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With the vagaries of small-sample mania being what they are, it should be easy to forgive Atlanta Braves veteran Jaime Garcia for his 5.75 ERA when we consider that four of his seven earned runs allowed thus far have come on home runs by this guy.
Oddly enough, homer suppression has long been one of Garcia's calling cards, with the 30-year-old lefty boasting a measly career homer-per-nine mark of 0.81 -- though, to be fair, last year's 1.36 clip across 171 innings did mark a career high and could signal a downward trend.
Whatever the case may be, Garcia should have an easier time keeping the ball in the yard this week. For his first start, he's pitted against a San Diego Padres team that has proven to be a bottom-three offense in terms of weighted run production against southpaws.
The Philadelphia Phillies, who round out the two-start week for Garcia, have actually been rather productive against lefties over the course of the young season, with a .776 team OPS against southpaws that ranks seventh-best across the majors.
Still, the Phillies also boast the 10th-highest strikeout rate against lefties since the start of last year, a span during which they have struggled mightily against the changeup. And when Garcia is dealing, his change is his bread and butter -- last season he generated a 62.7-percent grounder rate and 16.3 -percent swinging strike rate off that pitch across a 467-pitch sample.
Your league mates might be opting for younger, flashier two-start hurlers, but Garcia is in a nice spot here to put up solid ratios and volume strikeouts.