Chasing the Dream
10/12/2022 6:59:00 PM | Baseball
A chance at a sixth season allowed Roel Garcia to keep his MLB dreams alive
Of all the places to find out your childhood dream was still alive.
Roel Garcia was sitting in line at a Chick-fil-A in Houston when an unfamiliar number popped up on his cell phone. Who knows if he had been closer to the checkout window if he would have answered right away?
It was the day of the MLB Draft and as a sixth-year college player, Garcia knew this was his last chance to be drafted and continue chasing his dream of playing in the big leagues. The odds were good that he was not going to miss the call.
"They called me 30 seconds before they picked me," Garcia recalled. "I was in line at Chick Fil A, getting my usual, a #1 with American cheese and a sweet tea, and I saw this number come up on my phone and I answered. It was a scout from Tampa and he said 'welcome to the Tampa Bay Rays'. As we were talking, I started crying and when I pulled up to the window, the woman asked me if I was ok. I said, yeah, I just got drafted. Her name was Claire and I 'll always remember that.
"I had just received the best news of my life and she was looking at me, then handed me my food. I was so joyful and started calling people, but I never got around to eating the food."
The emotions will get the best of any draftee when they hear their name called. But in Garcia's case, the long road traveled over six years since first entering Rice only amplified the emotions of the moment.
He arrived on campus in the fall of 2016 armed with a lethal fastball and a heavy dose of potential. He flashed early, striking out four vs. TCU when the Horned Frogs were ranked #1 and against Texas and was second on the team with 11 starts as a sophomore in 2018. Despite losing his 2019 due to an injury, Toronto thought enough of his potential to draft him in the 27th round. The following year, his return to health was short-circuited by the cancellation of the season due to the pandemic. He returned to health in 2021, but he had not yet recovered the velocity of his earlier days.
Under normal circumstances, that might have been the end of the story, but thanks to the NCAA eligibility waivers, Garcia knew he had one last season available. He had a conversation with head coach Matt Bragga late in the year and was set on coming back, but had to reconfirm his plans once new head coach Jose Cruz Jr. took over the program.
At the same time, he also had to confront the realities of what life would look like, post-baseball.
"I also had to start preparing for the possibility that baseball was over and I had to start looking for a job. But my whole thought process was I wanted to give it one more chance, especially because I was healthy. I told myself 'why not?' My lifelong goal had always been to become a major league baseball player. I didn't want to have the regret of not using this last opportunity. I wanted to give it everything and play until it was the last chance I would get."
Once Cruz confirmed a spot on the team was his, Garcia knew that while it was his last shot, he was not going to obsess over it.
"The anxiety that builds up (thinking about the draft) is just crazy because that's your future and it's what you want to do but it's in their hands. It can really mess with you if you start thinking about it while you are playing. I didn't worry about any of it this year. My mindset was to go out and play the game I have always played. Go out and do what you can do and if things don't work out, you did what you could."
The opportunity presented itself early in the season in a start against Texas Tech, whose own starter (Brandon Birdsell) drew a host of scouts to Reckling Park. Birdsell was unhittable in six innings, fanning 15, eight of them in the first two innings (thanks to a dropped third strike in each frame), a performance that only solidified his draft status and led to his being taken by the Chicago Cubs in the fifth round.
Garcia answered him K for K in the first two innings, with six strikeouts of his own. He left with nine punchouts in four innings in the scorebook and had earned his own set of glowing reports from the talent evaluators in the stands.
"The cross-checker for the Rays was there that day and he told me it looked like two older guys pitching to Little Leaguers..there was no competition in the first four innings. That's when I knew that I really had a chance to keep my dream alive."
Four months later, the impression made that day led to a phone call in a drive-through, followed by a flight to Florida to begin the next phase of his journey.
One impressive outing in the Florida Complex League led to another phone call--this one at night—telling him to start packing ASAP because he had a 6 a.m. flight to Charleston, South Carolina to join Tampa's team in the Class A Carolina League.
He joined a team that was marauding its way to an 88-44 record in the regular season but quickly found himself closing games. He was 2-1 with a 2.31 ERA in seven regular season games, saving two and holding a third, while striking out 23 in 11.2 innings and posting a 1.11 WHIP. He added a save in a pair of postseason outings as the River Dogs won the league title.
Charleston is one of the minor leagues" most successful franchises, and Garcia found himself pitching in front of standing-room-only crowds. As he prepared to close out a game in the playoffs, he found himself living a moment he had always dreamed of.
"I had never been on a mound with that kind of energy. I had two outs. I got a swing and miss on a fastball at 94 for strike one and the roar from the crowd was insane. I got goosebumps. I came set, closed my eyes and took it all in for a second. I threw another fastball for strike two and the crowd was going even wilder. I threw another fastball and he popped it up to the catcher to end it. What an amazing feeling."
Garcia wasn't the only former Owl to be celebrating at the end of September. Tristian Gray, who had been a junior in Garcia's freshman year, slugged 33 homers and led the Rays' Durham club to the Triple A championship. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the country another former Rice teammate Ford Proctor, who had been a teammate of both in 2016, was making his major league debut with San Francisco, picking up a hit in his second game and drilling a grand slam at home for his first MLB home run.
