Garcia cranks three roundtrippers for Quakes
If there were an offensive performance worthy of a curtain call, Yunior Garcia certainly cleared the bar during Rancho Cucamonga’s 12-8 victory over Modesto on Friday. Five hits, three of which were home runs. Six RBIs. Four runs scored. Garcia delivered the textbook definition of what a manager envisions when
If there were an offensive performance worthy of a curtain call, Yunior Garcia certainly cleared the bar during Rancho Cucamonga’s 12-8 victory over Modesto on Friday.
Five hits, three of which were home runs. Six RBIs. Four runs scored. Garcia delivered the textbook definition of what a manager envisions when he pencils a name into the cleanup spot.
“I had never seen a Minor League curtain call before,” hitting coach O’Koyea Dickson said. “[It was] a special night for him.”
While the final standing ovation was for Garcia’s historic cumulative performance, his first long ball alone was worthy of a rousing applause. Per the club’s Trackman device, Garcia’s two-run homer in the bottom of the first came off the bat at 110 mph and traveled a projected 489 feet, a reported club distance record.
“We worked a lot … over the last couple of months, just simplifying his swing and simplifying his setup because he’s got probably some of the most power in all of Minor League Baseball,” Dickson said of the 21-year-old slugger.
That power went right back onto display. Garcia swatted his second two-run shot of the outing to center field in the third, marking the first multihomer game of his pro career. Modesto managed to keep him in the yard in the fifth, albeit with a run still crossing the plate via an RBI double.
After a seventh-inning knock to left, Garcia sat just a triple shy of the cycle, a worthy milestone in its own right. But instead, the native of Bani, Dominican Republic, clobbered his third roundtripper of the contest, this one a solo shot going the opposite way. All three homers came on offspeed pitches.
UNBELIEVABLE❗️ YUNIOR GARCIA CRUSHES HIS THIRD HOME RUN TONIGHT🔥
— Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (@RCQuakes) August 20, 2022
That makes 13 for this season😤
Quakes extend their lead over the Nuts 12-6❗️
Bot 8th pic.twitter.com/7Qo2IloONQ
The last player to record a three-homer performance for Rancho Cucamonga was Carlos Rincon, who did so in defeat on Aug. 30, 2018.
As the season has progressed, so has Garcia’s production. Through 12 games in August, the first baseman/designated hitter has slashed a gaudy .453/.482/.811. His 24 hits match his totals from April and May combined.
To back up just how scorching Garcia has been at the dish since the weather warmed, his five-hit performance merely matches his career high, having already rapped out five hits in a Quakes win back on June 9.
“Honestly, he didn’t get a chance to play every day when the season started,” Dickson said. “He just honed in on his craft every day and we tried to figure out what was going to work for him. We kind of stuck with something over the last three months.”
Now finding consistency via regular at-bats, those adjustments from the past three months have paid significant dividends for Garcia, culminating in a once-in-a-career performance.
Garcia is getting his first taste of affiliate ball this year. After producing a .656 OPS in 20 games as an 18-year-old in his first stateside experience in 2019, the Dodgers’ prospect flipped the script in his return to action after the pandemic shutdown. Delivering 33 hits in 31 Arizona Complex League games last year laid the base for a Cal League stint that has him ranking fifth in batting average (.307), fourth in slugging percentage (.517) and tied for fourth in RBIs (74).
“He’s an awesome kid,” Dickson said. “He’s very, very easy to work with. He’s definitely one of the best clubhouse guys we have here and one of the most stand-up guys that we have in the organization.”