Hey, the Cubs are “doing something”!
Cubs President Theo Epstein just casually dropped on The Score that breakout slugger Robel Garcia is going to be called up from AAA Iowa today, as Dillon Maples will be sent back down. It’s what we hoped was going to happen once the pitching was stabilized, but I’ll admit, I wasn’t confident it would happen.
The 26-year-old switch-hitting utility man has been clubbing homers at a ridiculous rate this season after coming out of nowhere (well, Italy) as a minor league signing for the Cubs back in November. Garcia has battled the strikeouts badly – 34.2% at Iowa, which is atrocious – but he’s managed to hit .281/.352/.596 there with 15 homers in 50 games. He’s far more likely to struggle than rake, but at this point, the Cubs have nothing to lose by calling him up and just seeing what happens. Maybe he clubs a few home runs and provides a spark.
More on Garcia later today.
This sounds like a fair prediction, too:
My prediction: Robel Garcia CRUSHES it for a couple weeks and then gets figured out pretty hard. After that, well, that's what separates big leaguers from triple-a guys.
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) July 3, 2019
Though the scouting of minor leaguers is so much better these days, and the big league execution is so good that I don’t anticipate him seeing as many fastballs early as you’d otherwise expect. Garcia is going to have to show some discipline early, and some ability to hit off-speed stuff if he’s going to succeed and stick around.
A reminder about this month’s fundraiser for Make-A-Wish:
We're raising funds for Make-A-Wish this month, and I'm promising to do crazy things at the Trade Deadline to get those donations! Let's make some kids and Cubs fans very happy: https://t.co/dgiMRPJI8a pic.twitter.com/R1wPWvk9RO
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) July 3, 2019