2025 Fantasy Baseball: Maikel Garcia Profile, Preview, Predictions
When scouring the second base position for a player with high upside in stolen base and the potential to reach 15 home runs, Maikel Garcia is that hidden gem. His exit velocity tells a better story and his contact batting average was an outlier on the downside in 2024.
Maikel Garcia has a career high five home runs this year
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 18, 2024
He hit four in 123 games last season pic.twitter.com/wBis2SWFkJ
2B/3B – Maikel Garcia, KC (ADP – 213.8)
Last year, the Royals gave Garcia 431 of his 575 at-bats (75.0%) hitting first in their batting order. Unfortunately, his contact batting average (.282) came in well below 2023 (.361) and his minor league resume (.333). A right elbow injury (bone spurs) was addressed in early September, but there wasn’t a hint of an issue during the season.
He checks the positive boxes in exit velocity (90.4 mph) and hard-hit rate (42.6) compared to some of the other light-hitting second basemen options ranked ahead of him, and Garcia offered more value in both areas in 2023 (EV – 91.8 and HHR – 50.6). His lack of power is tied to a groundball swing path (49.3%), but he did improve his fly-ball rate (30.7) and HR/FB rate (4.8) in 2024.
After a fast start in the counting categories in April (15 runs, four home runs, 20 RBIs, and eight steals) and some fantasy value in May (.305/22/1/15/5 over 118 at-bats), Garcia struggled in June (.142 with 14 runs, no home runs, five RBIs, and eight stolen bases). The Royals tapered back his opportunity over the second half of the season due to his poor play (.235/33/2/18/16 over 230 at-bats). During the year, Garcia posted a lower strikeout rate (16.5) with a slight drop in his walk rate (6.7).
Over six seasons in the minors, he hit .270 with 272 runs, 17 home runs, 181 RBIs, and 126 stolen bases.
Fantasy Outlook: The addition of Jonathan India may block Garcia from batting first or second in the Royals lineup. His lack of walks does hurt his potential leadoff profile at this point in his career, but he does have the speed to help Kansas City score runs. With an improved swing path, Garcia hits the ball hard enough to have a breakthrough season down the road in power, something I don’t see in Brice Turang, Luis Arraez, and Nico Hoerner.
A possible .270 season with 75 runs, 15 home runs, 65 RBIs, and 40+ steals if he hits down in the lineup. His runs should push over 90 with a leadoff opportunity with 550 at-bats. I view him as value at second base with breakout upside. His profile is a much better fit at second base than third base in 5 X 5 Roto Formats.
RANKINGS
Top 5 Catchers | Catchers 6-10 | Catchers 11-15
Top 5 First Basemen | First Basemen 6-10 | First Basemen 11-15
Top 5 Second Basemen | Second Basemen 6-10 | Second Basemen 11-15
Top 5 Shortstops | Shortstops 6-10 | Shortstops 11-15
Top 5 Third Basemen | Third Basemen 6-10 | Third Basemen 11-15
With 20+ years of experience in the high-stakes fantasy market, I aim to research and compete at the highest level in baseball and football each season. I've contributed as a writer/analyst for Sports Draft Daily, ScoutPro, Scout Fantasy, Fulltime Fantasy, FFToolbox, and Sports Illustrated Fantasy. I'm honored to be in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Hall of Fame. My drafting philosophy is risk-averse yet open to betting on potential game-changers. I approach player selection with a neutral perspective, acknowledging that fantasy sports are inherently unpredictable due to injuries, performance dips, and managerial decisions. My work focuses on these main areas: - Season-long fantasy baseball and football - BestBall Baseball and Football Events - Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog - Long Shot Player Prop Parlays for NFL I participate in various leagues and contests, including NFBC, NFFC, RTSports, FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, FanDuel, and FFWC, with the goal of leveraging my extensive experience and research for success in each game format. A fantasy follower can expect in-depth profiles of NFL and MLB players, along with season-long and weekly projections for each fantasy football season. In addition, I have many strategy articles to help develop fantasy players' learning curves.