There have been 264 father/son duos in MLB history. True combo meals! The most famous are Bobby and Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr., and Vladimir Guerrero and Valdimir Guerrero Jr. Prince and Cecil Fielder both hit 50 home runs in a season while Craig and Cavan Biggio both hit for the cycle. Many of the juniors were unable to reach the heights of the OGs, but how could you blame Tony Gwynn Jr. not being better than Tony Gwynn? That said, many juniors have done well for themselves. Fernando Tatis did some things in the majors. I am forever haunted by his two grand slams in the same inning off Chan Ho Park. Anyways, Fernando Tatis Jr. is one of the best players in MLB…when healthy, which brings me to Luis Garcia Jr. of the Washington Nationals. The OG Luis Garcia had nine career plate appearances in MLB while Jr. has had a middling professional career so far, but he’s balling out right now. Let’s dig in.
Garcia Jr. is 24 years old, 6-foot-2, 212 pounds, and bats from the left side. He signed with the Nationals as an international free agent back in 2016.
He spent four seasons in the minors before making his MLB debut in 2020. During that time, he stole 11 bases twice while not showing much pop. The ISO was around the .100 mark. The walk rate was in the 5% range while the strikeout rate was in the 15% area. The batting average was in the .300 area while possessing a high BABIP in the .350 range.
In 2020, Garcia Jr. accrued 139 plate appearances with the big club. He was not overmatched, as the slash was .276/.302/.366 with a 20.9% strikeout rate. The walk rate was only 3.6%, though, and the ISO was a paltry .090. The following season, the ISO spiked to .169, which resulted in six home runs in 247 plate appearances. But that looks to have been an aberration, as the ISO settled in the .110 area the next two seasons.
But, but, but….the ISO is back to .169 this season. In 373 plate appearances this season, Garcia Jr. has 13 home runs and 18 stolen bases. The slash is .290/.324/.459 with a .319 BABIP. The walk rate is still only 4.8% but the strikeout rate is only 16.1%.
Looking at the Statcast data, in 2020, the average exit velocity was 83.5 mph. That number has increased every season since then, going from 86.8 mph to where it is now at 89.2 mph. The launch angle was -3.6 degrees his rookie season. That settled in the 5 degree range, but is 9.2 degrees this season. The barrel rate of 8.5% is a career-high, but that number was 7.5% in 2022.
The batted ball data is illuminating. The ground ball rate is at 44.7%, the first time below 50%, and is a career-low. Garcia Jr. used to pull the ball around 40%. This season, that number is way down at 29.8%, while he’s going up the middle 41% of the time. In the past, that number was in the mid-20% range.
Garcia Jr. is chasing a healthy amount of pitches outside the strike zone, as the chase rate is 35%, but the contact rate in the strike zone is 89.1% while the swinging strike rate is a decent 9.5%.
Garcia Jr. began the season batting eighth or ninth in the lineup. He slowly crept up the lineup to where he was batting third a month later. The rest of the season, he was all over the place, batting eighth, seventh, sixth, and fifth. Over the last three games, though, he’s been back in the three-hole.
Garcia Jr. only has a 50th percentile sprint speed, but he’s only been caught three times in 21 attempts.
I’m a little skeptical about the power and wish that he walked more, but I do like the batting profile. If he’s batting third in the lineup and providing a little pop with some steals, I can certainly dig that, especially at second base.
