September 11th, 2009 Congratulations, Victor Garate!

Left-handed pitcher Victor Garate became the second alum of the Great Lakes Loons to crack a major league roster when we was acquired by the Washington Nationals (admittedly, calling the Nats “major league” is a bit of a stretch–one baseball professional I know referred to Washington as Quadruple-A ball). After a solid season at AA Chattanooga, the Nationals picked up Garate as the player to be named in the Ronnie Belliard/Luis Garcia trade. The Nats claimed Garate off waivers and immediately put him on their big league (again, a stretch) roster. Garate made his major league debut pitching in relief on September 5th, giving up 2 earned runs in one inning.

I’m sure he wasn’t happy with that first outing, but hopefully he is going to get the chance to make the most of his first chance to be in the show.

Congratulations, Victor. Everybody here in mid-Michigan is rooting for you.