Adolis Garcia

Organization Prospect Rankings

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  Ranked St. Louis Cardinals #15 prospect in 2019
  Track Record: Garcia played five seasons in Cuba's Serie Nacional and won the league's MVP award in 2016. The Cardinals gave him $2.5 million after he defected, capping a push to sign talent from the island nation. A tooled-up athlete with an uber-aggressive approach, Garcia spent just under two seasons in the upper minors before the Cardinals called him up last August.
  
  Scouting Report: Few position players in the Cardinals' system can match Garcia's tools. He has plus raw power, is a plus runner, has a cannon arm from right field that is a borderline 80 tool and is a plus defender in right field. What hampers Garcia is a poor approach. He's a wild swinger with little plate discipline, resulting in gobs of strikeouts. He has stretches where he puts an approach together, waits for a fastball and stays behind the ball, but he has yet to show he can maintain it for any extended period of time.
  
  The Future: Garcia's speed, defense and power have already gotten him to the big leagues. Whether he can improve his approach will determine if he becomes more than a reserve.
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  Ranked St. Louis Cardinals #9 prospect in 2018
  Garcia, the younger brother of Braves third baseman Adonis Garcia, long starred for Ciego de Avila in Cuba's major league and won MVP of the league in 2015-16. After a stint in Japan with the Yomiuri farm team that went poorly, he left Cuba and signed with the Cardinals for $2.5 million in February 2017. The Cardinals signed Garcia for his explosive tools, but he showed better plate discipline and more polish than expected in his first season and blitzed through Double-A and Triple-A. Garcia's tools are widely evident. He is a plus runner and his arm is a borderline 80 tool from right field, with some managers calling it the strongest arm they've seen in years. His routes and reads need work, but could shore up with experience and make him an average defender. At the plate Garcia is an aggressive free swinger but shows solid pitch recognition, allowing him to drive hittable pitches with authority. He is more of a line-drive hitter into the gaps but shows above-average power potential as he learns to elevate. Garcia's strong showing puts him in the Cardinals outfield mix for 2018. He has all the tools to start as long as he controls his aggressiveness.

Minor League Top Prospects

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  Ranked Texas League #11 prospect in 2017
  A 24-year-old Cuban outfielder who spent last season playing in the Japanese minors, Garcia signed with the Cardinals in February. He spent 84 games at Springfield and 40 at Triple-A Memphis, batting .290/.340/.476 with 15 home runs and 15 stolen bases at two levels. He is the younger brother of Braves third baseman Adonis Garcia. Possessing a higher offensive upside than fellow Springfield outfielders Magneuris Sierra and Oscar Mercado, Garcia has a free-swinging approach but also showed good pitch recognition while hitting the ball to his pull side more than half the time. Defensively, Garcia has a plus-plus arm that fits in right field, though he showed enough speed and defensive versatility to log more than 150 innings in center field.

• November, 2017 Scouting Report
  Garcia's older brother Adonis signed with the Yankees for $400,000 in 2012 and became the everyday third baseman for the Braves in 2016. Meanwhile in Cuba, Jose Adolis Garcia won the Serie Nacional MVP award in the 2015-16 season, batting .315/.395/.517 in 380 plate appearances with 14 home runs, 39 walks and 59 strikeouts to go with 11 stolen bases in 17 attempts. After the season, he went to Japan to play for the farm team of the Yomiuri Giants, but they released him after he hit .234/.274/.396 with six walks and 37 strikeouts in 117 plate appearances. Garcia had some of the best raw tools in Cuba, though despite his performance in Serie Nacional, the emphasis there is on raw. He's a good athlete with a lean frame, plus speed and a 70 arm. While he played a lot of right field in Cuba, he has looked comfortable during his time in center field and should play center in pro ball. Garcia has good bat speed and the raw power to hit 20 home runs, but his long stroke and free-swinging approach hold him back, as he struggles to recognize offspeed pitches and frequently expands the strike zone. Garcia is a free agent exempt from the international bonus pools who should be ready for an assignment to Double-A or Triple-A.