Texas Rangers: Adolis Garcia show is just getting started

Adolis “El Bombi” Garcia had a monstrous May for the Texas Rangers, and is now being rewarded for it.

After taking home team Player of the Month honors, the 28-year-old has additionally secured league-wide accolades as the American League Player of the Month for May 2021, becoming the first Ranger to win the award since Nomar Mazara did twice in 2016 (coincidentally, one of those months was May as well).

Adolis Garcia is the first Texas Rangers player to win AL Rookie of the Month since Nomar Mazara.

Garcia, in case you haven’t been paying attention, took the Texas Rangers by storm when he was called up in April as an injury replacement for Ronald Guzman in Tampa Bay.

The man known as El Bombi has cranked 16 home runs this season, good for second in MLB. In May alone, his slash line was an amazing .312/.348/.981 with 11 homers and 28 RBIs in 27 games played in the month.

Many of those homers were clutch as Rangers fans will remember (the walk-off vs. the Astros, most recently), only adding to his budding legend.

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The Adolis Garcia show is just getting started.

However, winning AL Rookie of the Month doesn’t always translate into winning a more prolific rookie achievement: AL Rookie of the Year.

Nomar Mazara, our old friend who we mentioned earlier, captured AL Rookie of the Month honors twice in 2016, but was not selected for AL ROTY that season despite his strong debut.

Garcia, like Mazara, will have stiff competition for the year-end award, namely in the form of White Sox’ slugging sensation Yermin Mercedes, who’s off to quite the start himself in 2021.

Mercedes took home the April rookie honors in the AL, so the monthly accolade count is all tied up between the two hot-hitting, first-year players.

Ultimately, the player that can sustain something close to his current pace (Mercedes is already slumping), will probably finish ahead and take home Rookie of the Year.

For now, though, we’ll take things one step at a time and just appreciate the heroic-type run that El Bombi went on during May 2021.

Here’s to many more months just like these.