Victor Garate gets the call

I promised Dodgers minor league pitcher Victor Garate I’d be in touch when he got the call to the big leagues.

At the time during spring training, the callup didn’t seem that far away. The left-hander, after all, was told to skip out on Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic so he could compete for a job.

Earlier today, while Garate was at the airport in Chattanooga waiting to catch a flight headed East, he took some time to chat with Diamond Notes. His major league debut with the Washington Nationals awaited.

Garate, who turns 25 this month, was the player to be named later in the trade that sent Ronnie Belliard to the Dodgers. He went from Double-A player with the Chattanooga Lookouts to a reliever in the Nats bullpen.

Garate knew something was up last week when his pitching coach told him during the road trip in Jacksonville that he would be held back from pitching for a couple of days.

Garate told his agent, who tried getting in touch Dodgers GM Ned Colletti but couldn’t get an answer.

Yesterday, while eating with his teammates, Garate got the call from assistant GM De Jon Watson. Watson told Garate he had bad news and good news.

The bad news was that he’d been traded and would have to pack his things. The good news was that he was going straight to the big leagues.

“After that,” Garate said, “I didn’t eat.”

He then called mom and dad and received a call from a Nationals official whose name he couldn’t even remember.

Garate’s year had paid off. He had a 2.04 ERA over 47 appearances, striking out 56 in 53 innings after battling back from a knee injury. That changeup he’d be told during the spring to work on had gotten a lot better.

His success didn’t merit a callup to the Dodgers, who chose Brent Leach instead as their lefty specialist. Garate said he didn’t let that change his focus.

“Nothing happened, but other teams saw me pitch,’ he said.

“That trade got me to the big leagues. I’m very happy right now.”