The Mets are calling up reliever Rico Garcia, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. They’ll formally select his contract tomorrow and already have an opening on the 40-man roster. They’ll need to make a corresponding active roster move involving a pitcher.
Garcia gets his first big league look in two seasons. The Hawaii native signed an offseason minor league contract and has been pitching at Triple-A Syracuse. He has had pedestrian numbers, turning in a 4.45 ERA across 30 1/3 innings. Garcia has recorded an above-average 27.4% strikeout rate but has walked almost 15% of batters faced. He has given up seven home runs, just over two per nine innings.
Most of Garcia’s struggles came in April, when he allowed an ERA above 7.00 with more walks than strikeouts. He has posted a sub-4.00 mark in consecutive months, including a 3.18 ERA with 15 strikeouts and three free passes over 11 1/3 frames in June. Garcia has handled two innings on a few occasions and can provide a fresh arm in long relief on the heels of Wednesday’s doubleheader. Southpaw Brandon Waddell tossed three innings during the first game of the twin bill and won’t be available for a few days. He’s a candidate to be optioned out to make room on the roster.
The 31-year-old Garcia is out of options, so the Mets would need to expose him to waivers to try to send him back to Syracuse. He carries a 7.32 ERA in 35 2/3 MLB frames over parts of four seasons.