the same year the Rockies selected Kyle Freeland<\/a>, another homegrown star. One of the things that certainly got the attention of big-league scouts when Burke was in high school was a 20-strikeout outing against Eaglecrest at Coors Field.<\/p>\nThe stat sheet might say 19 K\u2019s, but Burke insisted it was 20 \u2014 the result of a dropped third strike that the scorekeeper for MaxPreps missed. He remembers it just like yesterday, explaining that the Coors Field grounds crew wouldn\u2019t let the high schoolers warm up in the bullpen, so he just walked into the game cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I walked the first three guys and then struck out the next three,\u201d he said, with a laugh. \u201cThat was the first time I touched the mound that day. No warmup.\u201d<\/p>\n
His success this season has been the result of going back to his roots as a pitcher. He\u2019s been a name that has frequently surfaced in trade deadline chatter, given the market for left-handers and the Reds bringing up the rear in the NL Central race, 17 games back of the Brewers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI pitch kind of weird, and I think throughout my career, people have tried to change me,\u201d Burke said. \u201cKinda me just getting back to my roots. Kind of just moving how I move and doing how I do. Just trying to think about competing every pitch and not worrying about how I\u2019m moving or how I\u2019m doing certain things. Kind of just live, pitch by pitch, and game by game.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Cincinnati](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26199790635215.jpg\")
Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Pierce Johnson works against the Colorado Rockies in the eighth inning of a baseball game Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)
\n\u2018I wouldn\u2019t want it any other way\u2019<\/p>\n
Garcia has been living by the same code, not letting himself get too high or too low about finally being in The Show at 31 after years of coming so close.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s had an array of family members and friends attend all three games at Coors, and he relished the time at home during the All-Star break.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been crazy. I don\u2019t really have any words to describe it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a cool journey, and I\u2019ve told everybody I wouldn\u2019t want it any other way. Kinda had to work for it, but it\u2019s been everything I\u2019d imagined. No words to describe it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He dealt with some nerves entering the series only because he didn\u2019t want to get out on the mound and not perform for all of those who\u2019d come out to see him.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust the build-up of it all,\u201d he said. \u201cI just tried to relax and see family and enjoy it, but it was like, OK, I\u2019m pitching in front of all my friends and family. It\u2019s kind of like, I don\u2019t wanna go out there and make an idiot of myself. I want to prove that I\u2019m good. I\u2019m supposed to be here. And make them even more proud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since making the jump to the big leagues on June 23, Garcia ranks tied for fifth among all National League relief pitchers with 13 strikeouts. He is the second Reds pitcher since 1900 with more than 13 strikeouts and no more than five hits allowed through his first eight career games.<\/p>\n
There were plenty of times over the last decade when he seriously considered walking away from baseball, especially after the Phillies \u2014 who\u2019d drafted him in 2016 \u2014 released him in 2023. But he always came back to the one thing he had wanted to accomplish since elementary school.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat (2023) year, I was mentally checked out from baseball,\u201d he said. \u201cBaseball just wasn\u2019t treating me very well and I wasn\u2019t in love with the game anymore. But it\u2019s what I set out to do. I show pictures to my girlfriend all the time when I was a young kid, and you\u2019re in elementary school, they\u2019re like, \u2018What do you want to do when you grow up?\u2019 I wanted to be a professional baseball player.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026 I didn\u2019t want to give up. But there were times when it was like, this is tough. This is hard. I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m going to do; I need to provide for my family. I need to grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The game of baseball works in mysterious ways. After making it back to affiliated baseball and working his way through the minors, Garcia has run down the dream he\u2019s been chasing since he was a young fireballer growing up in northern Colorado.<\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t have to grow up just yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cBaseball, I knew I was good at it,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing like it. I\u2019ve been so close. Like, I was in Triple-A; I\u2019ve been around guys, and I was like, OK, I\u2019m as good as them, if not better. And I can get there. It was just putting my head down and trying to get back to here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you can be good in Colorado, you can be great in other places. That\u2019s according to Brock…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2400],"tags":[5,192,3765,535,50,4259,167,52,1009,93790,93791,92135,2092,1022,853,4,1027,505,20648,536,185,8616],"class_list":["post-756300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cincinnati-reds","tag-baseball","tag-braves","tag-brock-burke","tag-cincinnati","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-cincinnatireds","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-coors-field","tag-evergreen-high-school","tag-faith-christian","tag-fossil-ridge-high-school","tag-hunter-goodman","tag-kyle-freeland","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-more-rockies-news","tag-national-league","tag-rapsodo","tag-reds","tag-sports","tag-strikeouts"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116949320190723522","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Cincinnati](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP26199729496546.jpg\")
Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Julian Garcia works against the Colorado Rockies in the third inning of a baseball game in Denver, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo\/David Zalubowski)