How former Jumbo Shrimp Robert Garcia went from retiring to The Show

It was over. Robert Garcia was done, retiring. All he was waiting for now was the Kansas City Royals filing his paperwork.

Only, they didn’t... And sitting at his desk at his new job in the real world on a cool December day, Garcia’s phone buzzed. It was a former teammate alerting him that he had been selected by the Miami Marlins in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft. If Garcia wanted it, his baseball career was still on.

“I was not expecting it (being selected in the Rule 5 draft) at all,” said Garcia. “I had actually retired, and I was at my job at my desk and got a text from a buddy saying, ‘Hey, I am going to miss you.’ And I told him I was not coming back, and he was like, ‘Wait, you just got selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Marlins,’ which was a shock. And about five minutes later, my phone was blowing up with my agent calling me and everything took off from there.”

Fast forward a couple years later through a pair of campaigns mainly with Triple-A Jacksonville, one of the newest major leaguers is also one of the most unlikely members of its club. Robert Garcia made his way through every single level of the minor leagues, skipping no steps on his long journey to the major leagues. Garcia spent five years in the Royals minor league system before making the decision to retire to prioritize his family, and if not for a phone call from the Marlins, his baseball career would have been over, with his business journey just beginning. That text changed everything.

Former Jumbo Shrimp Robert Garcia made his major league debut for Miami on July 14 at Baltimore’s Oriole Park at Camden Yards. A couple weeks later, he was claimed off waivers by the Washington Nationals. Remarkably, for a player who was given nothing, he’s still in The Show, thriving.

Making his Major league debut was incredibly special, but Garcia had a long road to get there. Starting back in high school. Coming out of high school, Garcia opted for an unusual choice for a baseball player: UC Davis. UC Davis is still a Division I athletics program, but it was the academic vigor that led Garcia to the school.

“School was always important to me. That was part of the reason why I initially wanted to go to Davis, a good school with good academics,” said Garcia. “The big thing for me in the draft (when he was selected by Kansas City out of college) was the school money they offered, (and) it allowed me to go back to school.”

It wasn’t just the academics that made his time at Davis so memorable. As a student-athlete he met his wife Paige, a fellow student-athlete on the water polo team. Before Garcia was able to complete his degree, the Kansas City Royals selected him in the 15th round of the 2017 draft. The following year was a big one for Garcia; Not only was he drafted but he married his water-polo playing fiancé Paige and finished his undergraduate degree. Garcia was beginning the process of working his way up the Royals farm system when his graduation commenced.

Garcia, who received his undergraduate degree in 2018 from UC Davis, continued his education into pro ball, earning his master’s degree from Grand Canyon University in 2020, when the season was suspended due to Covid-19.

“There were some hard times where you go to the field and come home and the other guys are hanging out and playing video games and you have to go do homework, which sucked,” said Garcia. “But at the end of the day, I was beyond happy that I did that because now not only do I have a bachelor’s degree but also a master’s degree. So doing all that while playing (baseball) made life and baseball just a little less stressful knowing I have that in my back pocket.”

With the degree in his back pocket and his career given new life in the Marlins’ organization, Garcia began to take off. After posting a 3.75 ERA in 62.1 innings between Jacksonville and Double-A Pensacola in 2022, he turned in an outstanding campaign for the Jumbo Shrimp this year. Over 41.0 innings, Garcia registered a 2.08 ERA and 13.6 strikeouts per nine innings, career-best numbers.

In the heat of a hot summer, two years after receiving the first life-changing Marlins phone call, he received another life-altering message: he was finally, after seven years in the minors, going to the big leagues.

“We were in Charlotte, and I was getting ready to take my jersey off, and they pulled me in the office,” Garcia said. “They asked me to talk to (Jumbo Shrimp manager) Daren Brown, so I went in there, and he told me how proud he is of me. It was him and JP (pitching coach Jeremy Powell), telling me how proud they were of how hard I worked, and then they told me I am going to the big leagues. It was so special.

“It was something I had dreamed of for a long time and for it to finally happen, was incredible,” said Garcia. “When I walked out there, I remember seeing the lights were a little bit brighter and seeing all the people in the stands. Getting to see that, I finally did it to go out there and compete. It was fun. I had a lot of fun.”

Getting the call to go to the major leagues was already incredibly rewarding but there was something else special in the Queen City. Garcia’s family had made the journey to Charlotte, and got to hear the news of his promotion in-person, news they had waited nearly a decade to receive.

“My wife was outside of the stadium with my daughter, so I just went straight outside, gave her a hug and told her we are going to Miami. It was so special.”

Garcia is now on the Nationals’ active 26-man roster and knows he wouldn’t be here without the Marlins putting faith in him first. His time in baseball had literally been over before he they resuscitated his career with his Rule 5 selection. To Garcia, they’re always the organization that brought him back to the game he loves.

“I am very thankful for the opportunity and the Marlins,” Garcia said. “They helped me with everything I needed mentally and physically to come back and play baseball. I am forever grateful for that. It wasn’t a hard transition; sometimes in baseball, it is good to meet new people and be introduced to new philosophies. I feel I handled it well. Crazy experience but I am forever grateful.”

After seven years in the minors, two college degrees, and a brief retirement, Garcia’s major league career has finally begun.