Last August, Tristan Garnett was told he would pitch for the Fightin Phils the night that he arrived at his first career Double-A game. After driving five and a half hours to join the team, he pitched 1.2 shutout innings and struck out four, a season high.
The relief pitcher spoke of his mindset leading up to his first appearance. “There’s a lot of adversity I had to deal with, plenty of reasons for me to have an excuse as to why things could not go well… That really just sent it home for me, like crack down, who are you, how are you going to do your job and go do it.”
The Phillies drafted Tristan Garnett as an Undrafted Free Agent on July 20, 2021, out of Cal State Dominguez Hills. Garnett played his freshman season at Linn Benton Community College in 2018 before transferring to Cal State Dominguez Hills. In high school, he was ranked the No. 2 left-handed pitcher in Oregon.
Garnett is now in his fourth season with the Phillies organization and his second with Reading. He spent the majority of the 2023 season with High-A Jersey Shore. He finished 2023 tied in the Phillies organization with 46 saves, fourth in the organization in overall ERA at 1.94 and third in WHIP at 1.04.
The left-hander spoke about his goals and approach any time he enters a game in relief. “I think understanding my identity as a pitcher was a very very big one in that transitional period for late summer in High-A going to Double-A. I think Double-A as a whole, you’re facing prospects.” expressed Garnett. “You face guys and then two-three weeks later they’re in the show, so mistakes get exploited a lot more and when you go in understanding who you are and how you can be effective doing your job, I think it makes your job much less intimidating.”
So far this season, through 13 games, the 26-year-old is 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA in 18 innings pitched. He’s allowed just four runs and struck out 23 batters, with the opposition hitting just .197 against him.
Garnett came to the Phillies farm system from Portland, Oregon and was able to connect with Phillies No. 3 prospect, former R-Phil, Mick Abel who is also a Portland native. Garnett and Abel discovered they went to rival high schools and although never played against each other, were able to bond having similar paths to the minor leagues.
All in all, Garnett has enjoyed his experience with the Phillies and has taken away various lessons at each level leading up to this point. “I think that’s what the minor leagues are for. I think you’re supposed to get exploited and even though in that moment it might really really bite… but as the summer goes on and you have more experiences, you quickly realize those are just a snapshot in the whole season and you just have to embrace the bad days and the good days.”
Full article can be found at: https://www.milb.com/reading/news/tristan-garnett-s-rapid-rise-to-double-a-ball