After well over two years on the sidelines, Luis Garcia is finally ready to return to the majors. Astros manager Joe Espada told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and other reporters that Houston will activate Garcia from the 60-day injured list tomorrow so the right-hander can make the start against the Angels. A corresponding move will need to be made to create space for Garcia on the 40-man roster, but Garcia’s spot on the active roster will be addressed because the roster expands to 28 players on September 1.
Garcia’s last big league game was on May 1, 2023, as a Tommy John surgery ensured that Garcia would be out of action until the latter part of the 2024 season at the absolute earliest. It wasn’t entirely unusual, then, that Garcia didn’t pitch last year due to some renewed elbow soreness while he was pitching on a minor league rehab assignment, yet unfortunately those elbow issues continued into 2025.
It wasn’t until the first week of July that Garcia made his season debut in an outing with the Astros’ rookie ball affiliate. He has now made nine appearances while working his way up the minor league ladder, with four of his last five starts coming with Triple-A Sugar Land. In his last start on August 26, Garcia tossed 75 pitches over six innings while allowing just one run, and he has thrown at least 75 pitches in each of his last three outings.
While on-field results may not matter as much as pitch counts and general comfort and health during rehab assignments, Garcia’s 2.60 ERA over 17 1/3 Triple-A innings provides some evidence that he is ready to roll. What he can provide against MLB hitters after such a lengthy absence is anyone’s guess, yet it’s certainly helpful to the Astros to get a rotation arm back for the stretch run and into October.
Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez are locks as Houston’s top two starters in the regular season and in a hypothetical playoff rotation. While there isn’t a ton of true certainty beyond Brown and Valdez, the Astros would seem to have enough rotation depth to help in their pursuit of the AL West crown and what the team hopes is another deep playoff run.
Cristian Javier has logged four starts since returning from his own Tommy John rehab, and Spencer Arrighetti has done well in his last couple of starts after a broken thumb sent him to the 60-day IL earlier this year. Jason Alexander has pitched well since stepping into the rotation but would ideally work best as a swingman during the playoffs. Rookie Brandon Walter was excellent in nine starts before elbow inflammation sent him to the 60-day IL, and he isn’t eligible for activation until late September. The struggling Lance McCullers Jr. was recently moved to the bullpen, opening up room for Garcia in the rotation mix.
Garcia joins this group in what is now his fifth MLB season. Emerging as a rotation regular in 2021, Garcia finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting en route to posting a 3.48 ERA over 155 1/3 innings for an Astros team that won the AL pennant. Garcia followed up with a strong sophomore season of 157 1/3 frames of 3.72 ERA ball in 2022 to help Houston bring home the World Series. While Garcia has a 5.79 ERA across 23 1/3 career postseason innings, he has had his share of big playoff moments, including 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball in Houston’s clinching game of the 2021 ALCS over the Red Sox.