Adolis García is moving to the front of the Phillies’ search for a cleanup hitter, with manager Rob Thomson saying Monday that the 28-year-old is a strong candidate for the job when the Cubs arrive. Brandon Marsh’s temporary run in the four-spot is expected to end after Sunday’s series finale with the Diamondbacks, leaving the Phillies to keep looking for a permanent answer behind Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.
That search has mattered because the production there has not matched the rest of the lineup. Alec Bohm opened the season as the cleanup hitter through 12 games before being dropped lower after an 8-for-43 start and a.186 batting average. Last year, the Phillies slugged.408 out of the cleanup spot, but the role also carried a lot of responsibility in the middle of a lineup built around Schwarber and Harper.
García, who signed a one-year, $10 million deal in December after the Rangers did not tender him a contract, has spent much of his career in exactly that kind of spot. Over the last four seasons, he has logged the third-most plate appearances out of the cleanup slot of any hitter in baseball. The Phillies also worked on his plate approach after signing him and made a mechanical change so he would hold his bat upright rather than pointing it toward the pitcher.
The early results have been mixed, but not empty. García is batting.220 with a.380 slugging percentage and two homers so far, and Thomson said he has done a pretty good job of controlling the strike zone while also driving some balls to the other way. His rate of swings at pitches out of the zone has dropped to 31.3% through Friday from a career-high 35.8% last season.
Harper said after Saturday’s 4-3 victory over Arizona, when he and Schwarber homered back-to-back in the third inning, that the numbers in the four-spot were not very good last year for the whole team and that whoever hits there has a big job to do. The Diamondbacks’ all-righty bullpen also gives Philadelphia a practical test case for how García could handle the spot. Thomson has not hidden the evaluation. He said García knows the team is trying to help him, that he needs to relax and be himself, and that he can hit. The next turn in the lineup arrives quickly, and with it another chance to see whether the Phillies have found the right bat behind their stars.
