MINNEAPOLIS — Details of Gersson Garavito’s unconventional and incredible journey to the Texas Rangers were released in a statement after the club announcedWho?” When the right-handed pitcher joined the taxi squad on Saturday, comments like these erupted across social media:
It’s important to note that Garavito didn’t even have a Wikipedia page at the time, a byproduct of a six-year journey through minor league baseball, two years away from affiliated baseball, and a stint in some high-profile and some low-profile Latin American winter leagues. Even Rangers manager Bruce Bochy could barely provide any information about Garavito’s history beyond pitching statistics and minor league box scores.
“I don’t know what he was doing. [the last couple of years]”There were some great storylines in this game and I think this was one of them, I think,” Bochy said Sunday.
Garavito, 28, made his major league debut as a starter in the Rangers’ 6-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday at Target Field. He pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits and four walks with two strikeouts, but Bochy replaced him in the fourth inning after throwing 84 pitches with runners on third and two hits.
By the time he threw his first pitch on Sunday, someone had created a Wikipedia page for him, and by the time he spoke to reporters after the game, it had been updated to reflect his major league debut.
“It’s something I’ve been waiting for a long time,” Garavito said. “Today it happened to me. I was like, ‘I did it.'”
Garavito walked each of the first three innings but didn’t allow a hit to Minnesota until Carlos Correa singled to lead off the fourth and scored on a wall-ball double by Max Kepler in his next at-bat. He used six pitches — a fastball, sinker, slider, curveball, changeup and cutter — and received more run support than any Texas starter since May 8. Corey Seager hit two home runs and had three RBIs, and Nathaniel Lowe broke his slump with two run-scoring singles.
Garavito struck out the second major league batter he faced when Minnesota’s Willy Castro swung and whiffed on an 86.2 mph changeup for the first out of the first inning. After walking leadoff hitter Trevor Larnach on five pitches, Garavito used a curveball to get two-time All-Star Carlos Correa to ground out to end the inning with a double play.
“He looked stone-faced and focused all day,” catcher Jonah Heim said. “He didn’t look nervous at all.” [He threw] “The bullpen before the game was really good. I just tried to give him some calming energy, not try to scare him. I thought he did a great job. He handled the nerves like a true pro.”
Garavito’s start helped the Rangers end a six-game losing streak and ensure at least one win to close out a multi-city road trip.
“I just thought, ‘OK, I need to win this game, so I’m going to throw strikes,'” Garavito said. “I knew I just had to do my job.”
The Kansas City Royals signed Garavito, a native of the Dominican Republic, in 2012 and he pitched for the Royals and San Francisco Giants for six minor league seasons until 2021. He did not play for an affiliate team the past two seasons, but pitched in winter leagues in Venezuela, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic from 2021-2023.
Texas signed Garavito, a pitcher in the Dominican Winter League, to a minor league contract in December. He had a 2.05 ERA in seven games (five starts) with Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock this season and was added to the team’s taxi squad on Saturday. Right-handed relief pitcher Sean Anderson was designated for designation on Sunday to make room for Garavito on the 40-man and active roster.
“I had plans,” Garavito said of signing with Texas, “but I didn’t expect to be here at this point.”
Bochy said before Sunday’s game that Garavito was the Rangers’ best option for a spot start. That may be true, but it’s also worrisome. The Rangers have six starting pitchers on the disabled list: Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Tyler Mahl, Nathan Eovaldi, Cody Bradford and Jon Gray. Jose Ureña also signed a minor league deal this winter but is entrenched in the starting rotation until further notice. Andrew Heaney is the only Texas starter who is still available. Not yet He was on injured reserve for at least some time this season, and his depth options ran out.
Garabito appears.
Of course.
“He kept his cool,” Bochy said. “It was impressive. I thought this kid did a pretty good job for his first time on the mound. He didn’t seem scared, even with the walks and the full count, he just kept battling.”
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