The Tigers have claimed infielder Luis García off waivers from the Phillies, in line with bulletins from each groups. Garcia has been optioned to Double-A Erie. The Tigers already had a emptiness on their 40-man roster after designating Michael Pineda for task on Sunday.
Garcia, to not be confused with the Luis García of the Nationals or the Luis García of the Padres or the Luis Garcia of the Astros, is a 21-year-old infielder who had spent his whole profession within the Phillies’ group up till now.
He made his skilled debut in rookie ball in 2018, simply 17 years previous at the moment. He hit an incredible .369/.433/.488 in 43 video games, displaying sufficient promise to crack Baseball America’s record of the highest 100 prospects within the sport. BA positioned him #88 going into 2019. Nonetheless, García struggled immensely in A-ball that 12 months, hitting .186/.261/.255 and shedding his spot on BA’s record.
After the minor leagues had been canceled by the pandemic in 2020, he had a little bit of a bounceback in 2021, hitting .243/.353/.414 between A-ball and Excessive-A, strolling in 13.8% of his plate appearances and stealing 15 bases. That was sufficient for the Phillies so as to add him to their 40-man roster in November, defending him from the Rule 5 draft that ended up getting canceled by the lockout.
Sadly, it’s been one other downturn right here in 2022, with García hitting .167/.316/.253 throughout 4 completely different ranges on the 12 months. Based mostly on that poor displaying, he misplaced his roster spot on the weekend, now touchdown with the Tigers, who’re possible intrigued by García’s method. Regardless of his poor batted ball outcomes, he’s nonetheless strolling in 15.6% of his plate appearances this season. For reference, the MLB common is 8.2% this 12 months, that means García is sort of doubling that tempo. Struggles apart, he nonetheless got here in #16 on BA’s most up-to-date replace of prime 30 Philly prospects. Their report notes that he’s a plus defender at shortstop, that means that he might be a priceless piece as long as his bat improves.
For the Tigers, it is a no-cost manner of including to their system, selecting up a prospect who’s undoubtedly misplaced some shine lately however nonetheless has some intriguing instruments. Since they’re nicely out of rivalry, they will use their open roster spot to take a flier on García and hope that he can assist them down the road.
