Vladimir García Escalante (born July 4, 1982) is a Cuban baseball

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for

Ciego de Ávila Ciego de Ávila City () is a city in the central part of Cuba and the capital of Ciego de Ávila Province. The city has a population of about 497.000, in a municipality of 756,373. Geography Ciego de Ávila lies on the Carretera Central highway ...

of the

Cuban National Series The Cuban National Series (, SNB) is the primary domestic professional baseball competition in Cuba. Formed after the dissolution of the Cuban League in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, the Series is a part of the Cuban baseball league system. ...

. He has also played for the

Cuba national baseball team The Cuba national baseball team (Spanish: ''Selección de béisbol de Cuba'') represents Cuba at regional and international levels. The team is made up from the most professional players from the Cuban national baseball system. Cuba has been des ...

. His

fastball The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. "Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thro ...

has peaked at .

Career

García debuted for Ciego de Ávila in 2005-2006, going 3–5 with 5 saves and a 6.04

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA) at age 17. He played for Cuba in the 2006 World Junior Championships. In 2006-2007, he improved to 4–5, 1.68 with 14 saves (tied for the Serie Nacional lead) and did not give up a home run in

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

(IP). García went 7–5 with 10 saves and a 3.07 ERA in 2007-2008, led the league with 16 intentional walks and almost made Cuba's team for the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

. He had a 0.75 ERA and 10 saves early in the 2008–2009 season and was put on Cuba's roster for the

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international baseball competition. It began on 5 9 and finished 5 26. Unlike in 2006, when the round-robin format of the first two rounds led to some eliminations being decided by run-difference ti ...

. In his national team debut during the

Classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

, he allowed two runs in IP. He allowed the only South African run in Cuba's 8–1 win. Called on in the 9th to close off a shutout, he gave up a hit to

Anthony Phillips Anthony Edwin Phillips (born 23 December 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, producer and singer who gained prominence as the original lead guitarist of the rock band Genesis, from 1967 to 1970. He left in July 1970 and learned to play mo ...

Martin Gordon Martin Gordon (born 3 May 1954) is an English musician who plays bass guitar, double bass, and piano. After a long period as band member and session musician, he embarked on a solo career in 2004. His most recent album release was in 2021. B ...

hit into a force and took second on a wild pitch. Jonathan Phillips then singled home the run. García tied the Cuban save record in 2008-2009 with 25. He was 4–3 with a 1.63 ERA, giving up only 42 hits in 72 innings while fanning 71. He had six more saves than runner-up

Yolexis Ulacia Yolexis Ulacia Carrazana (born 1978) is a Cuban baseball relief pitcher. Career After nine seasons in the Cuban leagues (through the 2007-2008 campaign), he had gone 50-38 with 68 saves and a 3.24 earned run average (ERA) in 334 games for Villa ...

and was named the All-Star relief pitcher. García tossed five shutout innings, fanning seven, in the

2009 World Port Tournament The 2009 World Port Tournament is an international baseball competition held at the DOOR Neptunus Familiestadion in Rotterdam, The Netherlands from July 2–12, 2009. It was the 12th edition of the tournament and featured teams from Chinese Taipei, ...

; he saved one game. García became a starter in 2009-2010 and made the transition very well, going 11–4 with a 2.68 ERA and .220 opponent average. He fanned 115 in 114 innings. He led the league in strikeouts (9 ahead of runner-up

Odrisamer Despaigne Odrisamer Despaigne Orue ( ; born April 4, 1987) is a Cuban professional baseball pitcher for the Mariachis de Guadalajara of the Mexican League. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles, Miami Ma ...

) and wins (tied with

Yulieski González Yulieski González Ledesma (born June 20, 1980 in Alquízar, Havana Province, Cuba) is a pitcher for the Cuba national baseball team and Habana of the Cuban National Series. González played for Cuba at the 2006 World Baseball Class ...

Norberto González Norberto González Miranda (born October 10, 1979 in Cienfuegos, Cuba) is a left-handed pitcher for the Cuban national baseball team and Cienfuegos of the Cuban National Series. In the 2005-06 Cuban National Series, pitching alo ...

and

Maikel Folch Maikel Folch Vera (born 1980 in Florencia, Ciego de Ávila Province, Cuba) is a left-handed pitcher for the Cuba national baseball team. Folch plays for Ciego de Ávila in the Cuban National Series, where he posted a league-low 2.09 ERA duri ...

). He was tied for third in wild pitches (11) and was 4th in ERA behind Angel Peña, Yulieski González and Jonder Martinez.

Quebec Capitales

Garcia signed with the

Quebec Capitales Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

of the

Can-Am League The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, commonly known as the Can-Am League, was a professional, independent baseball league with teams in the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada, founded in 2005 as a reorganization of ...

in June 2019. He was released on July 19, 2019.

Sources

Baseballdecuba.com

World Baseball Classic
he made his debut in 2006 at age 17 despite being born in 1982!
Beisbolcubano.cu

2009 World Port Tournament

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Vladimir 1988 births Living people Cuban baseball players Baseball pitchers 2009 World Baseball Classic players 2013 World Baseball Classic players 2017 World Baseball Classic players Baseball players at the 2019 Pan American Games Québec Capitales players Tigres de Ciego de Avila players Vegueros de Pinar del Rio players Pan American Games competitors for Cuba People from Ciego de Ávila