Garcia is the 228th former Northwoods League and the first Kingfish player to debut in MLB
Rochester, Minn. – Former Kenosha Kingfish Rico Garcia, made his Major League debut for the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday, August 27, 2019. Garcia is the 228th former Northwoods League player and the first Kenosha Kingfish to reach the Major League level.
Garcia, who played collegiately at Hawaii Pacific University, pitched for the Kingfish in 2014 and 2015. He was drafted by the Rockies in the 30th round of the 2016 MLB draft.
In 2014 with the Kingfish, Garcia appeared in 11 games and was 5-2 with a 1.89 ERA in 66.1 innings pitched. He struck out 51 batters and walked 12. He was also selected for the All-Star Game and pitched one inning with one strikeout. During the 2015 season he appeared in nine games and was 3-4 with a 3.88 ERA. He also had 47 strikeouts in 48.2 innings pitched. During the playoffs that season he started one game and recorded the win while allowing one run on four hits with six strikeouts in 5.1 innings.
Garcia began his minor league career in 2016 with the Boise Hawks of the Short-Season A Northwest League. Over 16 games he was 0-4 with a 6.37 ERA. He struck out 35 batters in 35.1 innings and walked 17.
In 2017 Garcia began the year with Boise and then was promoted, after eight games, to the Asheville Tourists of the Lo-A South Atlantic League. Between the two clubs he was a combined 2-6 with a 3.39 ERA. He struck out 65 batters in 69 innings and walked 18.
Garcia started the 2018 season with the Lancaster JetHawks of the Hi-A California League. After 16 games, he moved up to the Hartford Yard Goats of the AA Eastern League. For the season he had a career high 13 wins and a career low 2.96 ERA. He also struck out a career high 162 batters in 167 innings.
Prior to being called up by the Rockies, Garcia had started the season in Hartford and then received a promotion to the Albuquerque Isotopes of the AAA Pacific Coast League. He had a 10-6 record and a 4.23 ERA in 25 games between the two clubs. He also had 132 strikeouts in 123.1 innings pitched.
In his Major League debut against the Boston Red Sox, Garcia started the game and pitched 5.0 innings allowing six runs on seven hits. He recorded his first MLB strikeout on the first batter he faced by getting AL MVP Mookie Betts to go down swinging.
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The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Currently in its’ 26th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 225 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG), World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS) and MLB All-Stars Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. For more information, visit www.northwoodsleague.com or download the Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play.
