The Royals traded Samad Taylor to the Seattle Mariners earlier this offseason. The trade return for Kansas City at the time included a player to be named later or cash. On Friday, the team announced they had acquired RHP Natanael Garabitos from the Mariners to complete the trade. Garabitos is a 23-year-old reliever who spent 2023 pitching for the Low-A Modesto Nuts. He’s 6-0, 185, and pitched mostly in high-leverage roles last season.
A closer look at new Royals minor leaguer, Natanael Garabitos
Originally from the Dominican Republic, the Mariners signed Garabitos as an international free agent back in 2019. On one-hand, he’s already 23-years old and hasn’t pitched above Low-A. On the otherhand, he had a delayed transition into the minor leagues due to the cancelled 2020 season. Garabitos’ stuff is electric but he struggles to command it well. His pitch mix is primarily two offerings — a fastball and a slider. Mechanically, he throws from a low (nearly side-arm) three-quarter angle. His arm action is extremely long which could impact his timing. Inconsistent timing is at least part of the problem behind his lack of control.
With the bases empty, Garabitos’ windup includes a high-leg kick. He has a tendency to rush through his motions, which impacts command. In the pitch below, you see Garabitos’ arm get way ahead of his plant foot. His mechanics are inconsistent which leads often to pitches well out of the strike zone.
When he’s repeating his mechanics, things look smoother and he does a nice job striking out opposing hitters. Out of the stretch, Garabitos does away with the leg kick almost entirely. His delivery cuts out the kick, his arm and glove go straight down. This motion helps him to keep his plant foot out ahead of his arm action at times.
There’s a lot to clean up here for the Royals, but with a triple-digit fastball and a great, late-breaking slider, things could come together very quickly. We already saw in 2023 how quickly it can happen with John McMillon. I’m not quite ready to call Garabitos anything near the relief prospect that McMillon is, but the potential certainly exists if Kansas City can clean up the mechanics some and help him find some repeatability.
The fastball for Garabitos hits triple-digits with arm-side run. He spins the ball well and the pitch rides well up in the zone. The horizontal movement does enough to keep hitters off-balance and when it’s coming at you 100 mph, there’s not much time to adjust.
Beyond the fastball, Garabitos uses a slider. At times, his release point and grip can be inconsistent. This leads to plenty of sliders that aren’t competitive out of his hand. When he’s commanding it well, however, it’s a devastating pitch to both left and right-handed hitters. He gets righties reaching often, and the backdoor slider against lefties is tough to lay off of at times.
The pitcher and how Kansas City can make him successful
Garabitos pitched for Low-A Modesto in each of the last two seasons. 2022 saw him notch a 5.11 ERA over 35 appearances. In 44.0 IP, he had a 28.8% K% and a 17.1% BB%. Comparatively, for Low-A Columbia in 2022, John McMillon finished the year with a 6.10 ERA, 30.8% K%, and 26.0% BB%. Fast forward to 2023, and Garabitos pitched in 40.1 IP. He had an improved 4.02 ERA with 54 strikeouts and 31 walks. He allowed just one home run all season.
The Royals have already shown an ability to get success out of pitchers similar to Garabitos in John McMillon. Garabitos just happens to be 2.5 years younger, pitching at the same level that McMillon started at last season. It’s a true reliever profile, so there’s going to be volatility. Expecting anything from the Royals newest minor leaguer probably isn’t the smartest gamble, but he’s a nice addition with electric stuff and helps to add to the Royals reliever pipeline in the lower minor leagues.