Star Texas Rangers Slugger Ready To Bounce Back After Fixing His Swing

Everyone involved with the Texas Rangers is looking for a bounce back in 2025.

They had a disappointing follow up to their first World Series championship in franchise history when they missed the playoffs this past season. While injuries played a part in their struggles, they never really threatened at any point during the campaign.

Chris Young wasted little time putting together a more formidable roster.

He re-signed Nathan Eovaldi to lead the rotation. He addressed the bullpen by bringing in a plethora of arms via free agency and trades. And he also boosted the lineup with Joc Pederson and Jake Burger.

The Rangers look like the clear favorites in the AL West, especially with the Houston Astros going through another offseason where they have let their stars leave the clubhouse for opportunities elsewhere.

Unlike the National League, the American League looks much more wide open on paper, and while Texas would love to win the division, they certainly have their sights set on hoisting their second trophy as well.

But for that to happen, perhaps nobody has to have a greater bounce back than Adolis Garcia.

He was one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball during the 2023 campaign when he slashed .245/.328/.508 with 39 homers and 107 RBI. He was sensational during the playoffs as well, winning the ALCS MVP Award and setting an MLB record with 22 postseason RBI.

Unfortunately, Garcia couldn't follow that up.

He had a slash line of .224/.284/.400 last year, and even though he still hit 25 home runs and had 85 RBI, his OPS+ was six points below the league average in 2024 compared to being 27 points above like in 2023.

Players struggle, and that's exactly how the Rangers and Garcia are viewing it, but both parties are confident the slugger will get back on track this season.

"Players go through good years and bad years ... But he's in a great spot now. He's worked so hard, and I'm really, really excited for him," Young said per Kennedi Landry of MLB.com.

That work the executive is referencing has to do with Garcia's swing.

While his strikeout percentage mirrored what he'd done previously in his career, his exit velocity, hard hit percentage and fly ball rate were down, while his ground ball percentage was up.

He believes he knows why that was the case, and has been working hard to fix it.

"Yeah, I had a little bit of an extra movement in my swing. That's what I worked with the team and hitting coaches to try to eliminate these movements in the swing ... I feel better prepared. I'm ready to go, and it looks great," Garcia said.

That's certainly a good sign.

If the slugger can get back to the version he was in 2022 and 2023, then this Texas lineup will be hard to navigate based on all the star players they have littered throughout the order.

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