After Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Julian Garcia made his big league debut on Tuesday, Terry Francona linked up with him in the dugout. <\/p>\n
\u201cTake a minute and remember where you were and where you are,\u201d Francona told him. <\/p>\n
Garcia, 31 years old, had just become the second-oldest Reds pitcher in the expansion era (since 1961) to make his big league debut. Garcia pitched 1 \u2154 shutout innings with three strikeouts, and the debut included a shut down trip through the heart of the Milwaukee Brewers\u2019 lineup. <\/p>\n
Garcia wasn\u2019t supposed to make it here. He has had to earn every single opportunity he has received. <\/p>\n
He started pitching as a senior in high school, growing up in Denver. Garcia had potential, but he wasn\u2019t getting any college offers. He impressed the coaching staff of Metro State, a Division II school in Denver, at a showcase and got the chance to pitch at that school for two years. At Metro State, he did well enough in college that the Phillies drafted him in the 10th round of the 2016 MLB Draft. <\/p>\n
Garcia found himself on a ridiculously loaded short-season Rookie Ball team in the Phillies\u2019 organization that had six other starting pitchers who have gone on to pitch in the big leagues. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was behind the eight ball with all of that stuff,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI was trying to figure out how to be a pitcher in professional baseball with guys who are seen at prospects, guys who got big money bonuses. I\u2019m a kid from Denver trying to just figure it out.\u201d <\/p>\n
Garcia was solid at that level in 2016. Heading into 2017, Garcia expected that he\u2019d get the chance to pitch in A-ball. He was disappointed to begin that year back in the short-season Rookie Ball league, but the Phillies told Garcia that he\u2019d be the first pitcher called up to A-ball when they had a need. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t happen,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI stayed a whole nother year at short season.\u201d<\/p>\n
He got the chance to pitch in Low-A in 2018. The manager of that team, Marty Malloy, really believed in Garcia and talked him up in conversations with Phillies\u2019 brass. That put Garcia more on the map in the organization, and he went on to become a prospect in the organization. <\/p>\n
Garcia stayed on an upward trajectory through the offseason leading into 2021, and he earned an invite to big league camp with the Phillies that year. He opened the year in Double-A and was then promoted to Triple-A. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where I struggled,\u201d Garcia said. <\/p>\n
In 14 games with Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2021, Garcia posted an 8.07 ERA. <\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I could pitch,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cIt was about getting the mentality for it and learning how to deal with failure. \u201cI\u2019d go home and call my dad and be like, \u2018I\u2019ve lost all confidence. I don\u2019t have any confidence.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
After ending the 2021 season on a downward note, Garcia opened the 2022 season back in Double-A. The Phillies\u2019 organization signed a bunch of minor league free agents to pitch in Triple-A that year, which created a roster crunch in the upper levels of the minor league system. <\/p>\n
Garcia ended up pitching just about once per week out of the bullpen in Double-A in 2022. <\/p>\n
On June 25, 2022, it was Garcia\u2019s day to pitch a couple of innings out of the bullpen. In the bullpen, he injured his ankle. He kept that to himself. <\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I needed to pitch because I was only pitching once a week,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI needed a chance to pitch and show that I could do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garcia had a good first inning out of the bullpen, but his ankle really swelled up as he sat in the dugout. He was asked to go out for another inning, and the adrenaline wore off. He had a bad night. <\/p>\n
\u201cI went back to the hotel thinking that\u2019s probably it,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cLet\u2019s see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Phillies\u2019 organization put the 27-year-old Garcia on the minor league IL, and he rehabbed the injury for a couple of weeks. \u201cThey never activated me,\u201d Garcia said. In the middle of July, he asked his Double-A manager and pitching coach if he needed to ask for his release. Garcia felt like the \u201cwriting was on the wall.\u201d <\/p>\n
Thirty minutes later, he was informed that the Phillies were cutting him. He was officially released on July 13, 2022. <\/p>\n
\u201cI went home that night and thought I\u2019d get calls (from other teams),\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI had good stuff. We\u2019ll see what happens. Nothing ever came other than Indy Ball contract offers.\u201d <\/p>\n
