Down in Trenton today the Yankees are awaiting the results of an MRI on pitcher Christian Garcia's elbow which could indicate an end to his season and maybe his career. Since being drafted in 2004, he has been injured quite often and has already had elbow and knee surgery. Garcia looked healthy again pitching well this spring, and he had a solid 5+ innings of pitching in his first game Thursday night for the Thunder. However, in the third inning he began to feel elbow discomfort but continued to pitch. Not sure why he didn't take himself out of the game at that point given his injury history. It doesn't appear like anyone on the staff was aware of the problem. Anyway, despite the pain, he continued to pitch and finished the night allowing only 1 hit, a walk and no runs. Hopefully Garcia will get some good news today.The leading candidate to replace Garcia for his next scheduled start could be Hector Noesi who was solid in his outing for Tampa this week. He pitched 6 scoreless innings, allowing 2 hits, while striking out 6 and only walking 1. Noesi, has also had injury problems. He debuted in 2006 as a 19 year old out of the Dominican Republic, and had Tommy John surgery in 2007. He made a solid comeback in 2008 pitching in 50 innings and averaging 10 strikeouts and 2 walks per 9 innings for the GCL Yankees. Since then he has maintained a startling K:BB ratio of 10 or above per 9 innings.
Noesi, ranked one of the Yanks top 15 prospects, could be on the fast track to the Bronx. Here's former scout and current writer for AOL Fanhouse, Frankie Piliere's scouting report:
[Hector] Noesi is the type of prospect that shows up in deals quite frequently. He's a little older than you'd like for a pitcher below Double-A, but has the stuff of a No. 3 big-league starter. Another reason you may not know much about Noesi is because in 2008 he was much shorter in his arsenal than he is today.So Christian Garcia's misfortune could open the door for another prospect who has quietly worked his way up the Yankee system.
When I had the chance to see him then, he was pitcher severely lacking in secondary pitches despite his good velocity and fastball command. This year was a much different story. He displayed downright dominance at times, especially in his stint with at low Single-A Charleston (S.C.). Maybe most impressive of all was his stamina; his stuff would sometimes improve as his pitch count mounted.
Although he still likes to mostly to work off his well spotted 90-94 mph fastball, this year there was the curve ball as well. With good 12-6 action, the curve ball came out whenever Noesi seemed to need it this year. He had a feel for just how much to mix it in and varied the speeds from 72-76 mph. With a second pitch that now shows flashes of being plus, and an occasional changeup mixed in, Noesi showed tremendous growth in 2009 and became a complete pitcher. He could be a guy that continues to emerge in a hurry and may not be far off from the big leagues.
