Former Gull Garcia Called Up
April 28, 2014 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Newport Gulls News Release
NEWPORT, R.I. - The list of Newport Gulls alumni who have lived the dream of appearing on a Major League Baseball roster has grown today, with the activation of Greg Garcia to the 25-man roster of the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Cardinals, defending National League champions, are 14-12 to start their 2014 campaign, and are reportedly looking to spark an offense that has been struggling so far this season.
Garcia played a key role in Newport's 2009 NECBL Championship run, playing solid defense in the middle of the infield, being a constant threat on the base paths - he led the squad in stolen bases and runs scored, and his patience at the plate had him second on the team in walks - and representing the NECBL East at the All-Star Game, before bringing the Fay Vincent Sr. Cup back to Newport in August in a memorable playoff run.
Born in 1989, the El Cajon, California native was a 7th Round pick by the Cardinals out of the University of Hawaii in 2010. After a full season with AA Springfield in 2012 in which Garcia hit .284 with 10 homers and an impressive 80 walks (notching a .408 OBP), Garcia was promoted to AAA Memphis in 2013, where he hit .271 in 116 games with 35 RBI.
After hitting 3 homers in 2013, Garcia got off to a hot start in AAA in 2014, notching 5 homers, 3 triples and 14 RBI while hitting .267 through 21 games. Garcia's call-up to the Majors comes as Cardinals rookie second baseman Kolten Wong is sent back down to the minors.
"Garcia can play second base and shortstop and, not only has he had good at-bats lately, he had good at-bats the last six to eight weeks of last season," St. Louis General Manager John Mozeliak told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
In 2011, necbl.com's Don Leypoldt caught up with Garcia as he journeyed through the minors.
"I would say the weather, the people [and] my host family was awesome," Garcia told Leypoldt about his 2009 tenure with the Gulls. "The owners of the team always had our backs. Playing in the NECBL was a great experience and a competitive experience."
Baseball runs in Garcia's family. His older brother, Drew, is a middle infielder for AAA Colorado Springs, having played most of his minor league career with the White Sox organization before joining the Rockies system in 2013. Drew also played in the NECBL as a 2005 Manchester Silkworm (now the Laconia Muskrats) and was a 2005 NECBL All-Star selection himself.
Greg and Drew's father, Dave, meanwhile, played professionally with the Yankees organization, and their grandfather, David, spent 60 years in professional baseball, including six seasons as a manager of the California Angles and Cleveland Indians from 1977-1982.
"Baseball is in our blood with my grandpa, and we've had so many opportunities that most kids don't get," Garcia told necbl.com. "For Drew and I, I think we just wanted to make the most of those and work as hard as we possibly could because we've been given such great opportunities."
As Greg Garcia embarks on his latest opportunity at the Major League level, he joins a half dozen former Gulls who have achieved the dream of playing at baseball's highest level. Chris Ianetta (2003), Mitchell Boggs (2004), Danny Otero (2005), Jeff Beliveau (2006) and Adam Wilk (2007) have all made it to the Majors during their professional careers, as has Rhode Island Gull Jason Szuminski (1999).
They join about 150 Newport Gulls alumni who have gone on to play professional baseball, including many who remain active today at all levels - and a few who may be a phone call away from the Majors themselves.
The Newport Gulls, members of the 12-team New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL), are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, founded as the Rhode Island Gulls in 1998 in Cranston, R.I., before moving to Newport in 2001. In addition to recruiting, fielding, and developing a team of the nation's top collegiate baseball athletes and attracting 50,000 fans annually to Cardines Field, the predominantly volunteer organization strives to benefit the youth of Newport County via summer camps, reading programs, fundraisers, scholarships, and charitable donations - totaling nearly $1 million since 2001. The Gulls are five-time champions of the NECBL - the winningest franchise in league history - and were ranked as the overall No. 1 summer collegiate baseball team in the country by Perfect Game USA in 2012.
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from April 28, 2014
- Former Gull Garcia Called Up - Newport Gulls
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