PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks are counting on one of their two prospects brought back from the Josh Naylor trade almost immediately, as they recalled left-handed pitcher Brandyn Garcia on Saturday.
Arizona designated right-handed pitcher Trevor Richards for assignment to open the roster spot.
The D-backs traded Naylor to the Seattle Mariners on Thursday in exchange for Garcia and Ashton Izzi, a right-handed pitcher who was assigned to High-A Hillsboro.
Garcia gives the Diamondbacks a different look in the bullpen. He is 6-foot-4 and delivers 97 mph from an unorthodox sidearm angle. A.J. Puk is the only comparable reliever from that standpoint, but he is out for the year after undergoing elbow surgery.
Garcia is 25 years old and made his MLB debut on Monday for Seattle.
“It’s a big arm that’s gonna fit into our pen between now and in the future,” general manager Mike Hazen said on Friday. “Obviously everybody knows what we’ve gone through in the bullpen this year, and part of what my anticipation is or goal is for this deadline, if possible, is to add arms the best we can.”
The Diamondbacks built what they felt was their most talented bullpen in years, but Puk, Justin Martinez, Kevin Ginkel, Kendall Graveman, Ryan Thompson, Cristian Mena, Jalen Beeks and Shelby Miller have all missed time on the injured list.
Garcia had been a starter before this season, but Hazen said he sees the southpaw as a reliever. The Diamondbacks could certainly use a young arm who comes into his own in the bullpen for the near and foreseeable future.
“I think there’s certainly a transition time tax for every young player that comes up,” Hazen said. “We are very hopeful. He has great stuff. How that stuff translates into going out on the mound and just pounding the strike zone, trusting that and going after big league hitters is different for every player. … I don’t really profess to know what that transition’s gonna look like. I do know the stuff is really good and if we can harness it into attacking the strike zone and hitters, I think we’ll be in a decent spot.”
Who is Diamondbacks LHP Brandyn Garcia?
Garcia made two appearances this past week for the Mariners. He allowed a run on four hits in his debut, followed by a scoreless inning with two walks and his first career strikeout.
In 33.1 innings pitched between Double-A Arkansas and Triple-A Tacoma this year, he worked a 3.51 ERA with 42 strikeouts (11.3 K/9) and 17 walks (4.6 BB/9).
Garcia averaged 97 mph on his sinker with above average arm-side run away from a righty and into a lefty. The D-backs have other lefties who throw from a three-quarter slot or sidearm like Kyle Backhus and Andrew Saalfrank, but they don’t have the same heat on their fastballs.
First big league strikeout for Brandyn Garcia! #TridentsUp pic.twitter.com/bE7VnC4VV4
— Mariners Player Development (@MsPlayerDev) July 23, 2025
He also uses a slider-sweeper combination, per Statcast.
Perfect 7th inning for Brandyn Garcia. Rainiers up 6-3. pic.twitter.com/EkTbBRZxAw
— Mariners Minors (@MiLBMariners) July 3, 2025
MLB Pipeline ranked Garcia No. 16 on Arizona’s prospects list, second to starter Yu-Min Lin among left-handed pitchers.
Via MLB Pipeline:
A terrific late bloomer story, the 6-foot-4 Garcia seems to be getting better the more mound time he gets, and his stuff was ticking up in the shorter role. His heavy two-seam fastball sits 96-98 mph and touches 100 with a ton of sink. From a low three-quarter slot, he works east-west off that with a mid-80s sweeper that averaged 15.4 inches of glove side movement at Triple-A — equal to the arm side run of the sinker — and generated a ton of swing-and-miss. He also has a sharper upper-80s hard slider/cutter that serves as his option for righties.
Hazen made the point that sometimes a younger reliever comes up and goes on a run like Saalfrank in 2023 or Backhus earlier this year. Others don’t have that same success at first.
Garcia is getting an opportunity to show what he’s got at the major league level and assist a beat-up bullpen as the Diamondbacks look to avoid falling off in the second half.
