One of the first major acquisitions the Pittsburgh Pirates made during last winter was acquiring outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia from the Boston Red Sox. The Bucs sent Johan Oviedo, Adonys Guzman, and Tyler Samaniego to the Sox for Garcia, along with flamethrowing pitching prospect Jesus Travieso. However, the Pirates continued to add outfielders after Garcia. They then traded for Jake Mangum as part of the Brandon Lowe trade, then signed Ryan O’Hearn, who will have to play the outfield after signing designated hitter Marcell Ozuna.
With the least amount of MLB experience and options remaining, The Password looked like he’d be the odd-man-out, and would have a significantly uphill battle to make the Opening Day roster. However, Garcia has been one of, if not the Pirates’ best Spring Training hitter. With such a strong performance, Garcia has to make the Pirates’ Opening Day roster, and the Bucs must find room for him to play.
Garcia already has 15 hits in his Spring Training sample size. Of those 15 hits, two are home runs, and two more are doubles. He has also struck out just four times with four walks in 33 plate appearances. Garcia’s bottom line doesn’t just look good; his underlying metrics are also extremely promising. The young outfielder owns a 91.7 MPH exit velocity, and a whiff rate of just 20.4%. Garcia has also gone three-for-three in stolen base attempts. His wRC+ in Spring Training is 252. Garcia currently is the only Pirates batter with double-digit hits. He has the best OPS, wOBA, and wRC+. He also leads all Pirates batters in all three triple-slash numbers (batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage).
Garcia also hit well in the minor leagues last year. He stepped to the plate 489 times between Double-A and Triple-A, slashing .267/.340/.470 with a .360 wOBA, and 116 wRC+. Garcia went yard 21 times, for his second 20+ home run season. He did have an unspectacular 26.8% strikeout rate, and 9.2% walk rate, but Garcia’s campaign earned him a late-season promotion to the Major Leagues. He only played sparingly though, with just nine plate appearances across five contests.
The Pirates’ outfield depth chart is admittedly crowded. Cruz, Reynolds, O’Hearn, and Mangum already make up the Pirates’ four outfielders. However, they can still find a way to get Garcia onto the Opening Day roster and get him semi-regular playing time. Garcia is a right-handed batter who crushed lefties in the minor leagues last year. Meanwhile, Mangum is a switch-hitter with better splits against right-handed pitching. Garcia can also give Oneil Cruz occasional days off against lefty pitching. Garcia is also considered an above-average defensive outfielder. Both he and Mangum can still get into games semi-frequently as late-inning defensive replacements.
The Pirates bench with Garcia would look something like this. Garcia and Mangum would be their outfield options. One of Joey Bart, Endy Rodriguez, and Rafael Flores Jr. would be their back-up catcher. Nick Gonzales or Nick Yorke would take up the utility infield spot on the bench (assuming Konnor Griffin also makes the roster). Even if Griffin doesn’t make the roster out of Spring Training, the Pirates would still carry Nick Yorke on the bench to open the year in this roster alignment.
While it may only be Spring Training, it’s hard to justify not putting a borderline top 100 prospect on the active roster to open the year when he is hitting this good right now. The Pirates can still find ways to get him into games, which should be enough to start the year with Garcia on the Opening Day roster.
