Luis Garcia’s Astros return was exactly what they needed (but major concern remains)

The Houston Astros snapped a two-game losing streak on Monday with a win over the Angels, but the story of the night was Luis Garcia, who made his first MLB start in over two calendar years for Houston. Garcia picked up the win in six innings of quality work, but due to one crucial detail, it wasn’t an altogether convincing performance.

It should first be acknowledged that Garcia deserves a ton of credit for persevering through multiple setbacks over the past 28 months to find his way back to an MLB mound. His line on Monday was pretty clean: six innings, three earned runs (two home runs), six strikeouts and zero walks.

And while some Astros fans are thinking Garcia’s return might fundamentally change Houston’s season for the better, there’s still one concern.

Luis Garcia hasn’t regained his previous velocity for Astros (yet)

As Garcia navigated his big night smoothly, Astros fans couldn’t help but wonder what it might look like to have Garcia injecting Houston’s rotation with some much-needed quality down the stretch, supporting Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez for a postseason push.

Garcia’s long-overdue return was intoxicating in the hopes that it mustered up for fans, and it was easy to gloss over or conveniently forget that a huge aspect of Garcia was absent on Monday: his velocity.

Garcia’s heater sat around 91 or 92 miles per hour on the night, a significant drop-off from his 2022 norm, although he did notably employ a higher diet of changeups and cutters to fan Angels hitters. Is this the new Garcia, or can we expect him to get some velocity back with more runway? And if this is the new Garcia, is it a better or worse version than his 2022 self, which went 15-8 with a 3.72 ERA?

These are questions that one start alone cannot answer, but the velocity issue is something that Astros supporters have been monitoring with sweaty palms for a little while, as Garcia’s velo drop-off has been evident in his rehab starts. The concern was already there, and Monday didn’t do anything to alleviate it.

There is also the possibility that Garcia will get some velocity back, but that it won’t happen to a larger extent until next season. It will be an interesting subplot to watch for the rest of Houston’s season. Garcia’s long-term health remains the priority. At 28, he’s still a relatively young arm. It’s hard to believe that Garcia made his MLB debut only five seasons ago and finished No. 2 in American League Rookie of the Year voting less than four years ago.

More Astros News from Climbing Tal's Hill