The Italian Baseball League club TELEMARKET RIMINI announced on Friday the signing of right-handed pitcher Rafael Garcia. He will join his former teammate from the Nicaraguan League Gustavo Martinez, who is the ace of the pitching staff in RIMINI. The two helped the INDIOS DI BOER in 2008 winning the title in Nicaragua.
Garcia was born on October 24, 1979 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and was signed by the KANSAS CITY ROYALS organization in 1999. He pitched three years for minor league teams of the MLB club (Rookie and Low A), finishing with a 10-11 record and an ERA of 4.96 with 132 strikeouts (54 walks) in 127 innings.
Since his release he played outside of the United States. He played in the Mexican League in 2004, the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan in 2005 and 2006 and in Nicaragua in 2007/08. His last employer was AZUCAREROS TOROS of the Dominican Winter League. In 13 appearances (five starts) this winter, Garcia had a 3-2 record with an ERA of 5.29 with 23 strikeouts (eight walks) in 32 1/3 innings. He didn’t play after December 20th.