The Phillies\u2019 outfield has been perennially in search of stability. In signing Adolis Garcia, the team hopes to have solved some of those issues. But they\u2019ve done so with an all-or-nothing hitter who looks familiar to the frustrations of the recent past.<\/p>\n
Garcia was officially signed on Tuesday to a one-year, $10 million deal. It\u2019s a chance for the former Texas Ranger to prove that he\u2019s closer to the 39-homer guy from 2023 than the player averaging 22 homers and a batting average in the .220s the last two seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all spoke together, and I want to be able to focus on being a better version of myself, to add a piece to this winning team,\u201d Garcia said via a translator on a Zoom call with media. \u201cThere\u2019s a great team involved. I just want to go and play my defense, and hopefully my bat will be there. And I just want to be a piece that contributes to this good team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Phillies add some right-handed thump to an order perpetually short on it. It\u2019s a chance to replace the frequent offensive frustrations of Nick Castellanos with someone who, even if he mimics those shortcomings at least will pair it with plus-level defense. And if Garcia is again the player who was voted the ALCS MVP and received regular-season MVP votes in 2023, the Phillies will have hit on a middle-of-the-order righty to protect (and hopefully get the most out of) Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s a lot of conditionals in there. They hinge on a guy 3,000 big-league plate appearances into a pro career that included a year in Japan after defecting from his native Cuba changing traits that seem pretty fundamental to his approach at the plate.<\/p>\n
All the talking points are aligned at least. When Garcia hits the ball, he hits it hard and on the barrel, at a borderline elite level. But he takes few walks \u2013 his walk rate plummeted from an unsustainable 74 percent in 2023 when pitchers tried to avoid him to 36 percent in 2024 to 12 percent in 2025. His whiff rate in 2024 was one of the worst in baseball at 34.3 percent. He reaches base at lower than a .300 clip for his career.<\/p>\n
But if he can get back to being the .836 OPS hitter he was in 2023, and if his defense can return to 2023 and 2025 levels around a one-year dip \u2026 there goes those ifs again.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s at least aware of them, and he knows a change of scenery from the quick dissolution of the Rangers\u2019 championship core in 2023 offers space to make changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are on the same page,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI\u2019m going to do whatever it takes to do the little adjustment that I need today, that I need to do the last couple years. I\u2019m ready to go with the mentality of being one of the guys in the team that we can conquer all the things and all the goals that we have together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s the emotional part of it where you\u2019re trying to do too much, trying to put the team on your shoulders, that comes into play,\u201d manager Rob Thomson said. \u201cAnd then there\u2019s the physical part of it too. It\u2019s body- and mind-related. But for Adolis, being a right-handed hitter, thinking about staying on the ball, thinking a little bit more about right-center field and just cutting down the swing and making better decisions. And that comes with reps and different drills, and our hitting coaches will be all over that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garcia is the latest outfield help to arrive on a one-year deal. The $7 million paid to Whit Merrifield in 2024 didn\u2019t reach the end of July. Max Kepler, on whom the Phillies spent $10 million, barely survived July before a late-summer surge.<\/p>\n
With Garcia, the Phillies have an outfield rotation built. Justin Crawford will get every opportunity to be the everyday center fielder. Brandon Marsh and Otto Kemp will platoon in left, with Marsh as Crawford\u2019s backup. Johan Rojas and Weston Wilson are on the periphery. At 24 and off a strong first season in Triple A, Gabriel Rincones is knocking on the door. Nick Castellanos will begin the season in someone else\u2019s employ, though much of his $20 million contract will probably still come from John Middleton\u2019s pocket.<\/p>\n
Garcia will, if his play allows it, own the everyday job in right. Another if.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has to be in a position that he performs, and he\u2019s aware of that,\u201d President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski said. \u201cWe think he can do it. Very good defensively, and also from an offensive perspective, of course, has a lot of tools. We think he\u2019ll be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The arrival of Garcia should end the Phillies\u2019 outfield shopping, which closes the door on a Harrison Bader return.<\/p>\n
That includes a firm opening for Crawford to fight for a job. The first-round pick in 2022 hit .334 in Triple A last year. It\u2019s telling that Thomson called Crawford ahead of the Garcia announcement so that the soon-to-be 22-year-old heard it from him first, reiterating that it in no way affects his pathway.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to give Crawford an opportunity, you\u2019ve got to give it to him,\u201d Dombrowski said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s where we are. We\u2019re going to give them the opportunity to go out there and have a chance to play a lot. So basically, our, I think our outfield is pretty well set.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Phillies have to find a catcher; retaining J.T. Realmuto is the priority, but Dombrowski said negotiations with the free agent are \u201cnot a lot different than where we\u2019ve been in the past.\u201d Alterations to the bullpen around the margins are always on the table.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, the group of players who will compete for jobs at the outset of spring training seems to be largely in place.<\/p>\n
And if Garcia is the version of himself that he\u2019s been in the past, it could be a tidy bit of business.<\/p>\n
That is, again, if.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe focus is not to be a hero, to have good at bats, the concentration, the focus level, the approach of things,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cJust be within myself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phillies\u2019 outfield has been perennially in search of stability. In signing Adolis Garcia, the team hopes to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40,185,9898],"class_list":{"0":"post-480249","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","12":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","13":"tag-phillies","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-dtd"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115730996108432104","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}