Texas Rangers Slugger Adolis Garcia Backing Off Chase

Texas Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia's prodigious start to the season is all about cutting down on one key area of his swing.

Texas Rangers outfielder Adolis García is poised to make his second All-Star Game appearance as he leads the American League in both home runs and RBI.

He’s also on pace to surpass his career highs in both categories. What’s his secret?

Chase rate, as in he’s not chasing pitches like he did a season ago.

“That’s probably the hardest thing in our game to improve on because sometimes that’s who you are,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said.

But García, with 14 homers and 49 RBI, has managed it.

Entering the current road trip that began with Monday’s 6-4 loss at the  Pittsburgh Pirates, García had an out-of-zone swing rate of 27.7 percent. That’s down nearly 10 percent from last season, when it was 37.3 percent.

This shows that García is being more selective about the pitches he swings at, even though, as Bochy noted, the right fielder has tremendous plate coverage and the ability to go for pitches that are out of the zone and still power them out of the park.

Bochy noted that García did that once against the Atlanta Braves last Wednesday when he hit two home runs in a 6-5 loss.

But, overall, García spent a good portion of his offseason working to resist the temptation to dive for sliders and other pitches out of the strike zone, collaborating with the team’s hitting coaches, including Tim Hyers.

That work, combined with the foundation García already built, is paying off. The book on how to throw to him has changed. He’s evolving into one of those batters in which there is no set way to pitch him.

“Yeah, I mean look at the pitches that he’s hit,” Bochy said. “He’s got tremendous plate coverage. He’s not just getting the bat on the ball but he’s driving it.”

It isn’t just the chase rate, either. Two other numbers show García’s improvement at the plate.

First it’s his swing and miss rate in the strike zone. Last year García swung and miss 26.6 percent of the time. So far this season it’s 20.1 percent.

Second it’s his swing rate in the strike zone, which is actually down just a bit so far. Last season it was 73.5 percent. So far this season, it’s 69.5 percent.

García appears to be trading a few swings in the zone for more discipline outside the zone, and it’s paying off.

In fact, Bochy is so happy with the mix that he doesn’t believe García needs to improve much further, saying that a player can experience diminishing returns if they get too choosy.

“Right now, you’re seeing a good hitter in the zone,” Bochy said. “He’s fun to watch. He’s one of those guys you pay to watch play.”

The AL West-leading Rangers (29-18) look to even the Pittsburgh series Tuesday night at 5:35 p.m. CT. Nathan Eovaldi (5-2, 2.83) for Texas, with Rich Hill (4-3, 3.80) on the hill for the Pirates. 

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.

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