Locked On Rangers Podcast: Evan Carter takes off, bullpen arms impressing early, Adolia Garcia's new normal?
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00:00 After a weekend where everyone was talking about how amazing Wyatt Langford looked,
00:03 Evan Carter on Tuesday said, "Hey, I'm a pretty darn good prospect too."
00:07 Talk about what he can do for this Rangers team that they haven't had in so, so, so, so long.
00:13 All that and more on this episode of Locked on Rangers.
00:15 Let's get into it.
00:16 You are Locked on Rangers.
00:20 Your daily Texas Rangers podcast.
00:24 Part of the Locked on Podcast Network.
00:27 Your team, every day.
00:29 [music]
00:39 You are locked onto the World Series champion Texas Rangers.
00:43 I'm Bryce Patrick, a cripplingly addicted Texas Rangers fan covering this team for 10 seasons,
00:47 including all five as the founder and host of this podcast.
00:50 Thank y'all so much for making Locked on Rangers your first listen every single day.
00:53 If you're not already, you can follow me on Twitter @BrycePatrick.
00:55 You can follow the show @LockedOnRangers.
00:58 Hit subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform and on YouTube.
01:00 Where the best way you can help grow the show is to comment nearly any single thing below.
01:05 Now, before we get into Evan Carter's amazing day on Tuesday,
01:09 a little bit about some bullpen arms that are turning heads in camp
01:11 and why this is just the new normal for Dolis Garcia, what he did last year.
01:16 This episode is brought to you by PrizePix,
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01:31 Now, this weekend, it was all about the Wyatt Langford show.
01:35 He made some adjustments to his batting stance.
01:37 He was keeping his hands a little bit too high.
01:40 One of the things that he said that he adjusted after a 0 for 10 start to spring training,
01:45 but Wyatt Langford got back on track, had three home runs in the span of two days,
01:50 and Evan Carter said, "Oh, look at that 22-year-old rookie.
01:56 I'm the 21-year-old rookie."
01:57 And before Wyatt Langford was turning heads this spring,
02:01 Evan Carter was turning heads all across Major League Baseball.
02:05 Look at this 21-year-old kid.
02:06 Look what he's doing in his first taste of Major League Baseball,
02:10 in a run to and through the World Series,
02:13 hitting third on a World Series champion team.
02:16 The kid was incredibly impressive.
02:18 But as is the case with many things,
02:20 the new flavor of the month, Wyatt Langford turned heads.
02:24 He was something that the Rangers had not-- that fans had not seen before
02:27 at the Major League level, so of course, it was natural to be excited about Wyatt Langford.
02:32 But the good news is, for Rangers fans, you don't have to choose a favorite son.
02:38 You don't have to choose which one you like better,
02:41 because both of these guys are on your team.
02:45 Both of these super uber, super duper prospects
02:50 are going to be on the Texas Rangers for years and years and years to come.
02:55 Isn't that absolutely astounding?
02:59 They're going to be hitting right next to each other in the order,
03:01 or at least in the same batting order, for many years,
03:03 and they're going to be playing probably next to each other in the outfield.
03:06 Probably not this year.
03:07 We'll see a lot of Evan Carter in left field.
03:09 But on Tuesday, he had an absolutely phenomenal day.
03:13 He played for about four innings, and in those first two innings,
03:17 all he did was hit a leadoff home run off of Seattle starter Logan Gilbert,
03:21 who was pulled later that inning.
03:23 But the good thing about spring training is that you can pull your starter
03:25 if he's struggling in an inning and then bring him back the next inning.
03:29 And that's what the Mariners did.
03:30 They brought Logan Gilbert back and said, OK, well,
03:32 after giving up a couple of runs in that first inning,
03:35 let's let somebody else get him out of it.
03:37 He comes in, loads the bases for Evan Carter,
03:40 and Mr. Carter hits a grand slam, his second home run in as many innings.
03:45 Then later on in the bottom of the second inning,
03:48 he robbed a home run in left field.
03:51 The kid is just absolutely astounding how good he is at such a young age.
03:57 And yes, spring training stats don't matter, but the results do.
04:01 And seeing him hit a baseball that far off of Logan Gilbert, not just once,
04:07 but twice, man, it gives you so much hope for what the future is with this kid.
