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Freddy Garcia
Chicago White Sox — No. 43
Starting pitcher
Born: June 10, 1976 (1976-06-10) (age 33) Caracas, Venezuela
Bats: Right	Throws: Right
MLB debut
April 7, 1999 for the Seattle Mariners
Career statistics (through 2009)
Win–Loss	121–81
Earned run average	4.08
Strikeouts	1301
Teams
Seattle Mariners (1999–2004) Chicago White Sox (2004–2006) Philadelphia Phillies (2007) Detroit Tigers (2008) Chicago White Sox (2009-present)
Career highlights and awards
American League All-Star (2001–2002) American League ERA champion in 2001 Led American League in innings pitched in 2001 World Series champion (2005)

Freddy Antonio García (born June 10, 1976 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan baseball player. He is a right-handed starting pitcher who is with the Chicago White Sox. During his major league career, he pitched for the Seattle Mariners, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, and Detroit Tigers. García throws a fastball that can get into the 90s and a hard slider. He also throws a two-seamer, a curve, a changeup and occasionally uses a splitter^[1]. Garcia's best year was in 2001 in which he led the American League in innings pitched and ERA. He made the All-Star team in 2001 and 2002. In 2005, he was a member of the World Series winning Chicago White Sox and started the series winning game 4.

Major League Baseball career

Seattle Mariners

Originally signed by the Houston Astros as a non-draft amateur free agent in 1993, García was acquired by Seattle in 1998, along with Carlos Guillén and John Halama in the trade that sent Randy Johnson to the Astros.^[2]

During García's rookie season, he pitched 201 innings, compiling a 17-8 record with 170 strikeouts and a 4.07 ERA in 33 starts. After going 9-5 in his second season, he went on to win 18, 16, 12, 13, and 14 games over the course of the next five seasons. Garcia was the American League pitcher on the mound when the 2002 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was called after 11 innings, and ended as a 7-7 tie. The other pitcher was Vicente Padilla of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Chicago White Sox

Garcia was the starting pitcher in the championship clinching Game 4 of the 2005 World Series for the Chicago White Sox, going 7 scoreless innings.

Garcia experienced a bit of controversy at the beginning of the 2006 season when he tested positive for marijuana during the World Baseball Classic.^[3]

In 2006, he surpassed 1200 strikeouts for his career. In eight post-season games, he was 5-2 with a 3.56 ERA in 48 innings. Also during 2006, on April 29, García recorded his 103rd career win in a game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, surpassing former White Sox left-hander Wilson Alvarez as the Venezuelan native with most career wins in Major League history. He finished the season 17-9 with a 4.53 ERA.^[2]

Philadelphia Phillies

In December 2006, Garcia was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for prospects Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez.^[2] While Phillies fans eagerly anticipated Garcia's 2007 season, he failed to live up to expectations. He hid a shoulder injury for the first several months of the season and was finally placed on the disabled list (DL) in June. Garcia made 11 starts before being placed on the DL and earned one win. That win infamously became known in Philadelphia as the "ten million dollar win," in reference to Garcia's ten million dollar salary. He was not re-signed by the Phillies after the 2007 season.

Detroit Tigers

In August of 2008, García signed a minor league contract with the Detroit Tigers. In his first 2 minor league starts with the Tigers he pitched 5 innings, gave up no runs, and struck out 5. In his Tigers debut in late September, García, with a limited pitch count, threw 5 scoreless innings to get the win.

New York Mets

In January 2009, García agreed to a minor league deal with the New York Mets. He was released from the Mets on April 28, 2009 because of two bad starts with the Triple-A farm team, Buffalo Bisons^[4]. He was released without having appeared on the club's regular season roster.^[5][6]

Second stint with the Chicago White Sox

On June 8, 2009, the Chicago White Sox signed Garcia to a minor league contract.^[7] Garcia started on August 18 against the Kansas City Royals for the first time with the White Sox since 2006. In his first game back with the White Sox Garcia went 4.1 IP allowing 5 ER with the game ending in a loss for the White Sox

García with the Chicago White Sox in 2006

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)