Freddy Garcia hit on hand, leaves game
New York Yankees' Freddy Garcia pitches in the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies. (March 4, 2012) Credit: AP
DUNEDIN, Fla. -- By all accounts, Freddy Garcia had good movement Wednesday. That, of course, is a pitching term about the flight of his deliveries. That was all good, as far as the Yankees were concerned. They were concerned, period, though, with his most pronounced movement -- he immediately walked off the field in the fourth inning after a batted ball slammed into his pitching hand.
At least nothing is broken. The Yankees announced later that X-rays taken back in Tampa were negative. So now it is a matter of seeing how long it will take for Garcia to recover from the bruise that occurred from the one-hopper off Edwin Encarnacion's hot bat in the fourth inning.
The sight of Garcia extending his swollen hand as he left with the trainer and without hesitation -- "I've never seen anything swell up so fast," said Eric Chavez, who was playing third base -- sure represented a change of pace in Yankees camp. The main topic usually is how four starters will fit into three open spots.
"That's why we try to have depth every year, in case we do run into something like what he has," Joe Girardi said after a 7-5 loss to the Blue Jays. "I hope it's not going to keep him down."
Earlier in the day, the manager had been answering questions about the overloaded rotation, saying, "If they're all capable of throwing the ball well, the five guys you pick aren't necessarily the five guys you end up with, or the five guys that you'll have in June."
The pivotal start of the week had seemed to be the one scheduled for Thursday, with Michael Pineda going against the Nationals and Chien-Ming Wang.
But Garcia moved front and center just after the one-hopper. He seemed stunned. He looked up and around for the carom, then looked at his hand. Then he left. It seemed pretty serious at the moment.
"When he left, forget it, because that guy, he likes to throw, no matter what happens," said Francisco Cervelli, who was catching. "The ground ball was not too hard, maybe it was just the right spot."
Raul Ibañez, who was playing leftfield and couldn't see the play very well, added, "It doesn't take much, if it's in the right spot. If you're up at bat, you can get hurt when you get hit with a breaking ball."
Girardi said the damage appeared to be between Garcia's thumb and the bottom his forefinger. The manager was not upset about his pitcher trying to field the ball with his bare hand. "I don't think he necessarily tried to catch it with his hand, I think it caught him," Girardi said.
Until then, most everything about Garcia's day had pleased his club. He had allowed a home run to Encarnacion (who added another in the fifth against Manny Banuelos), but not much else.
"I think he was throwing 90," Cervelli said. "He had a lot of movement. His plan was really good today."
His plans for the next few days will be on hold until he and the Yankees see how the bruise heals. As for his pitching, they believe that is fine.
"Freddy's Freddy," Girardi said. "He commands all his offspeeds, he commands his fastball, he changes speeds. That's exactly what he did today. His split was effective. He just got his hand in the way. That's the only thing I didn't like."
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