Matt Garza

  • 2008 ALCS MVP

Matthew Scott Garza (* November 26, 1983 in Selma, California) is an American professional baseball player in Major League Baseball. He plays for the Chicago Cubs as a starting pitcher.

Career

Garza was elected in the first round (25th pick ) by the Minnesota Twins in the MLB Draft in 2005 and began his career in the Single A team of Twins.

2006

In the 2006 season, Garza managed the feat, to play in just one season by all levels of the minor leagues to the MLB. He started in the A- team, the Fort Myers Miracles, but soon moved into the AA team to the New Britain skirt Cats before going into the AAA team, Rochester Red Wings, rise. Ultimately Garza celebrated on August 11th of that year his MLB debut with the Twins in which he replaced the injured Francisco Liriano.

2007

At the start of the 2007 season Garza lost his place in the pitching rotation the Twins to other young talents like Kevin Slowey and Scott Baker. On June 28, Garza managed to re- throw from the AAA team in the MLB. On July 6, Garza was in the game against the Chicago White Sox, the first pitcher in the history of the Twins since 1989, which was used in an American League game as a batter. He was inducted into the batting rotation after Twins catcher Mike Redmond had sustained a head injury. On July 29, Garza scored his best game so far with 11 strikeouts in six innings against the Cleveland Indians.

2008

On 28 November 2007 Garza was traded along with Jason Bartlett and Eduardo Morlan to the Tampa Bay Rays. Garza played with the Rays a very successful season. In the American League Championship Series Garza had two starts and an ERA of 1.38 large share in the victory against the Boston Red Sox. After he was able to record the decisive win in the seventh game and the Rays in the World Series thus moved in 2008, Garza was elected MVP of the series.

2009

After a contract extension during the winter break before 2009 Garza pitched 203 innings with an ERA of 3.95. Despite this career - best performance at Tampa innings could not reach the playoffs, but managed only their second season with a positive balance ( more wins than losses ( 84-76 ) ).

2010

While Garza 2010 his stand as a solid and reliable starting pitcher confirmed and he threw back over 200 innings with an ERA under 4, the personal highlight for Matt came on July 26, where he threw the first no-hitter the Rays franchise history. His team won 5-0 against the Detroit Tigers, with Brennan Boesch was the only Dertroit - Base Runner for a 2nd inning one -out walk. The season was crowned by winning the AL East and participate in the ALDS against the Texas Rangers. Garza started Game 3, was in the first 6 innings only one run off, but was taken home run by Ian Kinsler out of the game in the 7th inning after a lead -off. While the Rays won the game, but the win was Joaquin Benoit. Tampa was eliminated in five games.

2011

In January 2011, Garza was for several young players to the Chicago Cubs getraded and established itself despite appalling performance in Spring Training ( 10.38 ERA ) as soon as Ace in the rotation. He finished the season 10 and 10 in 31 starts. His ERA was 3.32 by far the best of all Cubs starter, and his 198 innings were only 4.1 less than Ryan Dempster.

2012

Problems with the elbow forced Garza earlier to finish the season in order to avoid surgery, after only 18 starts and a record of 5 and 7

Personal

Garza is married to his high school girlfriend and the couple have three children.

557320
de