04:12 He's going to be playing left field for the Rangers,
04:14 but left field to be putting it mildly for the Rangers
04:18 has been an absolute black hole for the last decade.
04:22 I went back through baseball reference and it lists the--
04:25 when it's listing on the page how many-- who played what position,
04:29 it usually goes with--
04:30 it always goes with the guy who played the most games at said position.
04:34 So for the last 10 seasons, from 2014 to 2023,
04:37 I went and looked at who played the most games in left field
04:40 over the past 10 years.
04:41 And this list is not encouraging.
04:45 It kind of shows you how much of a revolving door
04:48 and not a good kind of revolving door, a bunch of one-year studs.
04:52 No, it's been an absolute mess the last decade.
04:55 2023 in left field, we had Travis Jankowski.
04:58 Year before, 2022, Bubba Thompson.
05:01 The year before that, we had Willie Calhoun.
05:04 And in the pandemic shortened season of 2020,
05:07 it was Nick Solek, the next chosen son, that was definitely going to pan out
05:11 and definitely don't super regret that Pete Fairbanks trade
05:14 and hate it to this day.
05:16 It's fine.
05:17 In 2019, we have the only repeat entry on this list.
05:22 It was Willie Calhoun, who played in, I believe, less than 80 games that season.
05:27 2018, we had the one actual good season from a left fielder.
05:31 That was Joey Gallo, the high watermark for a left fielder
05:33 of the last decade.
05:35 A 2.4 baseball reference for a season.
05:38 That's the high watermark.
05:40 It's not particularly close of who else came up close to that.
05:44 In 2017, we had Delano DeShields.
05:47 2016, Ryan Rua.
05:49 2015, I guarantee you will not guess who had the most games in left field
05:54 for the Rangers in 2015.
05:56 I'll give you a second.
05:58 If you said Josh Hamilton, you're a liar,
06:02 or you have a photographic memory,
06:04 because that's who led the Rangers in left field games in 2015.
06:09 And then in the disaster year of 2014,
06:12 we had Shin Suchu, who was fine.
06:17 So that's the list of left fielders in Texas the last decade.
06:21 It has been a long, long road.
06:24 And the year before that, if you wanted to go the year before that,
06:26 it was David Murphy.
06:27 And that was the closest thing to stability in left field
06:30 the Rangers had in the past, what, 15 years or so?
06:36 And that was not a lot of stability.
06:38 This has been a turntable, turnstile of a position.
06:42 And the Rangers, while it might end up
06:44 being Evan Carter as the primary left fielder this year,
06:46 and then Wyatt Langford next year, one of those two guys
06:49 is going to stick there for years and years to come.
06:51 And no matter which one of those guys
06:53 is playing out there in left field,
06:56 they're both going to be pretty darn good.
06:58 It is a position that is not the most glorified position.
07:03 There's not usually a whole lot of guys
07:04 who are left fielders that are stars in this game.
07:08 I mean, the only left fielders that are stars at this point,
07:12 Jordan Alvarez, but he's more of a DH at this point.
07:15 I mean, he played a lot of left field last year,
07:16 but there's not a whole lot of left field stars in this game.
07:20 And with your Texas Rangers, they
07:23 got two kids in their early 20s that
07:25 are going to be absolute stars out there in left field.
07:29 Whether it's Evan Carter, whether it's Wyatt Langford,
07:32 I mean, both of those kids are astoundingly good,
07:35 and they are here for a long, long time.
07:41 The future in Texas is so incredibly bright.
07:44 And by the way, in the quick turnaround rebuild,
07:47 the Rangers were ahead of schedule year one
07:51 of actually being good.
07:52 Last year, the beginning of the year, the thought was, OK,
07:56 we're just coming out of being absolutely terrible for two
08:00 years, really just absolutely in the tank, three years,
08:03 actually, since 2020.
08:05 And this is the first year we're going to be scrappy.
08:07 We're going to fight for a division title.
08:09 Maybe we'll fight for a wild card spot
08:11 and just get our first taste of year one of Bruce Bochy
08:14 and everything.
08:15 And all they did was win the whole frickin' thing.
