Royals Add Ex-Big Leaguer Garica to Bullpen
GUELPH - The Guelph Royals Baseball Club is excited to announce today the signing of ex-Major League Baseball pitcher Edgar Garica.
Garica, 28, joins the Royals after a three-year career in the big leagues.
The right-hander, who is slated to be the Royals new closer, first appeared in the big leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2019 before being traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in 2020.
From there, the native of Sabana Grande de Palenque pitched for the Cincinnati Reds and Minnesota Twins in 2021.
In total, Garica appeared in 52 Major League games, striking out 58 batters in 57 innings.
After his big league career, the 6'1", 205 reliever pitched in the Dominican Winter League (DOWL), Atlantic League, American Association, and Mexican League, with his most recent stops coming in the DOWL and Mexican League.
Garica is one winter removed from recording a 0.45 ERA in 18 appearances in the DOWL.
Royals assistant general manager Ryan Eakin said Garica was the missing piece the team was looking for.
"We loved our pitching staff in 2024, but we felt as though we lacked a lockdown closer, so it was a top priority of ours to land one this offseason via the import route. Given his experience and talent level, we believe Garica will be that for us. Between Garica, Gaku Ueda, Yomar Concepcion, and Brandon Deans, we have four impact relievers in our bullpen to complement the likes of Jacob Kush and Kyle Thomas in our rotation.
"We still have two import spots to play with and expect to use one of those spots on a starting arm, so we are not finished rounding out our pitching staff, but this is an important step for us."
In a corresponding move, the Royals have placed reliever Yuki Narita on the inactive list.
We would like to thank Yuki for his contributions to the team and city over the last two summers.