The Astros have placed right-hander Luis Garcia on the 15-day injured list due to right elbow discomfort, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Fellow righty Nick Hernandez has been recalled as the corresponding move.
At this point, it’s unclear how severe this elbow issue is, but it’s an ominous development. Garcia just returned from an absence of more than two years related to that elbow. He had undergone Tommy John surgery in 2023. He tried to get back on the mound in 2024 but repeatedly hit setbacks, eventually missing that entire season. Here in 2025, he was on the IL until just over a week ago.
Garcia took the ball on September 1st against the Angels, his first big league game since May of 2023. That start went well, as he allowed three earned runs over six innings. He made a second start against the Blue Jays yesterday but his velocity was noticeably down. He averaged 91.4 miles per hour against the Angels. He was largely in the 93-94 mph range earlier in his career but that drop wasn’t necessarily a flag. Pitchers sometimes return before they are back to 100% strength and Garcia had spoken of his belief that more velocity was to come. Instead, his fastball velo dropped to 90.2 mph against Toronto. In the second inning, he summoned the training staff to the mound and was quickly removed from the game.
Time will tell if this is another minor setback or something more serious. The fact that the Astros have quickly placed him on the IL doesn’t bode well for the short term. Even a minimum stint would extend into the final days of the regular season schedule. An absence of three weeks or more would push into October. It’s entirely possible his season is done, though the club will presumably release more info at some point.
Obviously, a more extreme outcome would be awful. At this point, another major elbow surgery would put his 2026 season in jeopardy. He’s already lost most of the 2023-2025 seasons. Another lengthy surgery rehab would give him a stretch of four years with each season either being totally or partially lost.
Over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, Garcia tossed 312 2/3 innings with a 3.60 earned run average, 25.4% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate. He also made seven postseason appearances in that span, helping the club win the 2022 World Series. Since then, as mentioned, he has hardly been on the mound.
The absences have cut into his earning power. He first qualified for arbitration going into 2024 and earned $1.875MM that year. After missing that entire campaign, he agreed to the same salary for 2025. Next year would be his final arb year before he’s slated for free agency. Given his very limited workload this year, he should be in line for effectively the same salary again in 2026. That’s barely above the league minimum and a fine price for Houston if they think he can get healthy. Though if he’s slated for another long absence, he would become a clear non-tender candidate.
For the Astros, this adds to their injury pile for the stretch run. They have already lost Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Brandon Walter to season-ending surgeries. Spencer Arrighetti is on the IL due to elbow inflammation and going for a second opinion. In the bullpen, Josh Hader, John Rooney, Kaleb Ort and Bennett Sousa are all on the IL. The position player group is without Isaac Paredes and others.
Despite all those injuries, the Astros are clinging to a narrow division lead. The still sit atop the American League West, but the Mariners are only one game back with the Rangers only 2.5 games behind. The Astros still have a very good shot at making the postseason but every new injury will make it more challenging to hang on.
Their rotation now consists of Hunter Brown, Framber Valdez, Jason Alexander and Cristian Javier. They have Lance McCullers Jr. and J.P. France in the bullpen and could put one of them in the rotation, though neither is having a great year. Colton Gordon is on the 40-man roster but was just optioned four days ago. He can’t be recalled until 15 days after that optioning unless directly replacing a player going on the IL. Non-roster options in Triple-A include Miguel Ullola, Ethan Pecko and Jose Fleury.
Photo courtesy of Erik Williams, Imagn Images