he was in affiliated ball was 2022. It could have been the end of the road for a lot of guys, but not only did he stick with it, he found ways to get better.”
After taking all of the 2023 season off, Garcia didn’t have any offers from affiliated teams and joined the Monarchs for 2024 — a season that saw the squad move its home games after the club’s home field was deemed unplayable. Garcia went 5-1 with a 2.54 ERA, the second-best mark in club history, but again didn’t get any bites from a big-league organization.
“These guys understand that this is the level of baseball, which they are in a sink or swim situation,” Monarchs manager Joe Calfapietra said. “This is the position that they’re in. It’s all or nothing for them.”
Baseball, even if it meant another season with the Monarchs, was all that mattered to Garcia.
Calfapietra is in his 26th season in independent baseball, and when Garcia pitches for Cincinnati, he’ll become the 13th player Calfapietra has helped reach the big leagues, joining former Reds Fernando Cruz and Tim Adleman. Calfapietra credits Shawn Pender, the Reds’ vice president of player development, with helping him along his baseball journey. That connection helped lead to the signings of Adleman and Cruz — and Coughlin and Calfapietra see several similarities between Garcia and Cruz, who is now with the New York Yankees.
“The biggest one that I would draw is who they are as people, as competitors, as having the desire to continue to do this and prove they belong,” Coughlin said.
Garcia was on the Reds’ radar during the 2025 season. Coughlin said the team tracks independent league players to bring into the club’s minor-league system. Garcia, whose 163 strikeouts with the Monarchs in 2025 were just four short of the league’s single-season record, was at the top of the list when the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts needed a starter late last August. After signing in Chattanooga, he allowed two earned runs in 16 innings over three starts to finish the season.
“I love this game, and I know I can still play at a high level,” Garcia said. “I just needed someone to give me a shot — and last year the Reds did so.”
After re-signing with Cincinnati in October, he appeared in four games for the Reds this spring, allowing one run in 2 2/3 innings with six strikeouts and no walks. He continued that with Louisville out of the bullpen this season, going 3-0 with a save and a 3.03 ERA in 21 games (two starts). In 35 2/3 innings, he struck out 54 and walked 12.
“His story is a good one, but frankly, this isn’t just a fun story,” Coughlin said. “He’s performed and shown the ability to get batters out at the highest level that’s not the big leagues. He’s earned the opportunity to show what he can do against big-league hitters.”
The difference between the pitcher who was in the Phillies organization and the one who showed up at Great American Ball Park on Monday is maybe a few miles per hour of velocity, getting up to 95, and more importantly, how he’s able to use his breaking ball.
“The first time I saw it — the way he spins his breaking ball is exceptional, something you don’t see every day,” Calfapietra said. “That’s what just awe-ified me — and I know that’s not a word, but that’s just what got me. Position players would come off the field thinking he was doctoring the baseball and he wasn’t.”
Garcia calls his breaking ball a slider, while neither Coughlin nor Calfapietra referred to it as anything but a “breaking ball.” When a coach or scout calls a pitch a “breaking ball,” it usually means it’s so different that it’s hard to compare to any other pitch.
“I don’t know what Julian calls it, so I just call it a ‘breaking ball,’” Calfapietra said. “Because whatever he calls it, when it comes out of his hand, God bless. I don’t want to ever call it anything, because it’s his baby.”
For the record, Garcia calls it a slider.
“I throw a variation of a sweeper, but I can’t completely get on the side of it because (my motion) is so over the top,” Garcia said. “It’s a sweeper, but it does have a little bit of downward motion like a curveball. I also throw a cutter, but it’s more of a gyro slider. So, I have two different types of breaking balls. I used to throw a big curveball but don’t throw that anymore.”
Reds infielder Edwin Arroyo has seen the pitch plenty of times last season in Chattanooga and this season in Louisville. “Slider, sweeper — it’s something they don’t hit,” Arroyo said.
From his perspective, Coughlin said Garcia’s breaking balls are special because one has a shorter break like a true slider, and the other has a longer break like a sweeper. Garcia’s true gift is being able to manipulate that pitch and play with the amount of break while reading batters’ swings to adapt each pitch to fit the situation.
“He’s just super smart, so it was just a crazy combination of what he was doing,” Calfapietra said. “It all came together at the right time, along with his belief in himself. He just took it to a different level because the confidence kept growing, and then the talent and the belief overtook everything.”
Garcia spent Monday night in the Reds’ bullpen, watching the team lose 2-1 in 10 innings to the Milwaukee Brewers. Waiting another day to make his debut was nothing after everything he’s been through.
“I was just telling (fellow reliever Chase) Petty it was cool just to be able to (see it) tonight,” Garcia said after the game. “Now I’m here. So I can get some sleep tonight and visualize what I want to tomorrow when I take the mound.”