08:18 So now the standard is set.
08:20 And it's hard to repeat as champions.
08:23 No one's done it this century.
08:25 Actually, I believe maybe the Yankees did.
08:28 Nope, nope, I don't think they've done it this century.
08:29 I think it was '98 to 2000 was the last time any team repeated.
08:36 So that World Series hangover is real.
08:39 And how do you fight that?
08:40 Oh, you add a full season of two super prospects
08:44 that are going to be two of the best rookies in all of Major
08:47 League Baseball who are going to be fighting for rookie
08:49 of the year votes from day one, who are both outfielders, who
08:52 are both insane, because that's the only place in your lineup
08:55 you could add anywhere to this team is--
08:58 oh, let's add a little bit in left field and at DH,
09:01 because Mitch Garver walked in.
09:03 And left field last year was mostly
09:04 Travis Jankowski/Robbie Grossman,
09:07 which World Series champs, heroes forever.
09:09 But Evan Carter is a bit of an upgrade from those two.
09:14 I mean, this left field hole has been so
09:17 pronounced for such a long time.
09:19 And yeah, other teams will have some rotation in left field.
09:23 But just getting absolutely zero production out
09:27 of left field for the past decade, to the point where--
09:30 I mean, there have been so many guys
09:32 who have played left field over the past 10 seasons,
09:35 not just the guys who've been the primary starter,
09:37 but just people out there.
09:39 You've seen Mike Napoli out in left field
09:42 for somehow multiple games in the last decade.
09:46 That's how rough a stretch it's been for your Texas
09:50 Rangers in left field.
09:52 But no more.
09:53 The Rangers have not one, but two absolute bona fide studs
09:56 to put out there in left field.
09:58 And even if, God forbid, the worst should happen
10:00 and both of them get hurt, I think
10:02 the Rangers would just put Ezekiel Durant out there
10:05 in left field as your everyday guy.
10:07 Or maybe it's Josh Smith.
10:08 But both of those guys are perfectly capable
10:10 as your third and fourth options out there in left field.
10:14 Actually, it'd probably be Travis Jankowski,
10:16 because that's what he's on the roster to be.
10:17 But still, we saw how that was last year
10:19 as your primary left fielder, Travis Jankowski.
10:21 That's a World Series winning team.
10:23 And all you're going to do is bump that up
10:25 with two guys with absolutely immense potential
10:29 at such a young age that are ready to not just come
10:32 into this team and contribute in a small way.
10:36 They are ready to absolutely take the league by storm.
10:39 The future of this team is so bright.
10:41 The future of left field is so bright.
10:43 And my God, I love watching Evan Carter play baseball.
10:46 And it's good for me, because he's going to be here
10:49 for a long, long time.
10:51 Coming up, we're going to talk about a few bullpen arms
10:54 that are really turning heads in camp
10:56 and about Adoles Garcia, why his breakout year was no joke
11:00 and it is just a sign of things to come for El Bombi,
11:04 right after this word from our sponsors.
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12:20 Shout out to the avid avidators for making LOCKDOWN RANGERS
12:25 a first lesson every single day.
12:26 On tomorrow's show, I'll be back bright and early
12:28 talking with a member of Baseball Prospectus
12:30 about their Rangers season preview
12:33 and how they are very, very skeptical
12:35 about the Rangers' chances of keeping
12:37 that starting rotation healthy
12:38 and therefore getting to the playoffs.
12:40 Should be an interesting conversation
12:42 that I'll be recording later today.
12:44 Now, the Rangers have already made their first cuts.
12:46 This happened yesterday.
12:48 The first guys are already being sent back to minor league camp
12:51 and not a whole lot of surprises there
12:53 on guys who are already getting sent back.
12:56 Dustin Harris was optioned to AAA Round Rock.
12:59 Catcher Liam Hicks and Matt Wattley
13:01 were both sent down to minor league camp.
13:03 Same with infielder Abby Mellick-Ortiz
13:05 and Aaron Zavala.
13:07 Hope to see a little bit more from Abby Mellick-Ortiz.
13:10 It was good for him to get his first invite
13:13 to big league spring training.
13:14 He had a great breakout year last year.
