This is the fifth installment of our 40-man roster breakdown series. You can read the previous editions here.

Luis García Jr

• Position:  Second base
• Current status: 1st-year Arb-Eligible (Super Two), Free Agent 2028
• How acquired:  Signed as an international free agent, 7/2/2016
• 2023 Grade: D-
• 2024 Opening Day Projection: Starting second baseman and likely #8 hitter unless he bombs in spring training and gets DFA’d
• 2023 stats: 122 G, .266/.304/.385, 61 R, 18 2B, 4 3B, 9 HR, 50 RBI, 9-13 SB, 172 TB, 90 OPS+, .297 wOBA, 84 wRC+, 0.7 bWAR, 0.1 fWAR

2023 Analysis

It’s really bad when, in the middle of your fourth major league season, your general manager burns your last option in sending you to AAA and then publicly calls you out on a weekly radio appearance for your lack of conditioning and preparation. That’s what happened to García, who was demoted a couple of days after the trade deadline and spent five weeks in Rochester learning a lesson about professional responsibility. That’s the kind of lesson that the son of a big leaguer should not need, but García did. To his credit, it might have worked, as he hit .304/.360/.507 after his September return and stopped looking quite so statuesque (in a bad way) in the field. It can be easy to forget that he doesn’t turn 24 until May, and if you squint after a couple of drinks you can still see a league-average second baseman in there somewhere. But can he still get to that level after almost 1200 major league plate appearances?

2024 outlook

García will enter spring training with a semi-tenuous hold on the regular job and no options remaining - the only things keeping him from the brink of a DFA right now are a) the fact that Mike Rizzo hates giving up on top prospects and b) that the other options in West Palm Beach (Carter Kieboom, Ildemaro Vargas, Nick Senzel, Trey Lipscomb, Nasim Nuñez, Jake Alu, and Darren Baker as of this writing) are a motley crew of AAAA types and unproven minor leaguers with pretty low ceilings. If he performs well enough (and demonstrates some level of seriousness towards keeping his job) in the spring, he will be the regular second baseman except against tough lefties (when Vargas will likely get the nod) and bat in the lower third of the lineup. From there it will be up to him to play well enough to stay in the majors or be the roster casualty at some point because of a Brady House or Lipscomb promotion.