RHP Nick Garcia, Chapman
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DoB: 4/20/1999.
2020 Stats: 4-1, 2.00 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 36/7 K/BB in 27 IP
Nick Garcia might be the only player on this list whose high school is more famous than his college. A graduate of Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, California, his fellow alumni include Tom Brady, Barry Bonds, NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann, and more recently, 2019 Giants first rounder Hunter Bishop. Not widely scouted back then, Garcia ended up at Division III Chapman University in the shadows of Angel Stadium, originally playing third base. After he hit just .268/.326/.293 as a freshman in 2018, the Panthers moved him to the mound, where he found immediate success; as a sophomore in 2019, Garcia put up a 0.64 ERA and an 82/14 strikeout to walk ratio across 56 innings out of the bullpen, earning a trip to the elite Cape Cod League. He opened a lot of eyes up there with a 3.17 ERA and a 20/11 strikeout to walk ratio across 17 innings, and then his stock leapt forward yet again in 2020 with a successful transition to the rotation: 2.00 ERA, 36/7 K/BB in 27 innings.
Over the course of barely a year, Garcia went from completely off the map to a top prospect for the 2020 draft. Listed at 6'4", Garcia's best attribute is his low to mid 90's fastball, which can have good running action and which has hit 98 before. Though he's a fresh arm, he's not just a pure power pitcher, adding in a slider and a cutter. The slider has deeper, two-plane tilt, while the cutter comes in with more velocity and consistently misses barrels. He doesn't have much of a changeup, but then again, he only started pitching as a sophomore and only began starting as a junior. The control (ability to throw strikes) is well ahead of the command (ability to spot pitches), but again, he hasn't been pitching for that long.
With an ideal pitcher's frame, three good pitches, and now the ability to start, Garcia has been trending up quickly. That said, there are a few caveats to his game. While his time on the Cape was overall a success, he did walk 11 in 17 innings in his only action against any kind of advanced hitting, and he's otherwise completely unproven above the Division III level. If he wants to start, he needs to refine his command and his changeup, which should theoretically be more likely given that he's so new to pitching, but theoretically is not a given until it actually happens.
If Garcia develops the way he's projected to, he could be an impact starting pitcher pretty easily. However, the depth of college pitching in this class in addition to this year's emphasis on track record could push him down a bit in the draft. He projects as a second round arm in a normal draft but could fall to the third this year if teams don't think they've seen enough from him as a starter to feel comfortable (he's only started five games, ever). Perhaps helping his case just a little is his April birthday, which isn't crazy young but it makes him nearly nine months younger than a guy like Wake Forest's Jared Shuster, who projects in a similar draft range.
Fall 2019 scrimmage (home plate view)
Same outing from CF view
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