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Fantasy Impact: Jaime Garcia Injury

Fantasy Impact: Jaime Garcia Injury
Jaime Garcia is the latest Cardinals' SP to be lost to injury

Jaime Garcia is the latest Cardinals’ SP to be lost to injury

The St. Louis Cardinals have added to their franchise’s history with a dominant first-half campaign. The Cardinals this season are 53-28, they sit at the top of the NL Central six games over the Pirates and have the best record in majors. But like all teams the Cardinals have struggled this year with injuries, mainly to their pitching staff who was already without Adam Wainwright for the year. They’ll now have to make due without Jaime Garcia.

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Garcia was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a groin strain after missing his last scheduled start. He suffered the groin injury while running the bases against the Marlins on June 24th. He is 3-3 with a 1.69 ERA in seven starts, and has been a solid pitcher for the Cardinals and fantasy owners this season. Left-hander Tim Cooney has been recalled and will start Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs. He was 6-4 with a 2.74 ERA in 14 starts at Triple-A Memphis.

With Wainwright out for the season the Cardinals have called on many of their less-experienced pitchers to come in and fill the void that was left. Although Garcia had only pitched 48 innings this season, striking out 32 batters over that span, he has been a good starter with an extremely low ERA. According to multiple reports, appeared he would avoid a DL stint. However, after he experienced discomfort during a pitching session St. Louis decided to make the roster move.

While this injury isn’t that threatening to the Cardinals or Gracia, it will still be tough to require another inexperienced arm to fill in for a veteran. Garcia this season has been dominant when facing lefties with an ERA of 0.90 in 10 innings, but has also been very good against righties (ERA of 1.89 in 38 innings). Garcia has been a good a pitcher since joining the rotation and has been able to go deep into games and help the Cardinals get a few more wins, despite the fact that he hasn’t racked up as many W’s as other St. Louis starters. The Cardinals still have a solid pitching staff with Lance Lynn, Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez, and John Lackey, so they should be able to maintain without Garcia. The Cardinals have always been one of the most talented teams in the National League and have seemed to be able to plug spots when players go down, with players that have stepped up to help them in huge ways.

Once Garcia comes back for the Cardinals he will be worth a pick up, if he is dropped. He’s likely to see his ownership fall below 50% during his time on the DL, so he’s worth monitoring as he recovers from injury if you need help with ERA, WHIP and Wins. He relies heavily on his sinker which clocks in just around 92 mph, which generates an extreme number of ground balls and is rarely swung on for big contact. He also throws a four-seam fastball at 91 mph, a slider at 85 mph, a change-up at 84 mph, and has mixed in a nasty curve at 74 mph.

James McGowan is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from James, check out his archive or follow him @jmc3310.

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