Minnesota Twins Sign 14-Year Veteran Pitcher

April 22, 2026 , , , ,
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Luis Garcia reacts during 2025 game.

The Minnesota Twins have signed right-handed reliever Luis Garcia to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A St. Paul.

Garcia, 39, signed a one-year $1.75 million contract with the Mets in the offseason and was released earlier this month after a rough start to the year.

In six outings with New York, he allowed six runs, five earned, on 11 hits and two walks while striking out four across six and a third innings.

It was a sharp fall from the production Garcia had put together over the previous five seasons.

From 2021 through 2025 with multiple organizations, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, Washington Nationals, and Angels, Garcia posted a 3.86 ERA with a 22.3 percent strikeout rate, 7.8 percent walk rate, and an impressive 53 percent ground-ball rate.

Last season with the Dodgers, Nationals, and Angels specifically, he posted a 3.42 ERA with 48 strikeouts in 55.1 innings.

The Velocity Question

The core concern with Garcia right now is his fastball.

His sinker averaged 96.9 mph in 2025. It has dropped to 94 mph in 2026, and his changeup and splitter have also lost velocity across the board.

At 39 years old, regaining that kind of velo is not guaranteed.

But the Twins are not investing much beyond a minor league deal to find out, which makes this a reasonable low-risk move for a bullpen that genuinely needs bodies.

Minnesota's relievers rank 23rd in baseball with a 5.07 ERA this season.

They have the fourth-worst strikeout rate among relief corps in the league, the third-slowest average fastball velocity at 93.4 mph, and the third-worst swinging-strike rate at 8.7 percent.

Adding a 39-year-old is not going to fix all of that.

But Garcia's track record, his elite ground-ball tendencies, and his experience across nine organizations over 14 big league seasons give him a real shot at earning a call-up if he produces in St. Paul.

The Path to a Call-Up

Garcia will join a Saints pitching staff that includes several relievers with big league experience hoping to work their way back up, including Dan Altavilla, Matt Bowman, John Brebbia, and Julian Merryweather.

Several of Minnesota's current bullpen arms figure to be gone by midseason through injury, demotion, or DFA, and the Twins will need someone ready to step in.

Garcia has made the big leagues in each of the last five seasons. He knows how to get outs when his stuff is working. The question is whether the stuff is still there, but the Twins are willing to spend a few months finding out.

Photo Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images

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