13:17 It looked amazing in the Arizona Fall League,
13:20 but unsurprisingly, it was a little bit difficult for him
13:23 facing off against major league pitching
13:24 since the AFL was basically the highest league--
13:28 highest competition that he had seen.
13:30 Spent the time-- spent last season in between low A
13:33 and high A, and so not exactly the most advanced competition
13:37 that he's faced.
13:38 Still very good hitter.
13:39 Still very high hopes for him.
13:41 Would have loved to seen him hit an absolute bomb off
13:43 of somebody in spring training.
13:45 But alas, we did not see that at big league camp.
13:48 But there was one interesting part of the Rangers' PR tweet
13:52 that kind of made me turn my head just a little bit
13:56 when they said it.
13:57 The last sentence of their tweet from March 5th
14:01 about roster transactions, they said, quote,
14:04 "Texas now has 64 players in major league camp,
14:07 39 on the 40-man roster, and 25 non-roster invitees."
14:14 39 out of 40 40-man roster spots.
14:17 Huh.
14:18 Interesting.
14:20 It's almost like they're making room for somebody
14:22 on that 40-man roster.
14:23 Well, it is.
14:25 They are making room for somebody.
14:27 Whether that's a certain left-handed 6'4"
14:30 starting pitcher who helped the team win a World Series,
14:34 I don't know.
14:36 I am not inclined to say.
14:39 Or maybe it's just adding another minor leaguer
14:41 to the 40-man roster.
14:44 We'll see what that ends up being.
14:45 I don't see them just having a 40-man roster spot,
14:48 just chilling.
14:50 This team is too deep and too talented in terms
14:53 of their farm system and guys who
14:55 are just on the edge of a 40-man roster being to just leave
15:01 a 40-man roster spot open.
15:02 I mean, they lost several guys.
15:04 They didn't protect Justin Slayton.
15:06 They had several guys not protected in the Rule 5 draft.
15:10 So to just have a 40-man roster spot just dangling out there
15:14 just kind of piques my interest just a little bit.
15:17 I'm not saying that this is some inside source that the Rangers
15:20 are going to go sign Montgomery today or tomorrow
15:22 or what have you or Blake Snell or whatever other free agent
15:26 is out there.
15:27 I'm just saying that that kind of piqued my interest
15:30 just a little bit.
15:31 But you know who else piqued my interest just a little bit?
15:33 More than just a little bit.
15:35 And that's Sebastian Walcott.
15:36 He was playing in a B game behind Nathan Eofoldi,
15:40 hitting behind Adoles Garcia on Tuesday.
15:42 And he was really turning some heads.
15:45 The kid is 17 years old, turns 18 I believe sometime
15:49 this week.
15:50 And he had an absolutely phenomenal season last year.
15:54 Pretty consensus, just about every prospect list I've seen
15:57 has had him as the Rangers' third best prospect,
15:59 my list included.
16:00 I had him behind Evan Carter and Wyatt Lankford
16:03 and a decent chunk behind those guys because, again,
16:07 those guys are amazing.
16:08 And they're right on the doorstep of the big league
16:10 level.
16:11 I had him ahead of my top pitcher in Brock Porter.
16:14 And it was pretty sizably the number three prospect
16:18 in this group.
16:19 But he really is so incredibly impressive,
16:21 a kid that's, I believe, 6'4".
16:24 He is a very big boy for the teenage son,
16:28 playing shortstop behind Nathan Eofoldi.
16:30 And he even impressed Nathan Eofoldi.
16:32 The guy's loudest tool by far is an absolute heat-seeking
16:37 missile launcher of a right arm.
16:39 He's also got incredible raw power.
16:41 And he is pretty big.
16:43 And he might not end up sticking at shortstop.
16:45 But the Rangers definitely going to keep him there
16:47 as long as they can.
16:49 And he earned some praise from not just from Nathan Eofoldi,
16:53 who said he was really impressive back there
16:55 and had a really nice arm, but also
16:57 from Bruce Bochy, who was very impressed by the kid's
17:00 demeanor, very impressed by how he handled himself
17:04 at such an advanced age--
17:06 or at such a young age playing against advanced competition
17:08 and saying that, nope, this kid's just--
17:11 yeah, he looks like he's ready to be there.
