The Astros have positioned right-hander Luis Garcia on the 15-day injured checklist as a consequence of proper elbow discomfort, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Fellow righty Nick Hernandez has been recalled because the corresponding transfer.
At this level, it’s unclear how extreme this elbow challenge is, but it surely’s an ominous improvement. Garcia simply returned from an absence of greater than two years associated to that elbow. He had undergone Tommy John surgical procedure in 2023. He tried to get again on the mound in 2024 however repeatedly hit setbacks, ultimately lacking that whole season. Right here in 2025, he was on the IL till simply over per week in the past.
Garcia took the ball on September 1st in opposition to the Angels, his first large league recreation since Might of 2023. That begin went properly, as he allowed three earned runs over six innings. He made a second begin in opposition to the Blue Jays yesterday however his velocity was noticeably down. He averaged 91.4 miles per hour in opposition to the Angels. He was largely within the 93-94 mph vary earlier in his profession however that drop wasn’t essentially a flag. Pitchers generally return earlier than they’re again to 100% energy and Garcia had spoken of his perception that extra velocity was to come back. As an alternative, his fastball velo dropped to 90.2 mph in opposition to Toronto. Within the second inning, he summoned the coaching workers to the mound and was rapidly faraway from the sport.
Time will inform if that is one other minor setback or one thing extra severe. The truth that the Astros have rapidly positioned him on the IL doesn’t bode properly for the brief time period. Even a minimal stint would prolong into the ultimate days of the common season schedule. An absence of three weeks or extra would push into October. It’s completely doable his season is completed, although the membership will presumably launch extra information in some unspecified time in the future.
Clearly, a extra excessive consequence could be terrible. At this level, one other main elbow surgical procedure would put his 2026 season in jeopardy. He’s already misplaced many of the 2023-2025 seasons. One other prolonged surgical procedure rehab would give him a stretch of 4 years with every season both being completely or partially misplaced.
Over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, Garcia tossed 312 2/3 innings with a 3.60 earned run common, 25.4% strikeout price and seven.6% stroll price. He additionally made seven postseason appearances in that span, serving to the membership win the 2022 World Sequence. Since then, as talked about, he has hardly been on the mound.
The absences have minimize into his incomes energy. He first certified for arbitration going into 2024 and earned $1.875MM that 12 months. After lacking that whole marketing campaign, he agreed to the identical wage for 2025. Subsequent 12 months could be his ultimate arb 12 months earlier than he’s slated without cost company. Given his very restricted workload this 12 months, he must be in line for successfully the identical wage once more in 2026. That’s barely above the league minimal and a wonderful value for Houston in the event that they assume he can get wholesome. Although if he’s slated for one more lengthy absence, he would turn out to be a transparent non-tender candidate.
For the Astros, this provides to their harm pile for the stretch run. They’ve already misplaced Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Brandon Walter to season-ending surgical procedures. Spencer Arrighetti is on the IL as a consequence of elbow irritation and going for a second opinion. Within the bullpen, Josh Hader, John Rooney, Kaleb Ort and Bennett Sousa are all on the IL. The place participant group is with out Isaac Paredes and others.
Regardless of all these accidents, the Astros are clinging to a slim division lead. The nonetheless sit atop the American League West, however the Mariners are just one recreation again with the Rangers solely 2.5 video games behind. The Astros nonetheless have an excellent shot at making the postseason however each new harm will make it more difficult to hold on.
Their rotation now consists of Hunter Brown, Framber Valdez, Jason Alexander and Cristian Javier. They’ve Lance McCullers Jr. and J.P. France within the bullpen and will put one in all them within the rotation, although neither is having an awesome 12 months. Colton Gordon is on the 40-man roster however was simply optioned 4 days in the past. He can’t be recalled till 15 days after that optioning until instantly changing a participant happening the IL. Non-roster choices in Triple-A embrace Miguel Ullola, Ethan Pecko and Jose Fleury.
Picture courtesy of Erik Williams, Imagn Pictures
