March 5: Bochy tells the Rangers beat that Garcia suffered only a “mild” strain that’s “not quite” severe enough to be even classified a Grade 1 strain (via Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports). The current expectation is that Garcia will require less downtime than Langford has so far and that he’ll be ready for Opening Day.
March 4: Rangers outfielder Adolis Garcia was scratched from today’s Cactus League game after reporting some discomfort in his left oblique. He’s headed for an MRI, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The team will have further updates once that imaging is performed. For now, manager Bruce Bochy has conceded that Garcia will “miss a little bit of time,” though he added that the team is hopeful it won’t be too lengthy an absence. Fellow outfielder Wyatt Langford sustained an oblique injury of his own 11 days ago and has yet to appear in a spring game. The Rangers haven’t yet ruled out Opening Day for either player.
Garcia, who just turned 32 over the weekend, enters the 2025 season in search of a rebound at the plate. He played a vital heart-of-the-order role for the Rangers in their 2023 World Series run, slashing .245/.328/.508 with 39 homers during that eventual championship-winning season for Texas.
The 2024 season brought a downturn in virtually every category of note. Garcia hit .224/.284/.400 with 25 homers. His strikeout rate remained nearly identical (27.7% in 2023, 27.8% in 2024), but his walk rate fell by more than three percentage points and he saw notable declines in exit velocity, hard-hit rate and barrel rate. Garcia also hit fewer fly-balls and saw a greater percentage of his fly-balls (12%, compared to 7.2% in ’23) result in harmless infield flies; he popped out to the infield an ugly 21 times on the year. Garcia also chased off the plate more and saw his contact rate on pitches within the zone dip. He was placing himself in pitchers’ counts far too often.
Most confounding, perhaps, was Garcia’s struggle to hit fastballs. While he batted only .197 against four-seamers in that terrific 2023 season, he often did maximum damage when making contact. Garcia pounded 16 big flies off four-seamers in 2023 but went deep on only five four-seamers in 2024. He hit .197/.276/.490 on plate appearances ending with a four-seamer in ’23; that line fell to .184/.251/.310 in 2024.
Garcia is in line to again serve as the Rangers’ everyday right fielder, though a strain of any note could impact his readiness for the season. Oblique strains can often take upwards of a month to rehab, and the Rangers’ season starts in just over three weeks.
With Langford also ailing, there’s some murkiness about how Texas might line up in the outfield on March 27. Evan Carter and Leody Taveras are both healthy. Utilitymen Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran have experience in the outfield. Designated hitter Joc Pederson could feasibly play left field in the short term, though he was exclusively a DH in Arizona last year (and has also been working out at first base this spring). Other options in camp include prospect Dustin Harris and veteran Kevin Pillar, who signed a minor league deal with a non-roster invitation last month.
On the back of that sensational 2023 season, Garcia signed a two-year, $14MM deal covering his first two arbitration seasons. He’s being paid $7MM this year and is under club control through the 2026 campaign. He’ll be arbitration-eligible for the final time next winter.
This is truly a stinky pile of trash, and I would know, I’ve been sniffing trash for 30 years. Garcia has been hiding his age and is 37 years old. This is unfortunate news.
“37 years old”..It’s certainly a good thing we have “Inspector” Jimmy on the case. Clearly, those MLB age Inspectors haven’t been doing their jobs.
And yet, there’s at least a 50% chance Jimmy is right. It would hardly be the first time.
“And yet, there’s at least a 50% chance Jimmy is right.”
Source: trust me, bro. Until ‘Jimmy’ provides a shred of evidence, there’s no reason to think he has any idea what he’s talking about, much less ‘at least a 50% chance’ he’s right. Some people will believe anything without questioning.
To source: Why are you listening someone who wearing a trashbag for coat?
I can send you some evidence right now, the toilet seat is hot and I accidentally glued myself to the rim so I’m not going anywhere until the fire department comes.
@Jimmy Garbagebag
Jimmy, this is the funniest post I’ve read today, the thing I will say about Adolis is,this is his year to show Texas he’s worth signing, if he has a crap 2nd year in a row I wouldn’t expect us to offer arbitration or a new contract, would Texas go after Vlad jr,??? Or change direction, I believe they would. Especially with having their own Rangers sports Network now and revenue return. We will see.