17:13 I mean, that is incredibly, incredibly high praise
17:17 from Bruce Bochy and from Nathan Eofoldi.
17:20 And hitting behind El Bambi in the lineup,
17:22 that might be something we see in the future.
17:24 Maybe this is the guy who eventually
17:25 takes over in right field for El Bambi, who's
17:28 got a cannon like El Bambi if he doesn't stick at shortstop.
17:31 Or maybe he's the guy who ends up moving
17:33 Corey Seager off shortstop.
17:34 There is a lot of hope on this kid.
17:36 He is still very young, very raw,
17:38 but turning heads at such a young age at what he's
17:41 done so far already at his age and making it
17:44 to high A as a 17-year-old.
17:46 Granted, the results weren't the most impressive.
17:48 But still, the fact that the Rangers felt confident enough
17:51 to jump him all the way over low A, all the way up
17:54 to high A hickory, I don't know if he starts a season there.
17:56 That would be a very, very aggressive assignment.
17:59 Still a lot of swing and miss in this game.
18:00 Still a lot of questions.
18:01 Still very far off from the big leagues.
18:04 But the kid is really turning some heads.
18:06 His raw tools are very impressive.
18:09 And the ceiling is astronomical with that youngster.
18:12 Now, let's talk about the bullpen.
18:14 The Rangers had one of the worst bullpens in all of baseball
18:16 last year.
18:18 And there are quite a few intriguing options
18:19 to help make it better this year.
18:22 Obviously, the big signings of David Robertson and Kirby
18:24 Yates, those are the headline grabbers.
18:27 I feel like it's pretty--
18:29 I feel pretty confident in saying
18:30 that Jose LeClerc is eventually going to win that closer job.
18:33 He hasn't been outright assigned it by Bruce Bochy.
18:35 But just with what he did in the playoffs last year
18:38 and in terms of the raw stuff, I think
18:42 that Jose LeClerc is definitely up there.
18:44 And the confidence in himself to go out there
18:47 in the ninth inning, be consistent,
18:49 and get the job done, I think that he has got what it takes.
18:52 But I have been very, very impressed by Kirby Yates
18:55 and some of the stuff that he has been saying in camp
18:57 and the performances that he's put up, the strikeout numbers
19:00 that he's already doing, and the fact that he's not a guy--
19:03 he is older, but he's not a guy who's ever relied a lot
19:06 on premium velocity, premium movement on his stuff.
19:10 He has relied on commanding his pitches, pitch ability.
19:14 And that's something that doesn't go away with age.
19:17 And so last year, he said coming off of all those injuries,
19:20 it had been a while since he had a fully healthy season.
19:22 And the last fully healthy season
19:24 that he'd had before last year, he
19:26 was one of the best closers in the game of baseball.
19:29 And last year, he did walk quite a few more guys
19:31 than he was used to for his career,
19:33 did get hit a little bit harder than he
19:35 was used to in his career.
19:36 But just giving himself that confidence that, hey,
19:38 I can still do it.
19:39 I can still be a major league pitcher.
19:40 I can still be a pretty darn good one and be effective.
19:43 He was on the team that was the best team in all
19:46 of major league baseball during the regular season
19:48 in the Braves last year.
19:50 And he was an important member of that bullpen.
19:52 Now he wasn't their primary setup guy
19:53 or their primary closer, but he was an important part
19:56 of that pen.
19:57 And he can definitely come in and help
19:58 bolster this Rangers pen.
20:00 And another guy who has really been turning heads in camp
20:02 is Mark Church, the guy who sits 94 to 97 with his fastballs,
20:06 got an absolutely disgusting wipeout slider,
20:10 been a lot more effective at staying in the zone
20:12 during the spring training.
20:13 He's got four innings under his belt,
20:14 just three strikeouts in those four innings,
20:16 but only one walk and only one hit.
20:19 Not a whole lot of traffic on the base pass for him.
20:21 And the Rangers really see him as a multi-inning reliever.
20:24 That would be something that the Rangers could definitely use,
20:27 as they also see Grant Anderson as a guy who could eventually
20:30 go multiple innings.
20:31 We saw him used for multiple innings last year.
