When the Yankees brought in Luis Garcia Jr. at the deadline, the bat was the headline. The hope was simple enough: plug a left-handed hitter into a lineup that had been short-handed without Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton.
Garcia arrived on Aug. 3 with real pop already on the résumé. At that point, he had led the National League in slugging percentage at .560, was hitting .283, and had career-best marks of 23 home runs, an .873 OPS and 134 wRC+ in 104 games.
What came next has been just as important for the Yankees as the offense. The biggest question around Garcia wasn’t whether he could hit. It was where he would play.
New York already had Paul Goldschmidt at first base, Ben Rice there as well, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second. Garcia’s track record in the infield had not exactly built confidence. He had been viewed as a limited defender up the middle, with a -17 Defensive Runs Saved mark at second base in prior years, and he had struggled badly at third.
But once the Yankees settled him in as their regular first baseman - with Goldschmidt still handling starts against left-handed pitchers - Garcia has looked like a different player on both sides of the ball.
He’s now batting .283 with 30 homers, 91 RBI and an .853 OPS.
And at first base, the defense has held up. In 32 games there, Garcia has 18 assists and only one error, good for a .996 fielding percentage. He’s plus-3 in defensive runs saved with the Yankees after being minus-1 with the Nationals.
That was on display Wednesday night in the Yankees’ 5-4, 13-inning loss to the Twins. Garcia helped turn a double play that got Carlos Rodon out of trouble in the fourth inning, leaping to snag a line drive by Emmanuel Rodriguez and then firing to second to double off Kody Clemens.
On the YES Network, Michael Kay didn’t hide his surprise.
“Listen, I trust scouting reports but the scouting reports that said he was a bad defender, I haven’t seen it,” Michael Kay said on the YES Network.
“Second base, he’s supposed to be worse, but he has shown good hands, really innate instincts and a really good arm. I think he’s a really good first baseman.”
Joe Girardi agreed Garcia has looked more comfortable as the season has gone on, and said the Yankees’ version has been better than the one he saw in Washington.
“I think he’s gotten better as the year has went on and I think in Washington he was average. Well, he’s been a plus defender here.”
Girardi added: “It was a position change this year, and as time has gone on, he’s adjusted, he’s adapted. He understands what he needs to go after.
He understands how to manipulate the bag and move his feet depending on where the throw is. He had more opportunities to field the baseball.”
Kay also said Garcia has looked solid when he’s handled second base, and noted that Aaron Boone has said the same.
“I think he can play second,” Kay said.
Girardi’s read on the issue is a little more nuanced. He believes the range is still the place where Garcia gets dinged, especially at second base, but says first base hides that flaw and lets his strengths play.
“Said Girardi: “I think where he gets banged on his defense is the range and at second, he was a below average range. But you put him at first, then all of a sudden you become above average.”
Even with Garcia’s growth, Girardi still sees a possible October wrinkle. He thinks Boone could choose Goldschmidt against the Red Sox’s starting left-handers in the playoffs, then use Garcia off the bench later in the game.
“The one thing you could do [with Garcia] is you could put him in when it’s a favorable matchup in a big part of the game, which I like because Goldschmidt is a plus-defender,” Girardi said. “He’s really good against left-handed pitching.”
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