Garko’s Hard Work Pays Dividends

Like a pitcher struggling to recapture or refine his mechanics, Ryan Garko headed to the bullpen as often as possible last summer.

Garko played first base for the Fairbanks Goldpanners in the Alaska League, but he was intent on becoming Stanford’s starting catcher when he returned to school for his sophomore year.

“Catching in the bullpen is a job that no one ever wants to do,” Garko said. “I couldn’t get enough of it because I was able to practice framing pitches and I could block balls and just think like a catcher.

“When I got back to school, I was ready to win the job.”

Garko, a former standout at Servite High, started all but 12 games behind the plate this season and became one of the Cardinal’s most productive players.

Today he faces the biggest test of his career when the Cardinal plays Miami in the championship game of the College World Series.

Four Miami players have stolen more than 30 bases and the Hurricanes lead the nation with 227.

“It’s going to be tough, but our pitchers do a good job of holding runners,” said Garko, who has thrown out 31% (11 of 36) of the runners attempting to steal. “The main thing will be keeping them off base in the first place.”

Garko, 6 feet 2 and 220 pounds, is enjoying a memorable World Series. He caught the ceremonial first pitch from President Bush and has gone five for nine with two home runs and five runs batted in to help the Cardinal advance to the final.

Garko hit a run-scoring single that provided the go-ahead run in Stanford’s 13-11 victory over Tulane in the series opener and homered in each of the Cardinal’s two victories over Cal State Fullerton.

He is batting .364 with seven homers and 43 RBIs and has hits in 32 of the Cardinal’s last 36 games.

“We always knew the offense was there, so the biggest surprise has been his defense,” said junior left-hander Mike Gosling, who will start today for Stanford. “He’s good and he keeps getting better.”

Garko said he had no choice but to improve after a freshman season in which he played in only 25 games as a pinch-hitter or designated hitter and batted .143.

“I told him at the end of the year that if he wanted to play, he had to catch,” Stanford Coach Mark Marquess said. “There was a lot of pressure on him to earn a job and he did the work to win it.”

Garko said his focus on defense hurt his offense through the first two months of the season.

After several sessions with Marquess in the batting cage, Garko broke out with four hits in an April 7 doubleheader against UCLA. Two weeks later, he started a 21-game hitting streak during which he had three homers and 23 RBIs.

He had the game-winning hit against Texas in the championship game of the Stanford regional and homered against South Carolina in the super-regional at home.

“I’ve come up in some big situations and, fortunately, I’ve come through,” he said. “Now if that can just happen one more time, that would be great.”