20:34 And in three outings so far in spring training,
20:36 he's got three innings under his belt,
20:38 has not allowed a hit, has not allowed a walk.
20:40 The only base where he's allowed is a hit by pitch.
20:42 And he has struck out five in his three innings
20:45 of spring training work.
20:48 I think that Grant Anderson is really solidifying himself
20:51 as a member of this pen.
20:52 I wasn't quite sure about it coming into spring training,
20:55 but it seems like the Rangers are using him quite a bit
20:57 already, also using Brock Burke quite a bit,
21:00 hoping that he can have a nice bounce back year this year.
21:03 I'm confident in Burke.
21:04 I'm wanting to see a little bit more of Antoine Kelly,
21:06 because I really think he could be a very good member
21:10 of this bullpen.
21:11 But we'll see.
21:12 He might end up starting the year in the minor leagues,
21:14 but I don't think there's any scenario where he doesn't make
21:16 his major league debut at some point this season.
21:19 Coming up, we're going to talk about Adoles Garcia,
21:21 what he did last year, why it led to his breakout,
21:23 and why I think it's time for the league
21:26 to stop doubting El Bambi, right after this
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22:29 On Friday, I shall be back and talking
22:31 about my version two of my opening day roster projection.
22:37 Now, Adoles Garcia is coming off the best season of his career
22:41 by far, coming off a World Series run where he was
22:44 a World Series hero, an ALCS hero,
22:47 and one of the most dynamic players in all of major--
22:50 no, the most dynamic player in all of Major League Baseball
22:54 throughout that run in the playoffs.
22:57 The guy was an absolute monster.
23:00 He was the clutchest player that we have
23:02 seen in a long, long time.
23:04 Him and Corey Seager just coming up massively in that World
23:07 Series game one and just all throughout the playoffs.
23:10 The guy was just on another level
23:13 when it got to the postseason.
23:15 Like, I just knew he would be.
23:17 I just knew.
23:18 If you watched Adoles Garcia for years, like me,
23:21 you know this guy steps up in the biggest moments.
23:25 So when he got his first chance to be a postseason player,
23:28 there was no doubt that he was going
23:30 to come through for the Rangers and help them
23:32 win that first World Series title or die trying.
23:36 The guy was on another level in the postseason.
23:39 15 games of the postseason.
23:41 Didn't play in the final couple of games
23:43 because of that oblique injury, but still rallied the troops
23:46 and inspired the Rangers to blow out the Diamondbacks
23:50 in that game four of the World Series.
23:52 In those 15 games, 68 play appearances,
23:54 the man had eight home runs, a record setting 22 RBIs,
24:01 the slash line of 323, 382, 726, and 1108 OPS so far
24:10 in his career for the postseason.
24:13 Now, the ALCS is really where he took it to another level,
24:17 winning the ALCS MVP, hitting five home
24:20 runs against those stinking stupid Houston Astros
24:24 and burying them in the dirt where they belong.
24:28 He is now the mayor, the owner, the sole proprietor
24:32 of the Houston Astros, mayor of Houston.
24:35 Not that he wants that title, but so very fitting
24:39 that the man born on Texas Independence Day
24:42 was the MVP in the first ever playoff
24:45 edition of the Silver Boot Series.
24:48 Just a fun little fact for that guy.
24:50 I mean, five home runs and 15 RBIs in a single series.
24:52 Are you freaking kidding me, Atoles Garcia?
24:56 Including some of the biggest home runs we've ever seen,
24:59 some of the clutchest home runs we've ever seen.
25:01 And even though that game five home run
25:03 didn't end up winning the game for the Rangers,
25:06 still a chilling moment.
25:10 I still get goosebumps whenever I watch that home run.
25:14 Even though I know the outcome of the end of that game five
25:17 didn't end up in the Rangers' favor,
25:19 I know how the series ended.
25:21 And that's what matters most.
25:23 This guy really took it to the next level last year.
25:25 And there's basically one big change
25:28 that led to all of this offensive explosion.
25:32 A career high in RBIs, a career high in-- actually,
25:35 I believe it was just a career high in home runs.
25:37 A second all-star appearance.
25:40 Let's see if that was actually a career high.
