Just one year ago, Adolis Garcia looked like a star in the making. He was one of the leaders in Rookie of the Year voting, and his athleticism and offensive prowess were promising for the Texas Rangers.
This season, however, the 29-year-old Cuban has been one of MLB's most inconsistent hitters, which is why they wanted him to take some time off and do some soul-searching.
Per Chris Woodward, Garcia tried to do too much during the offseason. He tried to make adjustments but may have tweaked his game too much:
“He made some changes on his own (during the offseason),” Woodward said. “This is where maybe us not having communication with him (during the lockout) hurt — he made some changes, trying to cut down strikeouts. He was doing some things for the right reasons, but he took away a little bit of his athleticism and his dynamic movement, like what made Adolis Adolis.”
Rangers hitting coach Callix Crabbe urged him to take things slowly, as making big tweaks to your swing can entirely mess up with your rhythm:
“We’re trying to make sure that we’re just adding a little bit to the recipe (at a time),” Crabbe said. “We don’t want to overload him. Hitting is fickle, right? A hitter’s psyche — you change too much, they start to lose confidence. It makes it seem like what they’ve done isn’t good enough.”
The Rangers gave him a day off and reached out to him to let him know that all they needed from him was the old Adolis Garcia back:
“Any time you align your goals around not doing something, it’s a paralyzing state to be in, against world-class athletes,” bench coach and offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker told The Athletic. “So really, our conversation was simple. Go be you. We don’t care if you strike out. Go try to hit balls as far as you can."
Garcia wanted to cut back on strikeouts but stopped doing what made him great:
“I’ve been a little bit more passive because some of those pitches have not actually been in that zone where I’ve been looking for them,” García said. “They basically told me to forget about what’s happened and to move forward, and to stay more aggressive on the pitches that I know I can make good contact on.”
He's too good not to turn things around, so he'll be fine.
