Miami Marlins sign Relief RHP Yimi Garcia from Dodgers

The Marlins added to their bullpen with the addition of former Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Yimi Garcia.

Yimi Garcia comes to the Miami Marlins after pitching parts of the last five seasons out of LA’s bullpen. The 29-year-old right-hander from the Dominican Republic was non-tendered this offseason by the Dodgers and hit the open market.

Garcia posted a 1-4 record with a 3.61 ERA and 0.866 WHIP in 62.1 innings pitched in 2019. He struck out 66 batters and walked only 14. Left-handed batters hit .171 off him, and right-handed hitters fared marginally better with a .182 batting average.

Garcia signed with the Dodgers in 2009 and made his MLB debut in at age 24 in 2014. He’s made one start in his five-year career and has one save.

With a five-pitch arsenal, Garcia relies primary on his four-seamer, which averages 94 MPH and sports average movement. Garcia also throws a curveball, slider, sinker and changeup.

While Garcia keeps bases-on-balls to a minimum, he is susceptible to the home run ball. In 2019, Garcia surrendered 15 homers.

Garcia improved during the second half of the 2019 season. He posted a lower ERA (2.96-4.11), fewer home runs (6-9) and walks (5-9), and more strikeouts (34-32).

Baseball columnist for the New York Post, Joel Sherman announced the signing via his Twitter account.

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Miami featured one of the worst bullpens in the league last season. The bullpen registered a 4.97 ERA (fourth-worst in the league), and blew 22 save opportunities.

Miami started the bullpen makeover earlier this offseason with the release of Wei-Yen Chen, as well as waiving Tayron Guerrero and Tyler Kinley. The Marlins also selected a reliever, Sterling Sharp, from the Washington Nationals during Thursday’s Rule 5 draft.

Garcia could fill the late-inning set up role vacated by Guerrero, but he’ll need to keep the ball in the park–even with the shorter fences. This is an elite move by the ownership group, and should pay immediate dividends for Miami at the major league level.