Amir Garrett joins the Kansas City Royals, aiming to prove he’s ‘better now’
Amir Garrett’s Wednesday started when he was blindsided by a morning phone call from Cincinnati Reds general manager Nick Krall that informed him he’d been traded to the Kansas City Royals.
A left-handed reliever drafted by the Reds in 2011, Garrett had spent his entire professional career in that organization.
So he went and said his goodbyes in person.
“It was definitely hard because I’ve been with them since 2011,” Garrett said of his morning. “That’s pretty much all I’ve ever known, the Cincinnati Reds. ... It was very emotional because I felt like I had a relationship with each and every single person in that organization.”
That’s how a day began, but by 2 p.m., he’d made the roughly 30-minute trip from Goodyear to Surprise, Arizona, changed into Royals colors and began throwing a bullpen session in front of Royals coaches and front office staff.
When Garrett flipped the page mentally and emotionally to his next chapter with the Royals, his focus turned back to proving he’s still the guy who overwhelmed opposing hitters in recent years.
Garrett, 29, acknowledged without prompting that he didn’t have a good season last year when he posted a 6.04 ERA — 10 of the 32 earned runs he allowed came in April — but also expressed excitement about what he can do for the Royals bullpen.
“I’m really motivated because I feel like a lot of people forgot what I was capable of doing and how dominant I was,” Garrett said. “I kind of hit a brick wall last year, and that’s OK because now there’s an even bigger opportunity for me to show that last year I didn’t pitch well and I’m back and I’m better.”
From 2018-2020, Garrett posted a 3.60 ERA with 11.5 strikeouts per 9 innings and a 2.6-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Opponent’s slashed .219/.318/.384 against him.
During the pandemic-shortened 2020 regular season, he retired 52 of the 69 batters he faced and allowed just 10 hits — only one to a left-handed hitter.
In 2019, He recorded 12.5 strikeouts per 9 innings, the sixth-best among all left-handed relievers in the majors that season.
Garrett believes last year’s struggles were an aberration, and he intends to prove that.
“I felt like even from the start last, I don’t know, I wasn’t having fun,” Garrett said. “I didn’t feel like myself. I made a key point to come in here this year and just have fun, don’t overthink things. As human beings we get in our minds and start thinking a lot and a lot of things go bad.”
He said his eight-month old daughter, Koa Mae, born on July 22, has helped put things in perspective this past offseason.
A new relationship
Garrett said he’d heard nothing but “great things” from people familiar with the Royals.
While with the Reds, he was teammates with former Royals World Series champions Mike Moustakas and Christian Colon. Colon returned to the Royals organization as a minor-league coach this winter almost immediately after he retired.
Garrett was struck by excitement he heard bursting from his phone when he spoke with Royals manager Mike Matheny.
“I felt a sense that I was wanted here, really bad,” Garrett said. “That’s always a great sign, when your skipper is upbeat like that. So I’m excited to be here.”
Matheny saw Garrett dominate first-hand during his tenure as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Reds’ NL Central Division rivals.
Garrett, a former college basketball player at St. John’s, has drawn attention for his fiery and demonstrative demeanor on the mound. That has led to multiple on-field altercations during his career, and umpires ejected him from three games and he served an eight-game suspension during the 2019 season.
Royals GM J.J. Picollo and Matheny both said they’d welcome Garrett’s competitive fire.
Garrett has no intention of changing his approach.
“I’m a dog out there on the mound,” Garrett said. “People take certain exceptions to what I do, how I pitch. For me, what I preach to people is you pitch how you pitch, you hit how you hit, you do what you need to do.
“Because at the end of the day, no matter what they think about you or how they react, it shouldn’t affect you. You’ve got to get your job done. How they react — if they get upset or whatever — they’re not putting food on your table.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 9:12 AM.
