Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Adolis Garcia (53) and infielder Edmundo Sosa (33) smile during the fourth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at TD Ballpark. Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
CLEARWATER, Fla. — It's funny how one game can change the entire outlook of a spring.
Yet, that's what happened for Adolis Garcia on Tuesday.
Garcia entered the game against the Minnesota Twins 5-for-26 in 11 games. That's a .192 batting average.
The other numbers weren't great either. He had one extra base hit in those 11 games, for a slugging percentage of .231. His OPS of .575 was only buoyed by six walks that gave him a palatable .344 on base percentage.
And while he was struggling through those 11 games, what most people don't know if he was getting used to something new — something different.
Something he didn't do in Texas.
"What they've been working on right now is the bat angle and setup, because he tends to wrap it a little bit," manager Rob Thomson said of hitting coach Kevin Long and his staff. "They're trying to just calm that down so he gets a shorter route to the ball, essentially. He's been working hard at it and he's got an aptitude and a work ethic, so hopefully it's going to come through."
It came through in spades on Tuesday.
Garcia hit his first home run of the spring and had three line drive singles, going 4-for-4 in what was a 2-0 Phillies win over the Twins.
Adolis García gets Philly on the board with his first home run in red and white pinstripes pic.twitter.com/QMrViFEBtH
It's not easy to get four hits in a game, period, let alone a Spring Training game where players rarely get four plate appearances.
In fact, the last Phillie to do it in Grapefruit League action was Tommy Joseph in 2017.
But Garcia played a full game on Tuesday, along with other regulars Trea Turner and Bryson Stott — and Garcia stole the show.
"The mentality is to have good at-bats, to swing at strikes and to adjust to the plan that we have," Garcia said through interpreter Diego D'Aniello. "The coaches here have done a great job with me. They're focused and they're working really hard with me to have my 'A' swing back and have better results."
And just because of that one game on Tuesday, Garcia's spring numbers now look impressive.
He's slashing .300/.432/.433 for an OPS of .865.
Adolis Garcia today:
103.7 mph Home Run
112.4 mph single
110.5 mph singe
102.5 mph single
With one great day, is back up to a .300 average on the spring with a .865 OPS.
The idea here is for him to stay stubborn with the work and believe in what the hitting coaches are preaching — and that starts, for Garcia, with plate discipline.
"What I believe is there is no good swing [on] a bad pitch," Garcia said. "That is, first and foremost, what we've got to work on — going after good pitches. And once we get that good pitch, I think we can start working from there."
The fact that Garcia's walk rate this spring is 16.7% is indicative of his attempt to be more patient and lay off pitches out of the zone.
Garcia has never had a high walk rate. The highest full-season percentage of his career was 10.3% in 2023.
Last season, Garcia was chasing so many pitches out of the zone that his walk rate matched a career low (5.1 %).
The Phillies want him to stay in the zone because when he does, he can do damage — especially in Citizens Bank Park, which is much more hitter friendly than Globe Life Field in Texas, where he spent the majority of his career before signing with the Phillies.
"I've heard a lot of things about the stadium, but I'm not really focused on that," Garcia said. "I'm just focused on what I can do here and the work that we do here and that we can keep it going forward into the season."
And that season starts against his former team, the Texas Rangers, a week from Thursday — which he didn't realize until a few days after he signed with the Phillies.
"It's something I'm looking forward to," he said with a smile.
And he can finally crack that smile — all because one day made all the difference.