25:42 Yeah, a career high, 107 RBIs, 39 home
25:45 runs, which was eight more than he'd ever hit in a full season.
25:48 Did it in just 148 games.
25:51 A career high on base percentage of 329.
25:54 A career high slugging percentage of 508.
25:56 I mean, the guy also got MVP votes,
25:58 finished 14th in MVP voting.
26:00 Oh, and he won his first gold glove ever.
26:04 But the one thing that led to all those changes-- now,
26:06 he could have won a gold glove earlier
26:08 because he's been a phenomenal defensive outfielder
26:11 for his entire career with the Rangers.
26:14 The one thing that led to all of that
26:16 was just walking just a bit more.
26:19 But it wasn't just a bit more.
26:21 It was significantly more.
26:23 The guy walked a career high 10.3%
26:27 of his plate appearances.
26:29 That put him just outside of the top quarter
26:31 of the league in walks.
26:33 The next highest year for a full season, not 2020,
26:37 was 6.1% walk rate.
26:40 That's a spike of 4.2% of his walk rate,
26:44 and doubled what he did his rookie year of 5.1%.
26:48 The guy doubled his walk rate.
26:49 He got more pitches to hit, and therefore he did more damage.
26:53 The guy has always hit the ball incredibly hard,
26:55 but expanding the zone and striking out at a high rate
26:57 have been his bugaboo.
27:00 And once you get to be age 30, age 28, 29,
27:05 usually if that's the kind of player you are,
27:07 that's the kind of player that you stay.
27:10 There's not a whole lot of late career,
27:13 especially guys who are late bloomers like Adolphe Garcia
27:16 didn't really stick as a major league regular until age 28,
27:20 and that was on the horrendous 2021 Texas Rangers squad,
27:24 where he did earn his first all-star appearance,
27:25 should have won rookie of the year in my very humble,
27:28 totally unbiased opinion.
27:30 But he made those changes.
27:32 He made those changes that hitters don't usually do,
27:36 of becoming more selective, of being
27:38 able to take those borderline pitches.
27:40 And even when you get called strike three on a pitch
27:43 that you thought was outside the zone more often than you
27:46 feel like you should, he stuck with it.
27:48 And it paid huge, huge dividends.
27:53 Now, he didn't walk in the playoff run
27:55 until the World Series, but he was still more selective
27:58 and able to do damage on pitches all over the zone,
28:02 including taking fastballs to the opposite field,
28:05 taking that sinker low down the middle
28:09 that he hit for a walk-off home run
28:11 in the 11th inning of the World Series off of Castro
28:14 to the opposite field, a line drive
28:16 shot in the most majestic home run I've ever
28:19 seen in my entire life.
28:21 Actually, tied with Corey Seager,
28:23 I refuse to pick a favorite of those two home runs.
28:26 But this guy's a postseason legend,
28:27 and he has been one of the best players in baseball
28:30 for the last three seasons.
28:32 You look among outfielders in terms of fangrafts
28:34 wore for the last three years combined since he's been
28:36 a starter with the Rangers, he's top 10 in war.
28:40 And the players that he's behind,
28:42 those are guys you feel pretty good about being
28:44 in the same company as, behind Fernando Tatis Jr., Bryce
28:47 Harper, Brandon Nimmo, Kyle Tucker, Ronald Acuna Jr.,
28:51 Yoran Alvarez, Juan Soto, Mookie Betts, and Aaron Judge.
28:55 And the thing that I love about Adoles Garcia,
28:57 of the many, many things that I love about Adoles Garcia,
29:02 is that he is not just an offensive force
29:04 and a zero in the field or a zero on the base pass.
29:07 This is a very, very complete player.
29:11 In terms of these overall catch-all metrics
29:13 from fangrafts of their base running runs,
29:16 their offensive value, their defensive value,
29:19 these other guys that are in the top 10 with them,
29:22 they are not as complete of players.
29:24 Some of them, several of them, most of them
29:26 have negative values, either offensively, defensively,
29:31 or base running.
29:32 Actually, none of them have negative offensive value
29:33 from an outfielder in the top 10 in war.
29:36 But defensively or base running value,
29:38 almost all of these guys have at least one of those categories
29:40 where they're at net negative.
