LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Nick Markakis never hit lower than fourth in the lineup during his first season with the Braves in 2015, and Adonis Garcia never hit between Freddie Freeman and Markakis in any of the myriad lineups used by Fredi Gonzalez.
But considering the Braves were the lowest-scoring team in the majors, it shouldn’t be surprising that Gonzalez is ready to try something different this season, especially after what Garcia showed during his first half-season in the majors.
Gonzalez has been using Garcia in the cleanup spot in recent spring-training games, batting him between veteran left-handed hitters Freeman, in his usual No. 3 position, and Markakis in the 5-hole.
“I’m tinkering, you know?” Gonzalez said before Thursday night’s game against the Phillies. “Just so we can break up those left-handers a little bit. In a perfect world I would like to have a right-hander hitting behind Freeman. I like to separate those lefties. And I think that Garcia is a guy who’s capable of being able to scare the opponent a little bit.”
Garcia, as a 30-year-old rookie in 2015, hit .277 with 10 homers and a .497 slugging percentage in 198 plate appearances over 58 games. That included a robust .328 (19-for-58) with five homers and a .638 slugging percentage against left-handed pitchers.
“We’re hoping that 10 home runs in 200 at-bats could turn into 18 or 20 in 400 at-bats, or 400-plus at-bats,” Gonzalez said. “That’s the reason I’ve kept him in that position (this spring) more often than not.”
The Braves plan to use Garcia as their primary third baseman, with Kelly Johnson likely to get some starts against tough right-handers.
A Cuban defector and former Yankees minor leaguer, Garcia signed with the Braves as a minor league free agent on April 7, 2015, six days after being released by the Yankees. His 10 homers in 198 plate appearances with the Braves were more than Garcia hit in any minor league season with the Yankees, and seven more than he had in 350 PAs with Triple-A Gwinnett last season.
He followed up his breakthrough performance with Atlanta by hitting .370 with 12 extra-base hits (three hoemrs) and a .948 OPS in 36 games (149 plate appearances) in the Venezuelan winter league.
Gonzalez said he’s limited Garcia’s at-bats lately and given him more rest lately, after the player got about 775 plate appearances combined in the 2015 minor and major league season, plus winter league and the winter-ball postseason (he played for Eddie Perez-managed Venezuela in the Caribbean World Series).
“This guy played all year last year, went to winter ball (in Venezuela) and played two months there, and I didn’t want this to fizzle out come June,” Gonzalez said. “So we’ve been backing him off, just get two at-bats, take a day off, two days off, another two at-bats. It’s a fine line, really, to try and keep him locked in and try and keep him fresh for the long haul.”
