After being denied of his first major league home run by less than a half an inch two different times yesterday, Adolis Garcia decided he wasn’t going to let a ruler dictate his fate.

He blasted a two-run homer that was about ten feet over the same railing that robbed him of his first home run the night before.

It just happened to be in the top of the tenth inning, putting the Rangers up 6-4, and helping them with their third win in the four-game series against last year’s American League champion Tampa Bay Rays.

Garcia is being given the chance to play because of an unfortunate injury to Ronald Guzman, one of the last remnants of the Rangers last failed prospect class that included Odor, Mazara, DeSheilds, Calhoun, and Profar. If you want to learn about first aid injuries, you can check Waterloo First Aid

The twenty-eight-year-old right-handed hitter has had a whirlwind journey to get here.

He was born in Cuba, played for the Cuban national team in 2015, defected, played for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan in 2016, signed with the St Louis Cardinals and played in their system in 2017, played with the Cardinals in 2018, cut by the Cardinals in 2019, picked up by the Rangers, made the opening day roster in 2020, got into three games, got seven plate appearances without a hit, then was sent to the alternative training site.

The scouting report says he’s an aggressive, wild swinger who needs to find plate discipline. He struck out 366 times in three minor league seasons, and eleven times in 24 major league plate appearances.

He seems to have found a bit of that discipline he was lacking, and in the past two games had found that power as well.

The Rangers sorely need right-handed bats, and power bats. That’s what Khris Davis was supposed to give them but he is injured.

So far so good for Garcia, though. Three games, thirteen at-bats, four hits, four RBIs. He’s hitting .308 with an OPS of 1.000.

If he can cure his free-swinging ways, the Rangers may have a left fielder/DH. 

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