Refreshed Garcia eyeing better contact, consistency in 2025

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Maikel Garcia might have been more excited than anyone to put on a uniform and play some baseball this spring.

For a guy who could and usually does play baseball year-round, it’s been far too long since Garcia got to run onto the infield like he did during the Royals' 11-10 win over the Dodgers at Camelback Ranch on Saturday, playing third base and hitting a three-run triple that came off his bat at 104 mph.

The Royals’ third baseman typically goes home to Venezuela to play winter ball every offseason, but a minor procedure that removed bone spurs meant Garcia used the winter to recover after a long season.

“I missed playing,” Garcia said. “But my body and my mind are probably more fresh. It was like the first time in four years or something that I didn’t play. I was supposed to, but I felt the pain right when I started working again.”

Instead, Garcia rehabbed while spending more time in the weight room and looks stronger as spring begins. He also focused heavily on his swing, studying video and talking with Royals hitting coaches about getting back to the consistent, contact-oriented version of himself.

In 2024, Garcia slashed .231/.281/.332 with 27 doubles but just a 69 wRC+, well below league average. He struggled heavily in the second half, which is part of the reason he wanted to get stronger.

Garcia did perk up when the postseason began, going 7-for-22 in six games and being a catalyst for the Royals on the basepaths.

Garcia isn’t going to be anywhere near a power threat, but he still has interesting tools. He doesn’t chase (21.2 percent last year) or whiff (15.7 percent), and he squares a lot of balls up -- his 36.5 percent squared-up rate last year was in the 98th percentile on Statcast -- even though his 90.4 mph average exit velocity is in the 70th percentile.

That all leads to low strikeout rates, although Garcia also doesn’t walk much (6.7 percent last year). He just makes a ton of contact.

The goal this offseason was to figure out how to make better contact.

“It’s more about controlling my body,” Garcia said. “Don’t go too far forward to get to the ball. Wait for the ball. That’s the adjustment I tried to make.”

Garcia has added a small toe tap this spring, which he’s done before and thinks will help him with timing after seeing how many balls he fouled back or to the right last year. But his main priority is to center his weight in his stance rather than falling forward, or what hitting coach Alec Zumwalt likes to call “crashing.” It ends up, among other things, hindering hitters’ swing decisions.

“Crashing, for us, is when the foot gets down and everything is coming behind it with no ability to stop,” Zumwalt said. “So you’re basically in ‘go’ mode, and it’s really hard to adjust. If you guess right, it looks good. You guess wrong, you miss. With Maikel, what gives him so much hitting ability is he’s got such a flat swing through the zone, so he can be a little late and shoot the ball the other way.

“But we’ve talked about getting away from the crashing. He owned it. He felt his weight get too heavy on the front foot and knew he needed to be more adjustable. … Just selling out to be a good hitter. He knows that’s in his DNA. He knows that’s what he’s good at.”

Garcia is still going to be a big part of the Royals’ roster in 2025, even after they brought in Jonathan India to be their leadoff hitter. Garcia will increase his versatility this spring by getting some reps in center field. He’s also one of the best baserunners in the league, and Kansas City wants to rely on that aggressiveness.

“I want to get on base quickly, and I want to get off them quickly by scoring runs,” Garcia said.

The 24-year-old brings value even when his bat lags behind. But the Royals’ lineup would get a lot deeper if the club could rely on Garcia to get on base near the bottom of the order, playing the small and energetic ball Kansas City wants to be part of its identity.

“There’s a lot of upside there,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “Staying on the fastball, I think is big for him. You can see he’s more physical this year. And he’s still a young player, so there’s more growth.”