It was a small step forward, but progress nonetheless for pitcher Jaime Garcia, who faced live hitters on Friday afternoon in extended Spring Training.
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“He threw roughly 20-25 pitches,” shared St. Louis Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak. “Felt good; will repeat again on Monday and then we’ll sort of make a decision there to do one more live or perhaps an extended game. We’ll just see how he reacts but overall, feel pretty positive about today.”
Garcia, who underwent season-ending thoracic outlet syndrome surgery last July, developed arm fatigue the end of March and was placed on the 15-day disabled list at the end of Spring Training. Prior to that, he had renewed optimism of making the starting rotation by striking out 13 batters in 9.1 innings pitched.
“Absolutely, you’re always looking to add depth,” said Mozeliak of what a healthy Garcia could provide. “Candidly, you look at how he threw in Spring Training before he did have to take a timeout, he was throwing the ball quite well.”
What role Garcia could fill if he makes a healthy return is yet to be determined.
“His goal is to come back as a starter and that’s what we’re going to work towards,” said Mozeliak, who also explained why it was too early to determine what role Jaime could ultimately fill.
“Frankly, he’s just got to get back into it,” said Mozeliak. “This is basically like it was his first live session in Spring Training, so when you think about it in those terms, truly competing in a game, at a minimum, you’re looking at probably six weeks.”
–Mozeliak also updated that outfielder Tommy Pham has returned to Florida after being examined by team physician Dr. Michael Milne yesterday in St. Louis. “Dr. Milne felt like things were directionally going well and we’re just going to continue to push him.”
Pham has been slow to recover from a quadriceps strain suffered on March 13th.
CARDINALS
Matt Carpenter, 3B
Jason Heyward, RF
Matt Holliday, LF
Matt Adams, 1B
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Jon Jay, CF
Yadier Molina, C
Kolten Wong, 2B
Michael Wacha, P
