Rangers know full well the Adolis Garcia lesson Phillies are about to learn

Texas Rangers fans will always be grateful for Adolis Garcia for his otherworldly performance during the 2023 playoffs. The Cuban slugger provided fans with several great moments throughout his Rangers career. With that said, his performance had gotten so untenable during 2024 and 2025 that it was time to move on.

Perhaps Texas should have dealt Garcia at last year's trade deadline rather than unceremoniously non-tendering him in the offseason. Regardless, what's done is done, and Garcia is a member of the Philadelphia Phillies now. Out there in the City of Brotherly Love, they've been getting the full Adolis experience.

The 33-year-old is coming off a brutal showing in May that saw him put up a .400 OPS while striking out 37.6% of the time. The disastrous month culminated with a 3-for-57 stretch that made Phillies fans' eyes bleed.

Now, in June, Garcia has hit three homers in his last seven days, crediting some extra batting practice sessions with turning things around. The Phillies are hopeful he's turned the corner. If only things were that simple.

Adolis Garcia was prone to streaks with the Rangers, too, but he is who he is

Garcia made some adjustments to his swing path ahead of last season, but in the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter. The once-fearsome slugger has been roughly a .680 OPS hitter the past two years. Simply put, that's where his true talent lies. With that said, a trend during his final two seasons with the Rangers has been one encouraging month, one dreadful month, and a whole bunch of mid-.600ish OPS mediocrity.

In 2024, Garcia posted a .932 OPS in the season's first month, but couldn't come close to replicating that performance the rest of the season. He put up a .544 mark in May, a .632 mark in June, and a .504 mark in July. Down the stretch, he was roughly a league-average hitter with a .722 OPS in August, and finally a .740 OPS in September.

2025 was more of the same. From Opening Day through the end of July, Garcia put up OPSes between .558 and .728 each month. In August, he raised the bar and slashed .288/.313/.500, good for a .813 OPS. However, just like the Phillies experienced this May, his performance over the final month of the 2025 campaign was dismal, with a .329 OPS.

Garcia was asked if he ever struggled before, as he did in May, to which he responded, "If it wasn't my worst month -- it was my 2nd worst overall." To be fair, while it wasn't common, it has happened before. This is just who he is now.

So while Phillies fans rejoice, believing that the right-handed slugger they desperately need in their outfield is back, they'll soon find out that isn't the case. Garcia provides these maddeningly hopeful peaks along with some terrifyingly depressing valleys and a whole lot of mediocrity in between. That's just who he is now, and the Phillies will learn the lesson the Rangers already know soon enough.

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