Mattingly has ‘total confidence’ Garcia could work as closer

The Marlins still aim to upgrade their bullpen but might not sign a bonafide closer. That means Yimi Garcia could potentially assume the role in 2021.

The Marlins’ bullpen is still a work in progress. The team anticipates making more upgrades to its group of relief pitchers over the next couple months before spring training tentatively begins at the end of February.

But could the team’s closer already be on the roster?

Despite a heavily flooded reliever market, the Marlins aren’t expected to make a big splash in free agency. Financial uncertainty is still a legitimate factor for a smallmarket team like the Marlins following the pandemic-shortened

2020 season that saw teams around the teams take revenue hits after not having fans in ballparks.

While that’s not to say the Marlins won’t acquire a pitcher for high-leverage situations, the Marlins’ closer very well could come from within at this point.

“I think there are some really good arms out there,” Marlins general manager Kim Ng said of the closer market. “At this point, we are in the market for relievers. I’m not sure that we’re going to be at that [closer] end.

But [talks are] moving.”

If that’s the case, that points to Yimi Garcia being the guy with the ball when the Marlins have a lead late.

And if that’s the case, Marlins manager Don Mattingly wouldn’t necessarily view that as a bad problem.

Garcia, who the Marlins signed as a free agent last season, was one of Miami’s most consistent relievers in the shortened 2020 season. He gave up just one run over 15 innings for a 0.60 ERA, held opponents to a .164 batting average and struck out 19 while walking just five.

This comes a year after he had a respectable 3.61 ERA over 62 1⁄ innings for

3 the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019. He missed a month during the 2020 season after being one of 19 Marlins players to test positive for COVID-19 following their seasonopening series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

“I love Yimi,” Mattingly said. “I have total confidence in him.”

But let’s take a deeper dive into Garcia’s production and how he projects

as a potential closer.

HIS ARSENAL

Garcia has a four-pitch mix, a luxury when it comes to a late-inning reliever.

He primarily relies on a four-seam fastball that averages about 94.5 mph. However, what makes the pitch so productive in part is its high spin rate, which impacts the trajectory of the ball as it approaches the plate.

According to Statcast, Garcia’s fastball in 2020 averaged 2,569 revolutions per minute, the 11th-highest mark among relief pitchers who threw at least 200 pitches last season.

Garcia also throws a slider that averaged 87.8 mph last season, a curveball and a changeup.

He has shown a knack the past two seasons of minimizing hard contact. During those two seasons, just 55 of 197 balls put in play against him — 27.9 percent — had an exit velocity above 95 mph.

Garcia’s average exit velocity against him the past two seasons: 87.3 mph. To compare that to some of the top relievers on the open market, Brad Hand’s average exit velocity allowed in that span is 87.9 mph; Blake Trei

nen’s is 86.9 mph; Liam Hendriks’ is 89.3 mph.

WHO HE GOT OUTS AGAINST

Maybe more important than Garcia’s production on its own is who he got his results against.

While Mattingly primarily used Brandon Kintzler in save situations last season — Kintzler had 12 of the team’s 18 regular-season saves — it could be argued that Garcia faced the tougher batch of opposing hitters throughout the season.

While Garcia primarily handled the eighth inning as Kintzler’s setup man, Garcia faced at least two of the first four players in an opponent’s lineup in 12 of his 14 relief appearances. That included five situations in which the first batter he faced was the top of an opponent’s lineup.

And Garcia held his own. He only faced more than four batters in an inning once. The only run he gave up during the regular season — an RBI groundball single to J.T. Realmuto on Sept. 11 in the seventh inning of a doubleheader against the Phillies — came with Miami holding a three-run lead. Garcia struck out Jean Segura on five pitches one batter later to end the game and earn his only save of the season.

“As you watch the games, he got the toughest part of the order,” Mattingly said. “If it was the top of the order and we had to go through the toughest stretch, Yimi would get that call. So he’s already been being used as the guy that goes through the toughest guys.”

PRODUCTION IN LATE AND CLOSE GAMES

Garcia also has a knack lately for producing in late and close games, defined as appearances in the seventh inning or later with the game tied, within one run or with the tying run at least on deck.

Garcia’s stats in those situations over the past two years: Five earned runs allowed over 19 innings (2.37 ERA) on seven hits and five walks while striking out 25 of the 72 batters he faced.

For his career when pitching between the seventh and ninth inning regardless of the score, Garcia has a 3.17 ERA over 125 innings, 134 strikeouts against 20 walks and has held opponents to a .192 batting average and .233 on-base percentage.