Next Baby Bomber to Watch: Dermis Garcia

The New York Yankees youth movement is in full swing and that swing only looks to sway more and more as we enter the month of September. September call ups are here and more reinforcements are likely on the way when all the various minor league affiliates finish their postseason runs which makes the Yankees potentially a very scary team to face going down the stretch and into the future. Speaking of the future the Yankees have one of the brightest futures in all of Major League Baseball with one of the best farm systems in the game right now and one such member to keep an eye on from that farm system is my next Baby Bomber to watch, infielder Dermis Garcia.  

Back in 2014 the New York Yankees went on a bit of a spending spree on the international market spending $17 million on players and almost another $14 million in tax penalties when the team went over their spending cap and one of the players that $14 million bought was Garcia. Garcia was signed for $3 million as a 16-year old as a third baseman as the team looked to fill what looks to be a thin position within the position. Miguel Andujar looks to be the Yankees third baseman of the future currently but if Garcia can live up to the hype and his projections Andujar may simply just be keeping the seat warm for Dermis.  

Garcia is a huge power hitter which was on display last season in the Appalachian League where Garcia was second in the league with 13 home runs. Dermis has followed that up with 15 home runs combined for the Pulaski Yankees and the Charleston Riverdogs this season although his strikeout total, like that of Aaron Judge, is a bit higher than you would like. The difference between Judge and Garcia though is that Judge was drafted out of college as a high power, high strikeout kind of player while Garcia is still a teenager and was signed as an international free agent. Judge was basically the player he is now when he was drafted but the sky is the limit for Dermis.  

FYI, Aaron Judge has a 39% strikeout rate this season and Miguel Sano of the Minnesota Twins has a 41% strikeout rate in 2017 at the time of this writing and both were All-Stars for the American League in 2017. Dermis, again just in A-Ball, has a strikeout rate of 29% at the time of this writing so the strikeouts aren’t as damning as many people will likely make them out to be. Especially for a third baseman, Garcia was signed as a shortstop but has since moved to third base, where the position is more about defense and power than it is about high average in most cases. Garcia could ultimately move to third base though if his defense and range doesn’t improve but, again, he is just 19-years old and is learning a position he has never played before so I am not putting much stock into this either.  

Garcia has shown some pop in his professional career, he has shown an ability to adjust as he lowers his strikeout percentage every season, he has shown an ability to work a work and he has shown an ability to meet or exceed expectations so I expect nothing less from Dermis going forward with the Yankees. With an ETA of late 2020 or early-to-mid 2021 we will just have to sit back and watch more improvements and more hard work from the Yankees prospect as he continues to climb the ladder all the way to the Bronx.