About a dozen MLB scouts were on hand at the Hawai‘i Fall Showcase at Central O‘ahu Regional Park on Saturday, hopeful to find the next major league mainstays from the Islands. Players from O‘ahu, Maui and the Big Island all formed teams, hoping to put their talents on display.
"Hawai‘i's always had a lot of talent for many years," Hawai‘i Fall Showcase director Gavin Concepcion said. "As the years have grown, the rest of the nation has found out that Hawai‘i can produce Major League Baseball players and high-level college players."
Among those in attendance on Saturday was Baltimore Orioles pitcher Rico Garcia, who spoke to one of the O‘ahu teams at the showcase after Saturday's first game.
While some prospects, such as ‘Iolani's Judah Ota and Saint Louis standout Kahanu Martinez had the full attention of scouts, Garcia certainly did not back when he was a high schooler.
Standing at a below-average height of 5-foot-9, Garcia was an All-ILH pitcher at Saint Louis before playing collegiately at Division II Hawai‘i Pacific. Multiple All-PacWest seasons were enough for Garcia to get picked in the 30th round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies. Despite starting off as a proverbial name in a hat, Garcia rose up the minor league ladder each year, making his MLB debut on Aug. 27, 2019. Since then, he's made 59 appearances for six different MLB teams, including three in 2025.
Though he's still just 31 years old in age, Garcia has already endured a journeyman career in the MLB and passed some of his wisdom on to the next generation.
"I told them to just enjoy the time you go out on the field, play for your teammates, and everything else will kind of fall into place," Garcia said. "Just looking back on the journey, I'm grateful to be born and raised here in Hawai‘i, because it's taught me a lot mentally, just how to play the game and enjoy it."
After beginning the 2025 season with the Syracuse Mets, the Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets, Garcia was designated for assignment by New York on July 11. He was then claimed by the New York Yankees on July 14, then activated on July 17. Two days later, Garcia was back with the big league Mets after the Yankees designated him for assignment.
On Aug. 5, Garcia was claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles and finished out the year with them, holding a 2.84 ERA in 20 appearances.
"A lot of hotels, a lot of flights, just not knowing what tomorrow's gonna bring," Garcia said of his 2025. "I mean, it was nice coming back home (to O‘ahu for the offseason), sleeping in a bed that was mine."
As Garcia heads into 2026 hoping to solidify his status as an MLB pitcher, he's already someone who has beaten the odds as a 30th round draft pick from a Division II school. The draft was permanently shortened to 20 rounds in 2021.
"I told the kids to be grateful for any opportunity, and just not taking it for granted, because it could all be done in one day," Garcia said. "Just show everyone what Hawai‘i baseball is. Everyone looks at Hawai‘i baseball and they see us all in the middle of the ocean, and we don't have the size like everyone else. But what makes Hawai‘i baseball special is just being able to go out there every day and play for your teammates and make Hawai‘i proud, all those kind of things, just not taking things for granted."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