Garcia had heard \u201chorror stories\u201d about Indy Ball, so he wanted to at least give training on his own a shot before he went to that level. Also, he needed what he calls \u201ca mental reset.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI needed to decompress and get my mental side back to normal,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cIn 2021 and 2022, I had a miserable time in baseball. I didn\u2019t love the game. I was always finding myself complaining. Anything that was wrong, I\u2019d complain about it. I was in a bad state of mind. It wasn\u2019t fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heading into the 2023 season, Garcia still only had Indy Ball offers on the table. He didn\u2019t feel ready for that yet. <\/p>\n
Back home in Denver, he taught baseball lessons to kids. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was getting me back into loving the game,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cThat helped me see the game for what it is with the young kids and their smiles coming in just to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was also throwing live bullpen sessions against high school and college hitters every week. That gave him film and data to send to teams. <\/p>\n
He just had to get their attention. <\/p>\n
Garcia started effectively sending his resume to whoever he could find in baseball. He shared video and information about his repertoire to scouts, coaches and executives that he could get in touch with. He sent cold direct messages on Twitter and Instagram. He networked via Linkedin. He\u2019d even get lists of names of scouts, research what the company email formula is for specific teams (something like josh.smith@dodgersbaseball.com) and get information out that way. <\/p>\n
He sent over 100 messages in 2023 and only got a handful of responses. <\/p>\n
One of them really stood out. <\/p>\n
Garcia sent video one day to someone with the Mets, and he got a phone call about 30 minutes later. Garcia was told the organization liked his stuff, and they talked for 30 minutes about a possible fit for Garcia in the Mets\u2019 organization. <\/p>\n
The conversation went great. Garcia thought a contract would get done. He waited and didn\u2019t hear back. He was told to \u201cwait until the trade deadline. Wait until this. Wait until that. I was just waiting around.\u201d<\/p>\n
The spot never opened. \u201cThe Mets thing I really thought was going to happen,\u201d Garcia said.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t. But there was a silver lining that Garcia took away from his discussions with the Mets. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a confidence boost,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cFinally, someone answered and gave me a chance to talk. That\u2019s something that kept me going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heading into 2024, he felt ready for Indy Ball. Garcia did a lot of research before he signed with the Kansas City Monarchs. He particularly heard good things about Monarchs manager Joe Calfapietra and the pitching success stories that he had been a part of. <\/p>\n
Garcia also had a friend on the team, reliever Zack Leban, who helped link Garcia with the Monarchs and helped get him signed in Kansas City. <\/p>\n
Garcia pitched well in Kansas City. He was confident in the improvements that he was making. Heading into 2025, Garcia received an offer to pitch in a professional league in Mexico. Garcia stuck with the Monarchs because of his confidence that Calfapietra could help him link up with an MLB organization. <\/p>\n
\u201cJoe told me that he\u2019d get me out no matter what,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cEvery day, he didn\u2019t stop sending out data reports, talking to people and getting the word around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calfapietra would get feedback from teams about how Garcia was already 30 years old, and how he didn\u2019t throw that hard. <\/p>\n
Calfapietra would tell them, \u201cHe spins the ball! He throws strikes!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was flat out trying to get me out of there,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cHe\u2019s the reason why I got a chance with the Reds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calfapietra had connections with the Reds. Baseball is a small world. Calfapietra actually coached Fernando Cruz in Indy Ball when Cruz was the journeyman pitcher just trying to get on the radar. <\/p>\n
Last August, the Reds\u2019 minor league pitching depth was getting thinner. The organization needed a starting pitcher to help get the Chattanooga Lookouts through the season. Garcia signed with the Reds\u2019 organization on Aug. 26, 2025, and made three starts down the stretch for the Lookouts. <\/p>\n
\u201cI literally just went into it like I\u2019d get my opportunity, see what happens and make the best of it,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI was the oldest guy there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tejay Antone was also on that Lookouts team during the final month of the 2025 season. Antone was impressed with Garcia. <\/p>\n
\u201cI love Julian,\u201d Antone said. \u201cComing out of Indy Ball and getting to the big leagues is an incredible story. He\u2019s a grinder. He has a quiet confidence. He works hard. Everything you could ask for in a guy. <\/p>\n
