Garvin Alston

Garvin Alston pitched in six games for the Colorado Rockies in 1996 and later became a major league coach.

Garvin James Alston was born December 8, 1971, in Mount Vernon, New York, just to the north of New York City. He had a cousin, Dell Alston, who played four years in the American League when Garvin was a child. Garvin was a star in youth baseball and at Mount Vernon High School, from which he graduated in 1989. For the next two years he attended Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and in 1990 was named to the second team of the Division 2 Northeast all-stars. In the fall of 1991 he was invited to try out for the 1992 US Olympic baseball team, though he wasn’t selected. Meanwhile he began attending Florida International University in Miami, majoring in criminal justice and playing baseball; at the end of his first year there he was drafted by the Rockies in the 10^th round of the amateur draft, and on July 6, 1992, he signed a contract with them. He filled out a questionnaire that same day, and another the following April; between the two we learn that his nicknames were G-Man, G-Money, G, and G-Baby, he went from 6-1 ½ 172 to 6-2 185, he had a fiancée, his off-season occupation was baseball instructor, and his hobbies were reading, writing, and spending time with family.

The Rockies sent Garvin to the Bend Rockies of the Northwest League, classification Short Season A. He appeared in 14 games, starting 12, and had a 3.95 ERA in 73 innings, with 73 strikeouts and 29 walks. During the off-season he was named #8 on Baseball America’s list of the Rockies’ top ten prospects. He spent the 1993 season with the Central Valley Rockies of the California League, classification Advanced A, where his ERA went up to 5.46, seemingly mostly because of his control—he walked 70, striking out 90, in 117 innings in 25 games (24 starts).

In 1994 Garvin played for both Central Valley and the New Haven Ravens (I’m glad they weren’t the New Haven Rockies) of the Class AA Eastern League, but I couldn’t find out in what order. He had a 12.46 ERA in four relief appearances with New Haven; with Central Valley he had a 3.62 ERA in 87 innings in 37 games, 13 of them starts, with 83 strikeouts and 42 walks. After the season he played for Maui in the Hawaiian Winter League, and Colorado put him on their 40-man major league roster to protect him from being drafted by another team.

In 1995 the season started three weeks late due to the major league players’ strike, and spring training was shortened. Garvin was optioned to New Haven on April 23, then on the 26^th, the day of the Rockies’ first game, he was recalled. But on May 7 he was again optioned to New Haven, without having gotten into a game with Colorado. He spent the rest of the year with the Ravens, now exclusively a reliever. He had a 2.84 ERA in 66 2/3 innings in 47 games, striking out 73 and walking 26, and had six saves.

Garvin went to spring training with Colorado again in 1996. He missed a few days early on with elbow soreness, and on March 10 he was reassigned to the minor league camp. He opened the season playing at Class AAA for the first time, with the Rockies’ Pacific Coast League affiliate, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. He got off to a good start and soon became the closer; he got a writeup in the Colorado Springs Gazette-Times on May 26:

Alston supplies his own heat for late innings 

Sky Sox closer relishes situation 

Sky Sox pitching coach Sonny Siebert says that “when you pick a closer, you are picking a personality,” and that neatly explains why Garvin Alston is employed as Colorado Springs’ closer. 

Alston has a fastball that tops out at 93-94 mph. It goes with a nasty dipping slider, and he’s very good about going after hitters, throwing strikes and challenging the batter to do something about it. 

“My role is to go out there and get outs,” Alston said. “Most of the time that means cutting loose my fastball. I get them or they get me. I just rock and fire…give it all I’ve got. 

“I love being the late-inning guy. You’d have to be a fool not to want to be in the heart of the action. That’s what makes the game fun.” 

Since taking over the job in mid-April, Alston has posted eight saves, which puts him third in the Pacific Coast League. He has a 2.87 earned run average, second on the Sky Sox to Jamey Wright. 

When the season began, Alston was ticketed to work as the setup man for closer Mike DeJean, who had 20 saves last year for Class AA Norwich of the Eastern League. DeJean was obtained by the Rockies in the trade that sent Joe Girardi to the New York Yankees. 