"We were all texting each other after Ford got called up. He told me that he doesn't remember running around the bases after hitting the home run. He had made, He had made it, he was where we all want to be someday."
Roel Garcia was sitting in line at a Chick-fil-A in Houston when an unfamiliar number popped up on his cell phone. Who knows if he had been closer to the checkout window if he would have answered right away?
It was the day of the MLB Draft and as a sixth-year college player, Garcia knew this was his last chance to be drafted and continue chasing his dream of playing in the big leagues. The odds were good that he was not going to miss the call.
"They called me 30 seconds before they picked me," Garcia recalled. "I was in line at Chick Fil A, getting my usual, a #1 with American cheese and a sweet tea, and I saw this number come up on my phone and I answered. It was a scout from Tampa and he said 'welcome to the Tampa Bay Rays'. As we were talking, I started crying and when I pulled up to the window, the woman asked me if I was ok. I said, yeah, I just got drafted. Her name was Claire and I 'll always remember that.
"I had just received the best news of my life and she was looking at me, then handed me my food. I was so joyful and started calling people, but I never got around to eating the food."
The emotions will get the best of any draftee when they hear their name called. But in Garcia's case, the long road traveled over six years since first entering Rice only amplified the emotions of the moment.
He arrived on campus in the fall of 2016 armed with a lethal fastball and a heavy dose of potential. He flashed early, striking out four vs. TCU when the Horned Frogs were ranked #1 and against Texas and was second on the team with 11 starts as a sophomore in 2018. Despite losing his 2019 due to an injury, Toronto thought enough of his potential to draft him in the 27th round. The following year, his return to health was short-circuited by the cancellation of the season due to the pandemic. He returned to health in 2021, but he had not yet recovered the velocity of his earlier days.
Under normal circumstances, that might have been the end of the story, but thanks to the NCAA eligibility waivers, Garcia knew he had one last season available. He had a conversation with head coach Matt Bragga late in the year and was set on coming back, but had to reconfirm his plans once new head coach Jose Cruz Jr. took over the program.
At the same time, he also had to confront the realities of what life would look like, post-baseball.
"I also had to start preparing for the possibility that baseball was over and I had to start looking for a job. But my whole thought process was I wanted to give it one more chance, especially because I was healthy. I told myself 'why not?' My lifelong goal had always been to become a major league baseball player. I didn't want to have the regret of not using this last opportunity. I wanted to give it everything and play until it was the last chance I would get."
Once Cruz confirmed a spot on the team was his, Garcia knew that while it was his last shot, he was not going to obsess over it.
"The anxiety that builds up (thinking about the draft) is just crazy because that's your future and it's what you want to do but it's in their hands. It can really mess with you if you start thinking about it while you are playing. I didn't worry about any of it this year. My mindset was to go out and play the game I have always played. Go out and do what you can do and if things don't work out, you did what you could."
The opportunity presented itself early in the season in a start against Texas Tech, whose own starter (Brandon Birdsell) drew a host of scouts to Reckling Park. Birdsell was unhittable in six innings, fanning 15, eight of them in the first two innings (thanks to a dropped third strike in each frame), a performance that only solidified his draft status and led to his being taken by the Chicago Cubs in the fifth round.
Garcia answered him K for K in the first two innings, with six strikeouts of his own. He left with nine punchouts in four innings in the scorebook and had earned his own set of glowing reports from the talent evaluators in the stands.
"The cross-checker for the Rays was there that day and he told me it looked like two older guys pitching to Little Leaguers..there was no competition in the first four innings. That's when I knew that I really had a chance to keep my dream alive."
Four months later, the impression made that day led to a phone call in a drive-through, followed by a flight to Florida to begin the next phase of his journey.
One impressive outing in the Florida Complex League led to another phone call--this one at night—telling him to start packing ASAP because he had a 6 a.m. flight to Charleston, South Carolina to join Tampa's team in the Class A Carolina League.
He joined a team that was marauding its way to an 88-44 record in the regular season but quickly found himself closing games. He was 2-1 with a 2.31 ERA in seven regular season games, saving two and holding a third, while striking out 23 in 11.2 innings and posting a 1.11 WHIP. He added a save in a pair of postseason outings as the River Dogs won the league title.
Charleston is one of the minor leagues" most successful franchises, and Garcia found himself pitching in front of standing-room-only crowds. As he prepared to close out a game in the playoffs, he found himself living a moment he had always dreamed of.
"I had never been on a mound with that kind of energy. I had two outs. I got a swing and miss on a fastball at 94 for strike one and the roar from the crowd was insane. I got goosebumps. I came set, closed my eyes and took it all in for a second. I threw another fastball for strike two and the crowd was going even wilder. I threw another fastball and he popped it up to the catcher to end it. What an amazing feeling."
Garcia wasn't the only former Owl to be celebrating at the end of September. Tristian Gray, who had been a junior in Garcia's freshman year, slugged 33 homers and led the Rays' Durham club to the Triple A championship. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the country another former Rice teammate Ford Proctor, who had been a teammate of both in 2016, was making his major league debut with San Francisco, picking up a hit in his second game and drilling a grand slam at home for his first MLB home run.
"We were all texting each other after Ford got called up. He told me that he doesn't remember running around the bases after hitting the home run. He had made, He had made it, he was where we all want to be someday."
Players Mentioned
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