The Ranger Fan — With Walcott looming for ’26, the Rangers will be looking to clear out 3B for Walcott or Seager, pushing Jung over to first base. Burger has arbitration but players similar to his build lose athleticism faster than bubbles pop. Even then Burger can take over the DH or share it with Pederson in a platoon, assuming the player option is exercised.
Unless the Rangers package Jung, any addition of Guerrero Jr. in either a trade or in free agency, the Rangers would be lighting the fuse. Guerrero Jr.’s contract isn’t exactly going to be friendly for the Rangers already managing under numerous top end and some long term deals for elite players. However, there is a path. It remains to be seen if is a good path for the next 10 plus seasons to be tied down to Guerrero Jr.
@ClevlandSteelEngines
You’re absolutely correct on money going out in 2026, $144 million on Seager,Eovaldi,Semien,Pederson and Higgy alone, It gonna be interesting, I’m sure they won’t publish because Texas is Josh hush, how much revenue will come in the 2 nd year of the newly formed Texas Rangers Network, I’m aware of multiple companies they went into contract with, all the cable companies . Walcott is gonna be exciting to watch and I’m curious to see what a Monster year Jung can put up if fully healthy. As for Vlad jr, not a lot of talk here on signing him here. But it would be nice.
Josh jung will never be fully healthy. Guaranteed a surgery per season played
Hush hush
Look at track record. Every single year since drafted
ButchAdams79
Sorry man but the hush hush was directed at my own post where I said Josh hush by mistake, but you’re correct on him being hurt, but those the last 2 years were freak accidents on getting hit, I wanna see his numbers for a complete healthy season.
That’s quite a first in thread post.
Oof. That hurts for the Rangers.
When an extreme free swinger tries to hold up and check their swing , sometimes it hurts obliquely.
Call him oblique but not obtuse. That’s how Andy Dufraine ended up in the popo
I’m sure there’s a shot he can take for that.
Ah! Spring training, Another one bites the dust.
From the headline, I wasn’t sure if this was an injury to his oblique muscle or if it was an uneven discomfort.
Uneven discomfort from being encouraged to take more pitches.
Or an uneven muscle or oblique discomfort
Sebastian one step closer?
Where will he play? The middle infield is stacked, and he can’t play the outfield.
He’s not coming up anytime soon, but why can’t he play the outfield?
Walcott can definitely play outfield. He’s fast and has an incredible arm.
Sebastian Cabot? Mister French
Oof, too much ‘apple juice’ for big boy I guess.
type of injury that really never fully heals and is easy to reaggravate
Oblique discomfort is a feeling not a specific injury. Labeling an unknown possible injury as something that never fully heals and is easy to reaggravate is absolutely ridiculous.
oblique, groin, and hamstrings are things that always reaggravate, even in minor pulls and tears.
no one was talking specifics when i posted it. Stop being a brownnoser.
And nothing was mentioned in specific as far as the discomfort. So you have no idea what the injury is.
Also no they are not injuries that “always” raeggravate. That’s assuming he is even injured and not just having discomfort due to fatigue.
Adolis is due to earn 9.25M this year NOT 7M$
Get paid, not necessarily earn!
See what you did there
García’s struggles against fastballs signal more than just a slump—they indicate potential decline in pitch recognition and reaction time, which are nearly impossible to reverse at his age. His oblique injury only compounds the issue by delaying crucial adjustments. In other words, he’s cooked and Rangers should start viewing him as expendable, especially with Langford and Carter poised to take over.
While I do agree with you, I’d still prefer a declining garcia over anything taveras has to offer, and I’m pretty sure u need 4+ outfielder over a season
A declining Garcia. Or reclining buddah
Winter was brutal for everyone. Nobody in shape
Speak for yourself Mister tidy whidy
I’m just referencing the articles about injury I’m reading. What are you referencing, 3rd drawer to the left?
Breathed a huge sigh of relief. Glad he’s okay for the Rangers…
Ready to ground out he is
I say the same thing every time I watch DJ LeMahieu step up to the plate the last few years (when he isn’t hurt)
@CravenMoorehead
You must of jinxed DJ LeMahieu, he just went out with a calf strain and they are saying he won’t be playing opening day.
Lol
Would still be the best hitters on the Tigers, even injured and on a down year.
“Perhaps” needs to start the sentence—it can’t come in the middle between commas.
That is, swell
Very poor writing by you too.