García producing eye-popping numbers to begin '24

This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BALTIMORE -- Yimi García is on another planet right now.

At 33, he’s never looked better. García has a 0.53 ERA with 21 strikeouts and just five walks over 17 innings. He is, by every eye test and every measure, one of the best relievers in baseball.

There’s something so unique about García, too. Walk past him in the clubhouse a few hours before first pitch and it’s almost jarring how laid-back he can be. Manager John Schneider calls him a “gentle giant.” Most days, you’ll find him in the dugout pregame, chatting with his kids and family on the phone, smiling and showing them the view of the stadium. His warm-up song, “Ven Espíritu Santo,” is a slow power ballad.

Then… García steps on the mound.

“He’s very calm, but he’s a tough guy to take out of a game because you’re a little bit afraid of what he may do or say to you,” Schneider said with a laugh. “He’s been around enough. Whether it’s the big leagues, winter ball, the postseason, he gets what he’s coming into. He doesn’t budge. Nothing fazes him.”

You don’t want to be on the man’s bad side, Schneider added, and most of baseball has ended up on his bad side this season.

What García just did in Baltimore was breathtaking. In the Blue Jays’ 3-2 win on Monday, he struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth inning without breaking a sweat, but Wednesday’s outing was something else entirely. With Toronto up 2-1 in the seventh inning, García entered with runners on second and third and no outs. Due up was the top of the Orioles’ lineup.

For most relievers, the assignment is to keep the damage to one run. García doesn’t care for that advice. He blew through Baltimore with a strikeout, a foul pop fly and a groundout, holding the lead for the Blue Jays. They went on to lose on an Adley Rutschman walk-off homer, but that performance from García deserved so much more.

He’s not just a better pitcher than a year ago, but a different pitcher. García hasn’t stopped evolving.

“The sweeper is a new pitch, his velocity is there consistently, and he’s locating his fastball really, really well at the top of the zone,” Schneider said. “That’s his thing. The sweeper is new, but it’s weird because he has four pitches as a reliever. The changeup is really good to lefties, and he’s locating everything really well right now. At this time last year, he was struggling to spot things up and down. Right now, he’s nails.”

The coming months could go in so many different directions, but for now, García is making a fine case for his first All-Star appearance.

He may not have the saves (two in two chances) to jump off the page -- not yet, at least -- but the rest of baseball is taking notice of García now. He’s pitching in the biggest innings for the Blue Jays -- and not just squeaking by, but dominating. Toronto has some other All-Star candidates in Yusei Kikuchi, José Berríos and Danny Jansen, to name a few, but no player on this roster is having a year like García.

There’s a next logical step in all of this, of course.

The Blue Jays are 19-23. They sit in the basement of the AL East. If you’ve watched a game or two this season, I don’t need to tell you that things haven’t been going well.

Looking two months down the road, if García continues to pitch this well, he would be one of the top pitchers available leading up to the July 30 Trade Deadline. Sure, he’d be a rental, but García at his best is a reliever capable of turning a good bullpen into a great one, or a great one into an elite one. There would be a line outside the Blue Jays’ door.

García wouldn’t be the only hot name on this roster, either.

Kikuchi, who owns a 2.60 ERA, is in the final year of his contract. Jansen, one of the top offensive catchers in MLB with a 1.011 OPS, is in his final year of team control after 12 years in the organization. Justin Turner is on a one-year deal. So is Kevin Kiermaier.

In the Blue Jays’ perfect world, though, García will be slamming the door shut in big September games. They just need to give him more than a one-run lead to work with. García has earned it.