Maikel Garcia is having a good time

The Royals third baseman is enjoying a breakout season.

On Tuesday, it was Salvador Perez who led the way for the Royals, bashing two home runs and a double while driving in four. On Wednesday, the honors fell to Maikel Garcia.

Garcia went 3-4 with a home run and a triple, scoring twice and driving in four runs as the Royals won their second straight against the Rangers. The final on Wednesday was 6-3.

If the first game of hte series was about Perez, the second one was all Garcia.

In their opening duel in the top of the first, Rangers starter Patrick Corbin threw three different pitches to Garcia: a sinker, a cutter and a slider. All three were on the inner half but at varying heights. Garcia lined out on a belt-high cutter.

In their next confrontation, the lefty had Garcia fishing at sliders. Two were offered low and below the zone. Garcia swung and missed at both. That put him behind in the count 1-2. The fourth pitch of the at bat was the only one that was located in the strike zone. Garcia did not miss.

As on Tuesday against Perez, I am left to wonder about the thought process behind the way the Rangers starter approached Garcia. The catcher Kyle Higashioka set up inside, so the horizontal location was probably spot-on. But why would Corbin deliver a pitch in that spot?

Against a lefty like Corbin, Garcia is much more likely to hunt an elevated pitch on the inner half, and it’s a spot where there’s a little swing and miss. Maybe Corbin wanted the pitch up. Instead, he put it in a spot where Garcia can feast on lefties.

Keep in mind that when looking at a chart like the one above, there is very limited data. Entering Wednesday, Garcia was slugging 1.333 versus left-handed pitching on offerings on the inner half in the middle. That’s gone up.

On the replays of the home run, I was struck by how far Garcia pulled his hands in to get that barrel dropped enough to make square contact. This looks perfect.

Garcia swung the bat at 71.5 mph, right in line with his average bat speed. These guys are marvels.

This was a three-run blast that gave the Royals a lead they would not relinquish. Yes. A three-run home run.

I write it like that, because the Royals do not hit three-run home runs.

Entering play on Wednesday, there had been 264 three-run home runs hit in the majors this year. The Royals had one: Vinnie Pasquantino hit one on Opening Day against the Cleveland Guardians. I have no idea how that’s possible. One three-run home run in 73 games? Earl Weaver would hate this Royals team.

Garcia was in a position to hit a three-run bomb thanks to a fortuitous replay decision from the crew in New York. Jonathan India, who drove home the first run of the inning on a single, advanced to third on a single from Bobby Witt Jr. It was a bit of aggressive baserunning from India, but he easily beat the throw. The question, as so often is raised in the replay era, was, did India slide off the bag while the tag was being applied? I think it was safe to assume that, yes, India did leave the bag momentarily, but every angle of replay we saw showed something like this:

Was India off the bag? It is impossible to say. The best angle we saw was from a higher camera positioned a little more level with the bag, but third base coach Vance Wilson’s head was perfectly positioned in that moment where India might have lost contact. In other words, there was nothing definitive in the replay. Lordy, it took forever for New York to decide they didn’t have the evidence.

It should be noted that third base umpire Gabe Morales was standing just behind the bag, so he was able to see everything that we were not. He made the safe call. So while I think India’s momentum may have taken him off the bag, Morales didn’t see it that way. Maybe India held contact.

Replay remains an imperfect tool.

Remember those sliders I pointed out in Garcia plate appearance against Corbin where he homered? Garcia got one of those the next time through.

Recall in that second AB, Garcia whiffed on one slider out of the zone and fouled off the second. This time, he made contact. Not great contact as you can see above, but given that the result had an expected batting average of .970, it was the perfect little flare to the outfield.

To me, this is more of an indicator that hitter is locked in than crushing a home run. Yes, the home run was great, but the ability for a hitter to see the same “chase me” pitch three times in two at bats—a pitch he cannot resist—and yet change the plane of the bat enough to get it into play, that’s something. It would be better if Garcia could avoid that pitch completely for something he could square up, but that’s not how this game always works. Garcia got it in play and dropped it in a dead zone to get on base. That’s the ideal outcome there.

This was a good game thus far for Garcia. He was going to make it a great one. After the Royals four-run outburst to snatch the lead in the third, Texas clawed one back in the fourth. Starter Kris Bubic was not his usual sharp self against these Rangers. Neither team scored in the middle innings, but the game carried an edge to it that vibed more runs would be scored.

Those runs came in the seventh. Against sidearming lefty reliever Hoby Milner, Witt led off the inning on a four pitch walk. None of the four pitches were close to the zone. Easy as you like.

Garcia was up next and he, too, saw a couple of pitches sprayed wildly outside of the zone. On a 2-0 count, Garcia took a pitch that was a strike, but was somehow a pitcher’s pitch—a changeup low and away and on the edge. Had Garcia been in total swing mode on that pitch, he would’ve rolled over and grounded into a double play. Great take. Fantastic.

The next pitch was another changeup, a bit off the plate and a little more elevated.

Not a great pitch for Garcia, but he cued it off the end of the bat and got it just over the edge of the bag at first base.

When things are going your way, things are going your way. That ball was barely fair. Not inches. Millimeters. That obviously scored Witt from first and gave the Royals a little breathing room.

Garcia scored on a one-out safety squeeze from John Rave. That’s the kind of bunt I can get behind. That provided the final margin at 6-3.

We’re almost halfway through 2025 and I think it’s safe to say that this is the breakout season at the plate we’ve been waiting for from Garcia. After the fun on Wednesday, he’s hitting .318/.377/.500, good for a 144 wRC+. His walk rate is up, his strikeout rate is down and he’s just making better choices at the plate. Choices that put him in position to his balls like that single in the fifth or the triple in the eighth.

In the first half of the season, Garcia has been the best hitter on this team. With Garcia hitting behind Witt and with Pasquantino warming up, that’s a sharp trio for Matt Quatraro to pencil in to his lineup. Add in the on base ability from India and Perez showing some signs of life in June and the top half of the Royals lineup looks—dare I say—potentially productive.