Garcia's hot bat lifts White Sox to 6-2 win over Twins
He has all of the physical tools and talent. That's never been the issue.
Focus has been Avisail Garcia's problem since he joined the Chicago White Sox in a three-way trade from the Detroit Tigers in July of 2013.
At 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, Garcia is a big, strong hitter blessed with the speed of a leadoff man.
But the numbers haven't added up for the 25-year-old right fielder.
In 257 games with the Sox heading into this season, Garcia had a .257/.310/.388 hitting line with 37 home runs and 160 RBI.
It's little wonder his name is still written in pencil as the White Sox look to the future, but Garcia showed flashes of what he can be in Saturday afternoon's 6-2 win over the Minnesota Twins in front of 23,024 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
"You don't have to do too much," Garcia said. "You've just got to see the ball and hit it. The homers are going to come. I know I have power. As a hitter, we just don't want to do too much and put the ball in play. I think we have to just hit the ball and try to make contact."
Against the Twins, Garcia was 3-for-4 while raising his average to .500 (8-for-16) on the young season.
Garcia tripled and scored in the second inning, singled in the fourth and hit a 2-run homer to deep center field in the sixth.
In addition to changing his diet to more fish and chicken and losing nearly 20 pounds, Garcia has also altered his approach at the plate.
"I'm just trying to put my hands more inside and not try to do too much," he said. "Try to put the ball in play, you know, try to see the ball. I've been missing fastballs because my head was a little bit off. But I'm working to feel better and I had a good game today, so I've just got to keep working and see what happens tomorrow."
Garcia's 430-foot home run came on a 1-1 pitch off Twins reliever Justin Haley. Manager Rick Renteria said Garcia is also working to become a better hitter with two strikes.
"He's just been trying to work middle, the other way, a little bit more consistently," Renteria said. "He's not trying to hit homers. He's just trying to have good at-bats. He's finding when he chokes up a little bit with two strikes, it allows the ball to travel a little bit deeper. He's a strong man. If he puts the barrel on the baseball it has a chance to travel and it happened today."
Garcia is back in right field after spending most of last season as the Sox's designated hitter.
He dropped flyballs for errors against Detroit on Thursday and Minnesota on Friday, but Garcia isn't down on his defense.
"As a baseball player, everybody works hard to get better every year," Garcia said. "So that's what I'm doing. I want to get better at everything."