AZ took a look at middle infield prospects earlier this week and the one name that stuck out to me that is worth further investigation was Greg Garcia, especially because he has played all of his games at SS this year. So, more on Greg Garcia after the jump.
Prior to this season, Greg Garcia played a large portion of his games at second base. He played 18 games at short last year in Quad Cities, but only because Kolten Wong has 2B locked down wherever he plays. Once, reunited with Kolten Wong for the second time, Garcia has returned to shortstop for all of his games so far this season in Springfield. Garcia seems capable of playing SS in Springfield by standing at the position and not making a fool of himself. He doesn’t seem to have the range or the body to stick there long term. If Kolten Wong wasn’t on the same squad, Garcia would be at 2B everyday. The presence of Wong actually pushes Garcia to a higher profile and more difficult position.
As you can see in the video below, Garcia has a quick, line drive swing with a high finish that seems to indicate that he may have doubles power down the road. There is no denying his numbers. He’s increased his walk rate as he has climbed through the system. He’s put up over 110 wOBA+ at every stop including over 130 the past two years. He’s age-appropriate for his league at 22 and can hit and get on base.
All that put together makes him a good sleeper candidate, but someone who may be blocked at his best position by his teammate, but could still make it to the major leagues as a utility infielder.
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Alone Garcia’s OBP and plate discipline/awareness/recognition could get him to the majors.
agreed it is quite impressive
Garcia is a super nice guy also. First guy on the field every game for Springfield. Gets out early, signs autographs for everyone and then gets his warm ups in.
Even though I’m a Kolten Wong fan, Greg Garcia’s high OBP & steady play makes me willing to trade Kolten (who’s a nice enough player; a Schumaker offense combined with a Descalso defense makes for a 2B regular, but not perennial All-Star) if he fetches an Ace-level pitcher.
Dave Schoenfield’s proposed package for Felix Hernandez is insane (http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/27005/the-mariners-should-trade-king-felix), however, instead of Taveras + Matt Adams + Shelby Miller + (maybe) Tyrell Jenkins, I would be willing to part with 2 of Adams/Wong/Zach Cox for an ace (though maybe not Felix, as he’s a 4 WAR pitcher who will make 4 WAR worth of salary for 2.5 years, has decreasing velocity, and has been used heavily from a young age).
And trading prospects is no risk?
??? It definitely does. Where did I say it doesn’t?
Every transaction has risk along with reward.
Agree. But I do think Pro players are safer.
So what? Let’s trade 4 key components of our farm system so we can have a pitcher who could be hurt tomorrow. Or say he isn’t hurt, pitches well but the team around him loses 94 games like Seattle?
Yeah, I don’t see Taveras going anywhere. I doubt Adams does too. I don’t even know if we need a pitcher. Hell, we’ve got a ton of top quality prospects and we keep looking for “sure things” so we don’t have to find out if the prospects can get the job done. Meanwhile our sure things, like Jaime, Carp and Waino are dropping like flies.
Everybody knows there are no guarantees. If this offense keeps up like this, we could pick anybody’s aces and still manage to lose out.
DeWitt took a pretty big gamble on the farm. It’s time to harvest it by bringing the players along as they’re ready….not by trading them off for expensive players with limited contracts. There’s gold on our farm and it’s time to prospect it.
Of course we have the prospects to get a deal done. Then we can look like the Phillies…old and worn out.
Nope, there are no guarantees….except the guarantee that if you trade your best prospects you won’t have them any more.
If we really do need a pitcher, then lets go get Hamels this winter. No prospects just a draft pick.
Huge,
Where is the guarantee that the pitchers we give up wills stay healthy?
Agree on Taveras. And I still think a team needs an ace.
While it’s true that there’s no guarantee that the pitchers in our system will remain healthy, the financial consequences of a pre arb pitcher being injured are considerably less than having King Felix on our payroll at the same time as the DL… with our 4 best prospects under Seattle’s control.
I don’t know who Schoenfield is, but he doesn’t care about the Cardinal system, he’s just trying to play deal maker.
Like I said, if we need an ace, let’s go get him this winter. I see little from the 2012 offense to suggest we are a WS threat. The last week our pitching was far better than the hitting. Rosenthal and Browning with a little improvement from Salas may be in the process of plugging up the bullpen woes. Kelly and Lynn are doing more than holding up their end of the bargain. Waino looks like he’s back if Furcal will “d” up.
I don’t see any good reason to throw prospects at the problem.
Good points.
I wonder if Garcia has potential to add some strength? Just looking at the video he looks as if he could add a few pounds of solid muscle, but I can’t really tell if his frame would support much more than that.
As is, he looks like he could be the middle-infield equivalent of Matt Carpenter: a lefty-hitting, high-OBP utility guy who’ll take tough at-bats in any situation. With just a bit more size and strength, and that extra pop in his bat, he could be a valuable bench player.
A middle infielder who hits like MCarp should be more than a bench player (unless his defense is terrible). MCarp, if he was able to handle a middle infield position defensively, would be getting All-Star consideration right now.
I like Garcia’s defense. I think he can hold SS down for years if Jackson can’t get the job done offensively.
Do we know how he’s done defensively this year? The article implies that 2b is his natural position, but if he’s going to be an average SS he looks like a solid starter with his offensive skills.
I’ve watched him play 5 or 6 games. He’s made a couple sparkling plays in that time and pretty much all of the routine ones. I think SS was his position at the U of Hawaii when he and Wong played together. He looks perfectly natural at SS. I don’t think he’ll ever be all-star material but don’t need that at every position.
What makes him most palatable at SS is he’s solid, decent zone and better than average bat. He’s got gap power, a great eye and knows how to play baseball.
Ryan Jackson’s gonna get a shot ahead of him, but if he falters, Garcia will be pushing him hard in a year.
Garcia is a fundamentally sound SS that lacks range defensively so he’s average on the defensive side but the hit tool is a plus.
I agree that Greg Garcia is a steady, make the routine play SS, with better than average (for shortstops) offensive skills.
While I really like rangy, deep in the hole/strong armed short-stops, you can win with a Greg Garcia type. If a 5-7 David Eckstein can play 10 years in the majors, I don’t see Greg Garcia offensive and defensive tools being below what Eckstein brought to the table. I don’t have a good knowledge of the mental side of Eckstein versus Garcia. If they are similar, then Greg Garcia has a chance. While he flies a bit under the radar, I suspect Garcia’s managers appreciate how he plays the complete game. Time will tell!
Eckstein was bad defensively as a SS the later half of his career, however.
Still, a young Eckstein who’s cheap is still a good value.