SEATTLE — Astros right-hander Luis Garcia needs surgery on Tommy John and will miss the rest of the regular season, general manager Dana Brown announced Friday. Garcia left Monday’s game against the Giants after just eight pitches due to right elbow pain.
Garcia’s loss is a major blow to an already thin Astros rotation, with right-hander José Urquidy on the injured list (right shoulder discomfort) and right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. working his way back from a forearm injury he sustained on February 14 . The team will activate right-hander JP France, who is set to make his major league debut against the Mariners on Saturday.
Garcia had played two consecutive goalless games before injuring his elbow on Sunday. He made six starts this year and went 2-2 with a 4.00 ERA with 10 walks and 31 strikeouts.
“It’s a huge blow,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said after the Astros’ 6-4 win over the Mariners Friday night at T-Mobile Park. “I prayed it was something else, something smaller. … He’s a strong kid. He’s in good spirits. Hopefully France and the other young people can take us with them.”
Of the five pitchers who made at least 25 starts for the Astros last year, only left-hander Framber Valdez and right-hander Cristian Javier are currently in the Houston rotation. Garcia and Urquidy are injured and Justin Verlander has signed with the Mets. McCullers made eight starts at the end of last season after recovering from injury throughout the year.
Along with Valdez, Javier and France, rookie Hunter Brown and Brandon Bielak are the other healthy starting pitchers for the Astros, who will begin Sunday’s series finals in only their ninth major league start and first since 2021.
The Astros don’t have much pitching depth for the major leagues in the minor leagues either. Two starters at Triple-A Sugar Land who are on the 40-man roster are struggling with injuries. Right-hander Forrest Whitley has mild pain in his brake muscle (below his shoulder) and will take a day or two off, according to a source, and right-hander Shawn Dubin was put on the seven-day injured list on Friday.
With that in mind, the Astros will almost certainly need to make acquiring a starting pitcher or two a priority before the trade deadline, or even before it. Still, the Houston starters finished sixth-best in the major leagues in ERA (3.43) and started Friday.
Garcia has been a workhorse for the Astros for the past two years. He is 28-19 in 69 career appearances (63 starts) with a 3.61 ERA and made his debut in 2020 when he was called up from High-A. Last year he went 15-8 in 28 starts with a 3.72 ERA in the regular season. He threw a relieved five innings scoreless to end the Astros’ 1-0, 18-inning win over the Mariners and win the American League Division Series in Seattle.
In 2021, Garcia was 11-8 in 30 appearances (28 starts) with a 3.48 ERA and finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year poll. He threw 5 2/3 innings scoreless in Houston’s 5-0 win in Game 6 of the AL Championship Series.