DeJean had poor results in three of his first four outings. Alston was given a shot and held onto the job, while DeJean got an airplane ticket to Class AA New Haven. 

“The opportunity fell my way,” Alston said, “and all I wanted was to make the most of it.” 

When Alston has run into trouble this season it has generally been when he has relied too much on his fastball. It is his killer pitch, but if he ignores his breaking stuff entirely it makes it easier for hitters to time his fastball… 

“What happens sometimes is that a catcher will fall in love with the fastball and call for it too much,” Siebert said, “and, to some extent, I think that happened with Garvin. We’ve been working with mixing up the pitch selection a little more and it’s worked out better.”

On June 5, at which point Garvin had ten saves and a 3.66 ERA, he was called up to the Rockies. He flew to Houston to join the team on the 6^th, and pitched that night. He came in in the bottom of the 8^th with a 14-1 lead and allowed two inherited runners to score, then allowed three runs in the 9^th before being removed with two out. He also got his only major league plate appearance, grounding out to lead off the top of the 9^th. The Colorado Springs Gazette-Times reported the next day:

Garvin Alston had been in the big leagues before. His goal this time was to pitch in a game. He did that Thursday, entering a lopsided win against the Astros in the eighth inning. 

Alston, 24, was on the Rockies’ expanded roster for the first 12 days of the 1995 season, but he was sent back to the minors without facing a batter. 

He was called back up on Wednesday from Colorado Springs and was in uniform Thursday. What does he remember about his first stint in the majors? 

“My first stint? There wasn’t one,” he said. “What I remember is listening to all these guys, being down in the bullpen and sitting around with Ruff (Bruce Ruffin) and listening to all these guys say, ‘We’ve got a lefty coming up, be ready, this might happen, that might happen.’ I knew preparation played a big part, but I didn’t know how much until I actually saw it.”

Garvin pitched scoreless ninth innings in losses to the Braves and Astros on June 9^th and 10^th, then on the 11^th got the last two outs in the top of the 8^th of a tie game with the Astros. The Rockies scored two in the bottom of the inning, Bruce Ruffin came in for the save, and Garvin had a major league win. From the Gazette-Times’ game story the next day:

Alston was terrified in his major-league debut on Thursday against these same Astros, allowing three runs in 1 1/3 innings. 

“The problem was I couldn’t feel my body,” Alston said. “I was numb.” 

But [manager Don] Baylor showed confidence in the young, hard-throwing pitcher, using him in the past three games. Alston responded with three consecutive scoreless outings. His latest appearance, though, was Alston’s first in a critical situation. Alston entered the eighth inning with one out and the score tied 5-5. 

“I was kind of happy that he called on me,” Alston said. “I was expecting somebody else like maybe (John) Habyan to go in there.”

Garvin got into two more games, allowing two runs in an inning on the 16^th and one run in an inning on the 18^th, then was sent back down to the Sky Sox on the 27th. He quickly got four more saves and then went through a rough patch, walking three of the first five hitters on July 21 and allowing six runs without getting an out on the 29^th. Still, on August 6 he was called back up to the Rockies when Lance Painter was put on the disabled list; but he didn’t get into any games and was sent back down on the 14^th when Mike Munoz was activated.

On August 19 Garvin was removed from the game after injuring his elbow. The Gazette-Times reported on the 21^st:

Sky Sox closer Garvin Alston was sent back to Denver to have X-rays taken of his injured right elbow and might be lost for the season. He felt something pop while pitching in the eighth inning of Monday night’s game and was unable to continue.

Apparently he did miss the rest of the season; his final numbers were a 5.77 ERA in 34 1/3 innings in 35 games, with 36 strikeouts and 27 walks, and 14 saves. During the off-season he was again on the 40-man protected roster.

In spring training 1997 Garvin pitched in a few exhibition games, then developed inflammation in his elbow. On March 25 he was placed on the 15-day DL, retroactively to the 23^rd. On April 4 the Gazette-Times reported:

Relief pitcher Garvin Alston, who led the Sky Sox with 14 saves last season, is more seriously injured than at first believed and may require elbow surgery. 

