David Lennon: How Yankees' Luis Garcia Jr. is waking up the echoes of a muted offense in the Bronx
Yankees' Luis Garcia Jr. doubles during the first inning against the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Throw out the numbers for a second. Of all the things this Yankees offense had been missing lately, it was easy to forget the sound.
With Giancarlo Stanton reduced to a figment of our imagination since April, and Aaron Judge little more than a jogging phantom in pinstriped pants for the past 2 1⁄2 months, the Bronx thunder was gone.
Two of baseball’s loudest bats went quiet, and a third, Ben Rice — another exit velo king — had slipped from MVP candidate to struggling member of the Yankees’ supporting cast. The silence was deafening.
Until the trade deadline, that is, when general manager Brian Cashman turned up the volume by trading for Luis Garcia Jr., the plug-and-play masher the Yankees desperately needed. Maybe Garcia didn’t have the sizzle of back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal or All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman, but he struck the right chord for the Bronx.
Credit Garcia for waking up the echoes left by Stanton and Judge.
Shortly after slipping on his pinstriped No. 26 for the first time, Garcia blasted a 424-foot homer that ricocheted off the back wall of the Yankees’ bullpen at 109 mph. In Tuesday’s 4-1 victory over the Mariners, Garcia ripped a pair of doubles, the first at 105.9 mph and the second a Stantonian 111.3 missile.
Garcia’s impact was muted Wednesday night, however, as he took a backseat to Trent Grisham’s two-homer, four-RBI night and a pair of run-scoring doubles by Spencer Jones in the Yankees’ 10-5 rout of the Mariners. As for Garcia, he went a frustrating 0-for-4, and stranded two runners in scoring position.
Figure the boom will be back, as the second-highest slugging percentage (.555) in the majors doesn’t lie. And it’s music to the ears of manager Aaron Boone, who smiled when I mentioned Garcia restoring those lost decibels to his lineup.
“Yeah, he impacts the ball for sure,” Boone said Wednesday afternoon. “You feel like, if this pitcher makes a mistake here, it’s going to get hit with authority. That’s the feeling I get every time he walks up.”
Going by pure bat-to-ball violence, Garcia isn’t on the level of a Judge or Stanton, or even Rice on his best days. But he consistently does loud damage, ranking among the top 35 in a handful of hard-hit stats, including exit velo, barrels and swing percentage.
As much as the Bronx is enjoying Garcia’s arrival, the feeling is mutual. Garcia already was a New Yorker by birth (before moving to the Dominican Republic) and after playing in low-wattage Nationals Park for the first six years of his career, he’s happily embraced the whole Yankee Stadium vibe.
Typically, it takes a while. Some never do. But for Garcia, the big stage was an immediate fit, maybe because this is actually a homecoming.
“My first day, I thought I was going to be a little bit nervous,” Garcia said Wednesday. “But I didn’t feel that at all. I felt like I had been here for years.”
From a Yankees’ standpoint, nothing could be better. After witnessing the implosions of deadline acquisitions like Joey Gallo and Sonny Gray — two stars who shrunk when exposed to the New York spotlight — Garcia’s ability to thrive under that same pressure was definitely a relief.
In Tuesday’s win, the Yankees trailed 1-0 in the seventh before Garcia’s leadoff double triggered a four-run inning. Just as Boone appreciates the sound of Garcia’s bat, his new slugger likes hearing the reaction from the 40,000 fans surrounding him, something he never really experienced in D.C.
“Much different vibes,” Garcia said. “I love the energy.”
The transition, so far, has been seamless.
Cashman initially raised eyebrows by trading for another lefty-hitting first baseman/designated hitter, especially since that role already was filled by Rice.
The Yankees also figured to target a righthanded bat. However, Garcia provides a defensive upgrade over Rice at first, and also has the flexibility to play second base or third should the need arise.
The next few weeks should be interesting, too. Garcia made his fourth start at first base Wednesday night, but it’s highly possible the Yankees could be tempted to slide him over to second if Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s offensive struggles continue.
Chisholm, a pending free agent, is costing himself a staggering sum of money by having a terrible walk year (.217 BA, .692 OPS). He entered Wednesday batting .151 with a .476 OPS over his last 15 games.
Boone indicated he’s not prepared to move the versatile Garcia to any other positions yet, but that stance should soften if some of the Yankees’ more worrisome trends persist. Why not? Garcia hasn’t appeared at second base this season, but he played 129 games there in each of the previous two years and has 508 games total at the position on his resume.
Garcia still takes grounders around the infield during batting practice just to stay ready for the potential assignment.
“I feel comfortable there,” Garcia said. “And if the opportunity comes, I’ll do what I can to help the team win.”
Even if Boone remains patient with Chisholm, he may have no choice but to consider some alternatives once Stanton, Judge and Cody Bellinger return. As long as the Yankees won’t put Rice behind the plate — and Boone has expressed an unwillingness to do so — they’re going to have a position crunch at DH, although with a number of platoon options.
“We’ll see,” Boone said of trying Garcia at second. “I don’t really have any plans to do that right now. But just watching him work and move and things like that, I feel like he could.”
For now, when it comes to Garcia, the Yankees are just thrilled to listen.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
