Garcia, Braves hope free-agent ‘walk’ year is a big one

Left-handed starter Jaime Garcia had his promising career with the Cardinals stalled by multiple injuries. Traded to the Braves in December, he’s in the option year of his contract and will be eligible for free agency after the season. (Curtis Compton/AJC photo)

Left-handed starter Jaime Garcia had his promising career with the Cardinals stalled by multiple injuries. Traded to the Braves in December, he’s in the option year of his contract and will be eligible for free agency after the season. (Curtis Compton/AJC photo)

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Jaime Garcia looked sharp when he faced hitters Tuesday in the first day of live batting practice, but the veteran left-hander already had made a good impression and positive impact in the early days of his first Braves spring training.

Garcia, 30, has overcome several major setbacks in his career and makes it a point to share his experience with any teammates whom he thinks might benefit from hearing about it, regardless of whether he’s met them.

“Jaime Garcia walked up to me right away and said, ‘Hey, what’s up? You’re the guy that broke your elbow, right?’” said Dan Winkler, who appreciated both the interest and the fact that Garcia knew his specific injury.

Winkler broke a bone in his pitching elbow in April, just his third appearance of the season and his fifth appearance after coming back from Tommy John elbow surgery on the same elbow.

Garcia can certainly relate to the multiple-injury thing. Partial tears of his rotator cuff and labrum of his pitching shoulder caused him to miss more than two months of the 2012 season; he had season-ending shoulder surgery after nine starts in 2013, and season-ending thoracic outlet surgery after seven starts in 2014. The latter surgery involved the removal of a rib, similar to the operation Braves pitcher Mike Foltynewicz’s had in 2015.

“(Garcia) had Tommy John and he’s had a shoulder (surgery) and then he had that thoracic outlet (surgery),” Winkler said. “He was just saying how not many people come back from the thoracic outlet, but he just said, ‘I’m just going to make my own destiny.’ He told me to do the same, that it’s going to be a great story when I come back. And that’s the way I’m looking at it.”

Garcia came to the Braves from St. Louis in a November trade for three mid-level prospects, including infielder Luke Dykstra and right-handers Chris Ellis and John Gant.

He joined free-agent signees Bartolo Colon and R.A Dickey to give the Braves a veteran trio on one-year deals — Dickey’s has an option — to complement incumbent All-Star Julio Teheran in a revamped rotation, with Mike Foltynewicz expected to secure the final spot. Garcia gives the Braves something they lacked in 2016: a lefty starter.

St. Louis picked up a $12 million option on his contract, then traded him. Garcia can be a free agent after the season.

After going 10-6 with a 2.43 ERA in 20 starts in 2015, Garcia was 10-13 with a career-worst 4.67 ERA in 32 games (30 starts) in 2016. He had 157 strikeouts with 50 walks and a career-high 26 home runs allowed in 171 2/3 innings, the first time he pitched in more than 20 games or worked as many as 130 innings since 2011.

He was 26-15 with a 3.17 ERA in 60 starts during 2010-11 in his first two full seasons, totaling 288 strikeouts with 24 homers allowed in 358 innings over that span and establishing himself as one of the top young lefties in baseball.

Then came the injuries, one after another. The Braves hope last season’s 30 starts and 170-plus innings were a sign that Garcia can stay healthy, and that a free-agent contract year will helpl push him to a big season.

“We know that Jaime has been through a lot, but when he’s healthy he’s a good pitcher,” Teheran said.