Rangers Pitching Prospect Wins Carolina League Award

Texas' second-round pick in 2019 just got back on the mound after missing nearly three years of baseball due to an injury.

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Ryan Garcia is the latest player to earn a weekly award for the Texas Rangers’ Low Class-A Down East Wood Ducks.

Garcia is the Carolina League Pitcher of the Week for the week of Aug. 22-28 after he earned his first professional victory on Sunday against Fredericksburg.

In the game, Garcia threw five scoreless, perfect innings, striking out four.

The Rangers drafted Garcia No. 50 overall out of UCLA in 2019. Garcia threw in three minor-league games, the last for Spokane on July 14 of that year, before being shut down.

Since then, Garcia didn’t play in 2020 because of COVID-19 canceled all of minor-league baseball and didn’t play in 2021 as he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Rangers assigned Garcia to Hickory last May, and he remained on the Crawdads injury list until he was activated on Nov. 7.

The Crawdads put him back on their injury list on April 8, and on May 31 the Rangers organization assigned Garcia to Down East, setting him up for his first action in three years.

Since joining Down East, Garcia has a 2.31 ERA (12 ER/46.2 IP) and 59 strikeouts over 12 starts.

The Wood Ducks are starting their final homestand on Tuesday with Fayetteville through Sept. 4. After the Labor Day holiday, the Wood Ducks play their final series of the season on the road against Delmarva beginning Sept. 6.

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