Aug 5, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia (53) celebrates in front of New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. (13) after hitting a double during the eighth inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
When a Phillies player — or the entire offense — has gone cold at inopportune times over the past few years, the unified message as to the reasons why has been that the players are "trying to do too much."
Signing the free-swinging Adolis Garcia to a one-year, $10 million contract might seem counterproductive to rectifying that trend, but if you listen to García and Phillies management talk about it on Tuesday, it sounds like they are aware and are poised to fix it.
"The focus is to not be a hero," Garcia said in Spanish, as translated by Phillies assistant general manager Jorge Velandia. "Have good at bats. The concentration. The focus level. The approach of things. Just be within (myself)."
He's going to need to change a lot.
There were 123 qualified hitters in baseball over the last two seasons. Know where Garcia ranked in on-base percentage among them?
Start from the bottom. It won't take you long to find the answer.
Yes, he was dead last at .278.
He chases a ton of pitches, too.
His 35.7% chase rate in 2025 was in the top 10 percent of all of baseball. His whiff rate of 30.3% was in the 15th percentile.
Sounds a lot like the guy who has been patrolling right field for the Phillies the past few seasons.
If the Phillies are going to have their lineup improve, they're going to need García to be an upgrade over Nick Castellanos.
"He knows he has to be in a position where he performs," Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said. "He's aware of that. ... We talked to Adolis about this — he needs to be more under control with his swing. We don't need him to hit the ball out of the ballpark on every swing or on every at bat. We think he can do that."
Thank you, Adolis Garcia ❤️ pic.twitter.com/AMZ5s2nbg5
Both Dombrowski and manager Rob Thomson added that they believe Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long and his staff — especially assistant hitting coach Edwar Gonzalez — can sure that up with a player like Garcia.
Although, ultimately they couldn't with Castellanos. Even if he had stretches of his time in Philadelphia where he did cut down on his chase, it ultimately reared it's ugly head again. ... And again. ... And again.
But the Phillies are counting on it being different with García because of some of his peripheral analytics.
"The tools are there," Dombrowski said. "The ball jumps off his bat, still. His bat speed is still there. His exit velocity is very good. Those are the things we feel encouraged about.
"There's still a lot of positives in there as far as the ability is concerned and we think it has more to do with approach than it would abilities."
His average exit velocity of 92.1 mph is in the 89th percentile and ranks 28th in all of baseball. That's good.
But Dombrowski was being a little misleading when he says the bat speed is still there. At 72.1 mph, it's in the 49th percentile in baseball.
In his best season of 2023 — when he was a catalyst to the Texas Rangers winning the World Series — Garcia's bat speed was 73.6 mph, and ranked in the 71st percentile.
That diminishing number has to be concerning.
"I talked to Adolis last night," Thomson said. "The message (was) that you have to be yourself and relax. Have fun. Be yourself. Don't try to do too much because we got a lot of really good players around him.
"It's just really getting back to basics — control the strike zome a little bit better. Use the field, because his power stands out in any part of the ballpark. I'm super excited about this."
The one area where he is a sure upgrade over Castellanos is on defense.
His plus-16 Defensive Runs Saved ranked third among all qualified outfielders in 2025, and was No. 1 in right field in baseball.
His plus-1 Outs Above Average was tied for 25th among all qualified outfielders, and was fourth-best in right field.
"(Defense) is something I take a lot of pride in and do the work myself," Garcia said. "You (might not) get an RBI (at the plate), but you can stop an RBI in the outfield. It's who scores the most runs, so if you can take a run away from anybody in the outfield, I'm willing to do that at any time. It's part of my game and what I bring every day, so that's one of the things that I concentrate on in the offseason, to be ready to be at my best in the outfield at any time."
If the Phillies can unlock the 2023 version of Garcia, then signing him for $10 million will be a steal.
RF ADOLIS GARCIA 🇨🇺 TO THE PHILLIES
* “El Bombi” (32) is a 2x All-Star (2021, 23), Gold Glove (2023), 1-year, $10M deal.
* He was the 2023 ALCS MVP: 15 postseason games .323/.382/.726, 8 HR, 22 RBI, 1.108 OPS
* Career: .237/.293/.441, 141 HR, 459 RBI, .734 OPS#RingTheBell 🔔 pic.twitter.com/WLScyQPQlG
If not, this could simply be a bad sequel. It can be called Max Kepler 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Heck, it's the same contract and everything.
It's a gamble, but the Phillies have convinced themselves that from right to left, Garcia, Justin Crawford, and a platoon of Brandon Marsh and Otto Kemp will be better than how they ended the season in 2025.
If you are skeptical, you aren't alone. However, the Phillies think they can prove you wrong.
(Note: All statistics in this post are courtesy of Statcast or FanGraphs)
