The 2012 Dodger draft was an interesting one for sure. We deviated from a long standing tradition of drafting a pitcher first, selected two eighteen year old infielders as our first selections, both listed as shortstops, drafted a relief pitcher third and a young man who had defected from Cuba as our fourth selection. The most interesting selection is that fourth pick, Onelki Garcia.

Garcia’s defection from Cuba to the United States was very difficult and included being held at gunpoint in a motel in the Mexican border town of Tapachula for several days. (Photo credit – Hans Gutknecht)

As the Chattanooga Lookouts were winding down their season, I was listening to one of their playoff games on radio. Onelki Garcia, who had previously thrown just two professional innings, came into the game in relief. His previous two innings were with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. Onelki struck out four of the six hitters he faced in two innings with the Quakes. Well, that was at a high A level, so maybe not surprising. In his three innings with the Lookouts, he struck out seven of the nine hitters he faced. That was surprising. He walked one and yielded no hits. The announcer, on the Generals broadcast, sang Onelki’s praises, commenting on his, “heat at 95 mph, 79 mph curve and nasty change-up”.

Onelki, 23, is a big left hander, weighing 220 pounds and standing 6’3”. A first impression is that he is a new version of Rubby De La Rosa who also has a three pitch arsenal. Onelki is bigger than Rubby and, of course, is a southpaw. However, that assessment might be a little bold. Logan White compared Garcia, who throws a low-90s fastball with a hard curve, to Randy Wolf. One suggestion was that Onelki has only two pitches, a fastball and curve, although he apparently threw an effective change-up in his Chattanooga appearance.

Onelki’s path to the Dodgers has been an interesting one. He was originally slated to be taken in the 2011 draft, but had his eligibility revoked before officially being eligible for this year’s draft. He had been working out with the Dodgers prior to the 2012 draft so we expect Logan’s staff knew something that perhaps other teams didn’t know.

The challenge of becoming a major league pitcher, a Dodger, perhaps pales in comparison to the challenges Onelki faced in defecting from Cuba. On the night of Aug. 18, 2010, sixteen days after his twenty-first birthday, Onelki left his family and with twenty others boarded a boat roughly fifty feet long. His journey would take him to Cancun, Mexico before he and some other Cuban major league prospects were taken to Nicaragua. After some time in Nicaragua, according to Onelki, trouble arose when he and Adonis Garcia attempted to cross back into Mexico from Guatemala, in the Mexican border town of Tapachula. They were detained in Tapachula for a full month before being released. Following another incident in Mexico and a ten day imprisonment, Onelki and Adonis crossed into the United States in Texas, but not before being detained at the border for eighteen hours. Upon their release, the two players flew to Miami.

Onelki’s odyssey to Miami took him almost six months. Although he expected to be a free agent in the United States, he became subject to the draft and was selected by the Dodgers. In 2013 an entirely new journey awaits him as he begins his first full season as a professional baseball player within the Dodger organization.