“I’m not counting on having him with us for another three months,” Sky Sox manager Paul Zuvella said. “He’s way down the road for us.”

On May 26 it was reported that he “will probably miss the season following elbow surgery,” and in fact he did. He played winter ball during the off-season, and in the spring of 1998 he was back pitching for Colorado Springs; he started slowly, and had a 7.87 ERA through the game of April 22, when he got his first win of the season. From the Gazette-Times’ game story the next day:

“I’m still a long, long way off from being all the way back,” Alston said. “If I had to guess, I’d say I’m 80 percent there. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say this felt great, to be back and to help the team get a win. 

“This whole experience is teaching me to be more of a pitcher. I can’t get away with trying to throw my fastball past people. I know I have a lot more work ahead of me.”

On the 29^th Garvin got his first save of the year, on May 1 he threw three perfect innings, and on May 9 he got another save. From the May 13 Gazette-Times:

Garvin uses elbow injury to his advantage 

By Jim Bainbridge 

Garvin Alston has enough faith in his religion and himself that he can look back at a year lost to elbow surgery “as perhaps a blessing in disguise.” 

Alston used the time to analyze film of his throwing motion, get himself fit and work on a plan to come back to Colorado Springs a more effective pitcher. 

“I’ve always had a lot of control problems,” Alston said, “and with the injury I knew I had to work on different pitches and not rely so much on trying to throw the ball past hitters. 

“Guy Hansen worked with me in (Puerto Rican) winter ball and (Sky Sox pitching coach) Sonny Siebert has been helping me with my mechanics, keeping the ball down in the strike zone and making my delivery more consistent.” 

It hasn’t taken long to see results. 

Alston last allowed an earned run in an April 12 game at Nashville. He’s worked 13 innings over eight games in that span, allowing seven hits and seven walks while striking out 10. Overall he’s 1-0 with a 4.38 ERA and leads the Sky Sox with three saves. 

“It feels good to be helping the team,” Alston said. “There are a lot of guys in that clubhouse—Mike Saipe, Angel Echevarria, Derrick Gibson and others—who were very supportive when things weren’t going so well. The satisfaction comes from being able to come back and do well for them. I’ve always tried to be a player’s player and do the right things for my teammates.” 

Even at the worst moments of rehabilitation uncertainty, Alston didn’t worry much about his future. 

His main concern was that he would come back to pitch and not pitch well. As for the prospect of having his career end…about that he was more philosophical. 

“Actually I was pretty calm, pretty steady about that,” Alston said. “Baseball is part of my life, but isn’t all of it. I figured if it was God’s plan for my career to be over, I would go on to do other things. 

“I have a beautiful wife (Natasha) who kind of coached me through it (the rehab). We talked about what we’d do and we were OK with that. We have long-range plans to open a private school for kids 8-13 back around our home in Mount Vernon (N.Y.). We both have our degrees and my wife already has her master’s. It’s something that makes sense to us.” 

But with the major leagues again in sight, Alston is content to let the plan wait a while.

As of May 18, Garvin’s ERA was at 4.16, but then a bad streak put him up to 7.50 after the game of the 27^th. On June 1 it was reported that he had allowed 16 earned runs in his last 6 1/3 innings. On the 24^th he suffered a groin strain and he was placed on the seven-day DL on the 26^th. He was activated on July 2, but the injury continued to bother him and he was back on the list for the first half of August. On August 31 he played third base for one pitch while teammate Dan Cholowsky was playing all nine positions in a game. He ended up with a 6.45 ERA for the season, in 67 innings in 44 games, striking out 69 and walking 32, with five saves.

For 1999, somehow, Garvin ended up in Taiwan, pitching for the Wei Chuan Dragons of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. He had a 3.18 ERA in 13 relief appearances, then made his way back to the US and, in late August, signed with the Albuquerque Dukes, a Dodgers affiliate, of the Pacific Coast League. He pitched 10 2/3 innings in five games with the Dukes, with an ERA of 5.06.

