PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The results had not been there for Adolis Garcia in his first series as a Philadelphia Phillie. The process had been, though, he insisted.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it\u2019s a parable for a few other veterans that are scuffling to start 2026 in the Phillies clubhouse.<\/p>\n
The Phillies\u2019 new right fielder followed one hit in three games against Texas with three consecutive two-hit games against Washington. It\u2019s less a change than a continuation of the same process with better results.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels good,\u201d Garcia said via a translator on Tuesday, after hitting his first homer as a Phillie. \u201cI\u2019ve been working really hard on trying to have good at bats, hitting the ball hard. I\u2019ve been getting hits with it now, so it feels good.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has been hitting the ball hard. Two balls in play against the Rangers were over 100 miles per hour, with four over 94.3 mph. He\u2019s struck out five times and only drew his first walk in the ninth inning of Wednesday\u2019s 6-5 win in 10 innings. But he\u2019s been selective at the plate in the way the Phillies wanted.<\/p>\n
That was the mission when they signed him in the offseason to replace Nick Castellanos.<\/p>\n
Garcia had an awful 2025 for the Rangers, with whom he\u2019d twice been an All-Star. The reason was too much chase: 135 strikeouts in 547 plate appearances over 135 games with only 28 walks. He walked 65 times in 2023 when he belted 39 homers and helped the Rangers win the World Series.<\/p>\n
The adjustments so far have stuck.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did it all spring training, too,\u201d manager Rob Thomson said. \u201cAfter the first couple of games, he really locked it in. He\u2019s locked into the strike zone. And he\u2019s using the field. He\u2019s got some big hits for us. He\u2019s playing really well.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Garcia singled to lead off the fourth. He singled to put two on in the eighth as the Phillies exerted pressure on the five relievers who combined to get just nine outs in relief of an excellent Cade Cavalli.<\/p>\n
And he walked in the ninth, loading the bases in a 5-5 game before Brandon Marsh flew out to left.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that my best version is when I swing at strikes and when I make good swing decisions,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cSo if I let the pitchers come to me and throw strikes to me, then I think that\u2019s where I\u2019m at my best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garcia\u2019s strong start is magnified by the scuffling around him.<\/p>\n
Bryce Harper started 2-for-23 before a home run in the eighth inning Wednesday. J.T. Realmuto was at .083 before reaching base four times with two hits, including a solo homer in the seventh. Trea Turner (.192) and Kyle Scwharber (.182) both remain in the sluggish category.<\/p>\n
But Garcia is helping the team stay above water. He said it wasn\u2019t weird facing his old team in the opener. But he\u2019s settling in just fine with his new environment. He had played just four games at Citizens Bank Park in his nearly 800 in the majors before opening day last Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really like this group of players,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI really like the stadium and the bleachers, the fans here. I really enjoy all those things. But right now, we\u2019re focusing on winning games, focusing on getting better and I\u2019m focused about having good ABs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 The results had not been there for Adolis Garcia in his first series as a Philadelphia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40,185,12141],"class_list":{"0":"post-658215","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-mer"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116333666516946823","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658215","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=658215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}