29:42 Outside of Adoles Garcia, the only other player
29:46 in the top 10 in fangrafts war among outfielders
29:49 over the last three seasons that is a net positive
29:51 on the base pass, offensively, and in the field,
29:55 there's only two other guys that are in that category.
29:58 That's Mookie Betts and Fernando Tatis Jr.
30:01 That's the kind of company this guy is keeping.
30:04 Yet, you look at some of these projections for him
30:06 in terms of baseball reference and fangrafts as well,
30:09 and they think, "I don't know if I believe it last year.
30:12 I don't know if I believe this guy,
30:13 who's been at least a three fangrafts war player
30:17 for the last three seasons since he's been a regular.
30:20 Last year, a 4.8 war season.
30:23 One of the best players in baseball in just 148 games
30:26 because he did have that injury scare
30:28 at the end of the season that made him miss
30:30 a little bit of time.
30:31 But this guy has been incredibly good,
30:33 and these changes that he's made,
30:35 the kind of player that he is,
30:37 I don't know why everyone keeps expecting this fall off.
30:40 He is not the same player that the Rangers claimed off waivers
30:43 from those St. Louis Cardinals
30:46 in consideration-- with a trade from Cash Considerations.
30:51 A great deal.
30:52 Thank you forever to Cash Considerations.
30:55 But it's time for people to start believing
30:56 in Adoles Garcia.
30:58 It is time for the league in general
31:00 to respect this guy as one of the stars of this game.
31:05 That postseason run was his coming out party of,
31:07 "Hey, I've been here for a while.
31:09 "I've been pretty darn good.
31:11 "This team's pretty darn good.
31:12 "I am electric.
31:13 "I should be one of the faces of baseball."
31:16 Because he is one of the best players in baseball
31:18 and one of the most charismatic, most fun,
31:20 most marketable stars that--
31:22 Shocker.
31:24 Major League Baseball not doing its best to market its own stars.
31:27 But this guy is projected to have just 31 home runs
31:30 next year by fan graphs.
31:31 It's expected the walk rate to go down to 7.5%.
31:34 The strikeout rate last year, it was still there.
31:37 It was still high.
31:39 He was still in the bottom quarter of the league
31:41 in terms of-- bottom 20% in terms of swing and miss rate
31:45 and the strikeout rate.
31:48 But that chase rate went from the bottom quarter of the league
31:50 to about 42nd percentile.
31:52 So about average.
31:54 So he's still swinging and missing in the zone
31:56 and still chasing a little bit, but not nearly as much
31:58 as he was.
31:59 And he's working those walks.
32:00 He's getting better counts.
32:01 And he is doing absolutely massive damage
32:05 as one of the best offensive players in the league
32:07 and one of the most complete players in the league.
32:10 This is the expectation.
32:11 This is the norm for Dolphs Garcia.
32:13 And in terms of what he needs to do in 2024
32:16 to stay at this level, just keep doing what he did last year.
32:22 Doesn't need to do anything different than what he did
32:24 during the regular season last year.
32:25 Keep that walk rate high.
32:27 Keep hitting absolutely massive taters.
32:29 He'll probably have a few more games off of his feet
32:31 to just DH this year since the Rangers have
32:34 incredible outfield depth.
32:35 They'll probably put Evan Carter in right field
32:37 for a few games.
32:38 Or maybe it'll be Lioti.
32:39 Or maybe it'll be Wyatt Langford.
32:40 Just to get him off his feet to keep him
32:42 healthier for the long haul.
32:44 They're still slow playing him through this spring training.
32:46 Today he is finally playing in his first spring training
32:49 A game as the DH.
32:51 But man, Dolphs Garcia, that breakout last year,
32:53 it is no flash in the pan.
32:55 This is who this man is now.
32:57 He is one of the best players in all of Major League Baseball.
33:01 And by God, it's about time people start respecting him
33:04 and treating him like one of those elite players.
33:07 That's going to do it for today's show.
33:08 Thank you all so much for listening and subscribing.
33:10 And until next time, don't forget
33:12 to enjoy World Series Champion Texas Rangers Baseball.
33:15 [ Silence ]