While Mother Nature decides to keep Gregory Polanco off the field on Monday and Tuesday with consecutive rainouts, we turn to someone else today for a prospect highlight. Altoona’s Willy Garcia hit his third homer of the season last night.
We knew coming into this year that Garcia had power and his defense/arm are both strong, but the questions about his plate patience and ability to make contact haven’t been answered. He has five hits this year, three homers, a triple and a single. That type of extra-base power looks good, but he’s also hitting .158 and has one walk and 18 strikeouts in ten games. Last year he had 23 walks and 154 strikeouts in 118 games with Bradenton and with West Virginia in 2012, he had 32 walks and 131 strikeouts in 122 games. So early on the downward trend is continuing as he moves up, but there is one upside to point out. Despite being in his fifth season in the organization now, he will play this entire season as a 21-year-old, so there is still time for him.