The Reds liked Garcia enough to call him the day after the 2025 season ended and offered him a minor league contract for 2026. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey believed in me,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI just wanted to feel wanted for once in my career. There were so many up and down battles. I just wanted to feel wanted after sending out all of those messages. I wanted somebody to say that they wanted to sign me. The Reds called so early. Let\u2019s lock this down.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Reds liked him, he still wasn\u2019t very high on the organizational depth chart entering spring training. He didn\u2019t get an invite to big league camp. Instead, he was the pitcher ready to back up any Reds\u2019 pitcher in Cactus League games who couldn\u2019t get out of the inning. Garcia was the \u201cextra arm\u201d who the Reds had sitting in the bullpen for spring training games in case he was needed. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a very unglamorous job. Pitchers often prefer just getting to pitch in minor league spring training games because they know they\u2019re going to get in. Sometimes in spring training, Garcia would just spend the afternoon in the bullpen and not even warm up. <\/p>\n
There was a silver lining to it. The nature of that spring training job required him to be ready to pitch at any given moment. He had to be ready to pitch in the first inning if the starter\u2019s pitch count got too high in that inning. And he had to be ready for \u201csave\u201d opportunities in the ninth inning. <\/p>\n
Garcia was just excited to get the chance to pick up the ball, compete and show what he was capable of. He put himself on the map in the Reds\u2019 organization with how he looked in a couple of those games. <\/p>\n
At the end of spring, Garcia was invited to take a trip with the Reds to Milwaukee. The Reds were playing two scrimmages against the Brewers and needed a minor league long reliever who\u2019d be ready to pitch if anyone got hurt or had a short outing. <\/p>\n
Garcia didn\u2019t even enter any of those games. But the chance to travel with the team and be in a big league game meant something to him, even if it was just a scrimmage. <\/p>\n
At the end of the scrimmage series in Milwaukee, Garcia ran into assistant pitching coach Matt Tracy.<\/p>\n
Garcia remembers Tracy saying, \u201cHey man, keep doing your thing and enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a vote of confidence,\u201d Garcia said. He knew that he had turned some heads. <\/p>\n
He still had a lot of work to do to get to the big leagues. As well as he had pitched in spring, the Reds believed that they were entering the season with very strong bullpen depth in Triple-A. Just about all of Louisville\u2019s other pitchers were in big league spring training with the Reds, and most of them had some experience in the big leagues. Garcia was behind the eight ball again. Then, early in the year, he spent 11 days on the IL with a minor hip injury. <\/p>\n
Garcia really started to hit his stride in May. On May 13, I went to Triple-A to watch Edwin Arroyo and Noelvi Marte. Garcia entered the game out of the bullpen and struck out five in two shutout innings. The slider was really impressive. I asked around after that game, \u201cWho is this guy?\u201d <\/p>\n
Garcia started entering the discussion as a potential call up. He was making a terrific impression in Triple-A. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an amazing person,\u201d Chase Petty said. \u201cHis story to get here, all of his time in the Minor Leagues, for it to pay off to get here, he\u2019s so dedicated to his craft. Even in his catch play, you see it with every throw. You\u2019d never guess that he had his journey because he\u2019s so positive and caring for his teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n
In late May, a reeling Reds\u2019 bullpen gave chances to Lyon Richardson, Yunior Marte and Brandon Leibrandt before Garcia received his chance. Garcia had to wait his turn. Again. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know how much they valued me,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cIn my head, I knew I was a big leaguer. I was throwing well. I knew I had the stuff. The swings and misses were big. I was just trying to build on every outing and see what happens, living day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually, he reached the point where he was pitching so well that he couldn\u2019t be denied a call-up to the big leagues. In Triple-A in June, he posted a 1.29 ERA across 14 innings. On Monday, he replaced long reliever Chris Paddack on the Reds\u2019 active roster. <\/p>\n
Garcia\u2019s call-up to the big leagues was the culmination of a decade-long journey. <\/p>\n
He also hopes that he\u2019s just getting started. <\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, you just need an opportunity,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cSometimes, it takes one little tweak that can accelerate your career. There are only so many opportunities in baseball. But whatever you do with it, the sky is the limit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WXIX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Julian Garcia made his big league debut on Tuesday, Terry Francona linked up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,4034,10027,2946,591,13506,85],"class_list":["post-760226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-baseball","tag-cincinnati","tag-logo","tag-mlb","tag-reds","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}