Bruce Bochy Gives Interesting Comments About Adolis Garcia Missing Time

The Texas Rangers manager gave his thoughts on the injury to Adolis Garcia.

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For a while, it seemed like the Texas Rangers had finally figured things out.

But after more frustrating offensive performances, they have now found their way back to a familiar territory; sitting outside of the playoff picture looking in.

3.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot entering play on Wednesday, the solid stretch of play they had before the trade deadline is starting to look like fool's gold that duped the front office into buying instead of planning for the future.

There's still time for the Rangers to get hot, but the confidence is starting to wane.

One positive is that Evan Carter was activated off the injured list, a move that hopefully brings some more life to a lineup that has sorely been lacking it. However, the corresponding move was putting Adolis Garcia on the shelf, a one-for-one swap in the outfield.

What Did Bruce Bochy Say About Adolis Garcia's Injury?

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Manager Bruce Bochy believes that this could actually be a positive for Garcia and the team, though.

"He can back off a little bit," Bochy said, per Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required). "He's probably been pressing a little bit."

The insider even added that the longtime skipper called the IL stint a "silver lining."

Slashing .188/.220/.333 with 30 strikeouts in 24 games since the All-Star break, it's not hard to see why that's the feeling from Bochy.

Garcia has just not been the same player since the team's magical run in 2023, owning a 128 wRC+ that season to go along with 39 home runs and 107 RBI before the historical showing he had in the playoffs.

Since that point, he put up a campaign with a 93 wRC+ last year to go along with 25 homers and 85 RBI, before seeing his numbers drop even further with a 79 wRC+, 16 homers and 64 RBI this season.

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It's unclear what has been going on with the slugger.

While his hard hit and barrel rates have dropped since two years ago, his underlying metrics also suggest that he should be having a better season than he's had with his expected batting average being .238 and his expected slugging percentage being .440 compared to the slash line of .224/.266/.388 he has.

Perhaps a little reset against minor league pitching is what he needs.

According to McFarland, Bochy doesn't believe Garcia will need longer than the minimum time on the injured list. So, barring any setbacks, there's a chance he could be back with the team on Aug. 23 as the Rangers make their final push for the playoffs.