St. Louis Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia has never thrown 200 innings in a season, has had three major surgeries, and started the season on the disabled list due to "general soreness and arm fatigue." Because of this, the 29-year-old was an afterthought entering the season -- he was not even mentioned in some team previews -- despite modest success, including a 49-30 record, when healthy. Anything the Cardinals would get from him would be viewed as a bonus, and that's if he ever got healthy.
Garcia has had a rough go of it. "I've been through so much, with so many injuries," he told me recently. A tough road indeed, but along the way, adjustments were made, things were learned, mechanics and his stuff were changed, and check out Garcia now. He has a sterling 2.03 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in 14 starts for the Cardinals while showing the best ground ball rate of his career, a number that would make him second in baseball if he had enough innings to qualify for the ERA title, and he's slated to pitch a big September game against the second-place Pirates this weekend.
I spoke with the pitcher about what he has learned and take a closer look at the specifics.