In 2000 Garvin was back with the Dukes. He pitched 25 innings in ten games, with a 3.96 ERA, then at some point in the season he made his way to the Wichita Wranglers, the Kansas City Royals’ affiliate in the Class AA Texas League. With them he had a 6.46 ERA in 30 2/3 innings in 18 games.

That was the end of Garvin’s career—until 2003, when he was the opening day starter for the Montreal Royales of the newly-formed, independent Canadian Baseball League. However, the league folded after the Royales had played 32 games. Garvin started six of them, with two relief appearances, and had a 3.07 ERA in 29 1/3 innings, with a 0-3 record.

Garvin moved to Phoenix, out of baseball. Then, as he recalled in a 2018 article:

“Then I ran into a friend at a party, and he was with the Oakland Athletics. He said, ‘What are you doing,’ and I told him I was working in the city of Phoenix writing afterschool programs for kids. He said, ‘You’re a baseball guy. You need to be back in baseball.’”

Garvin did get back in baseball—in 2005 he became the pitching coach for the Kane County Cougars, the Athletics’ affiliate in the Class A Midwest League. In 2007 he moved up a half-step, to the Stockton Ports of the California League, classification Advanced A. In late 2008 the Athletics named him “special instructor, pitching and rehabilitation” at their Arizona complex. By 2012 his title was minor league pitching rehab coordinator; in February of that year he was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle in a story about minor league pitcher Ian Krol, who had been suspended the previous season for a tweet containing a homophobic slur:

“When he is on the field, Ian is mature and confident,” Alston said. “He understands baseball better than anything, including himself…The perfect word for him is ‘knucklehead.’ 

“He’s a good kid, but he’s so full of assurance, he thinks he can do or say anything. He definitely needs to understand his words and actions have consequences.” 

…Said Alston: “When I heard the length of the suspension, I thought, ‘That’s about right. That will sting a little bit.’ I think it was a good thing for Ian.”

That same year, Garvin was given a great deal of credit for helping Sean Doolittle in his conversion from first baseman to pitcher. For the 2015 season he was promoted to minor league pitching coordinator, and after a year of that he was named bullpen coach by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arizona let him go at the end of the 2016 season, and in January 2017 the Padres hired him to be their minor league rehab pitching coach. In mid-June, though, the Athletics fired pitching coach Curt Young, promoted bullpen coach Scott Emerson to fill his job, and brought Garvin back to the organization as bullpen coach. When the season ended they announced he would be brought back in 2018, but a week later he was hired away by the Twins to be their pitching coach.

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, February 13, 2018:

Alston looking for what works: New Twins pitching coach has a simple philosophy 

By LaVelle E. Neal III 

FORT MYERS, FLA.—Garvin Alston has a brown leather notebook cover that is stuffed with notes on pitchers and pitches. 

“This baby has been with me since 2012,” the new Twins pitching coach said Monday. 

Pages, in different colors, stick out the sides. When Alston holds it, he looks like a disorganized student who’s late for an exam. 

Fellow Twins coach Jeff Pickler makes fun of it. “You know,” Pickler said to Alston, “we have databases for all this.” 

Alston, 46, likes writing things down and diving into the book. That’s what works for him. And that’s the mantra he is going by in his first season as a major league pitching coach, with Twins pitchers and catchers reporting today…

At the end of the season the Twins fired manager Paul Molitor, and when Rocco Baldelli was named to replace him Garvin was one of the coaches who was not retained. On April 6, 2019, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported:

Major League Baseball is starting a Prospect Development Pipeline program that identifies the top high school talent in the country. The inaugural program starts June 13 in Bradenton, Fla., and the staff includes a few people with Twins connections. Former Twins pitching coach Garvin Alston will be one of the pitching coaches…

On June 4, 2019, pitcher Garvin Alston, Jr., of the University of South Carolina at Aiken, was selected by the White Sox in the 37^th round of the free agent draft. He had also been selected by the White Sox in the 37^th round four years earlier, out of high school, but this time he signed a contract.

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