‘Now everybody sees it’: How Adolis Garcia learned to shine on the biggest stage
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
ARLINGTON, TEXAS — They barreled out of the first-base dugout in a flash, congregating around home plate so quickly that Texas Rangers outfielder Evan Carter said they might have arrived there even before Adolis García reached first base.
It was almost as if they’d anticipated another moment like this.
After bursting onto the scene in the summer of 2021, García has spent the fall of 2023 putting together one of the most captivating postseason performances in baseball history, dazzling with his glove and his legs and, mostly, his bat. When he settled into the batter’s box in the 11th inning of the opening game of this Fall Classic on Friday night, his teammates — really, all of Globe Life Field — seemed to expect something. What followed was the first walk-off home run in Game 1 of the World Series since Kirk Gibson’s legendary drive in 1988.
This is the type of legacy García is building.
“I don’t think I ever imagined that these types of things would be happening to me,” said García, speaking in Spanish, moments after sealing the Rangers’ 6-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. “But I’m very grateful and happy, and I’m just going to keep giving it my best to help us win it all.”
García, 30, has homered in five consecutive playoff games, one shy of the major league record. His total for the postseason is now at eight, just two fewer than the 2020 output from Randy Arozarena, his minor league roommate and best friend. That walk-off home run was his 22nd RBI this postseason, breaking the all-time record set by David Freese, the former St. Louis Cardinals third baseman, during a 2011 run that famously left Rangers fans devastated.
“When he gets hot, it’s really hot,” Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien said of García. “Now everybody sees it.”
García almost single-handedly ended the Houston Astros‘ season in the American League Championship Series, then proceeded to reach base in four of his first five plate appearances to begin the World Series. He singled in the first, drew a walk in the third, added another single in the eighth and took a 92 mph fastball to his left hand from D-backs closer Paul Sewald in the ninth, moments after Corey Seager tied the score with a 418-foot two-run homer.
García shook it off, promptly stole second base and came to bat again two innings later, with none on, one out and the score still tied. Right-handed reliever Miguel Castro fed him a steady diet of changeups, the one pitch that gave him trouble this season, but fell behind in the count 3-1. He followed with a 97 mph sinker slightly low, which García drove to the opposite field and lofted over the right-field fence, sending a sold-out Globe Life Field crowd into a frenzy.
Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe doused García with a cooler of iced water as he approached home plate. In the tunnel on the way to the clubhouse, teammates repeatedly chanted his nickname — “Bombi,” originally given to García by a childhood friend who thought his head was shaped like a light bulb.
It was six years ago that García left friends and family behind in Cuba and went to Japan as a springboard to come to the United States and fulfill his dream of reaching the majors. He signed for a relatively small amount, was passed over twice — including by the Rangers. He didn’t carve out a full-time role in the big leagues until he neared the end of his 20s. But he always believed moments like these were possible.
“I think it’s all been worth it,” García said. “If I had to do it all over again, I would, because I feel so grateful for everything that has happened.”
NATHANIEL LOWE’S DAY was finished. It was March 24, 2021, eight days before the start of the Rangers’ regular season. Lowe had taken his three at-bats in a Cactus League game and he was officially off the clock.
But Adolis García continued to grab his attention.
Lowe had come to the Rangers’ organization from the Tampa Bay Rays that offseason, and he spent the weeks of spring training familiarizing himself with his new teammates. García immediately caught his eye — and mystified him. García, then 28 and headed for the Triple-A club, was stealing bases and turning in highlight-reel plays and hitting baseballs harder than anybody else. Lowe couldn’t understand why he wasn’t on the roster.
On that day, Lowe had finished changing in the visitors clubhouse and readied to leave. When he heard García’s name being announced as a late-game substitution, he paused, peering through a peephole that looked onto the field. García was coming in for one of the regulars with the Rangers trailing in the ninth inning of a meaningless game, as is often the case for those unlikely to reach the major leagues — and he scorched a two-run double to capture a victory. Lowe could only shake his head. García once again looked like the best player on the field.
“It felt like every ball he hit, he just hammered it off the wall — again and again and again,” Lowe recalled.
What Lowe saw in just a few weeks was something that it took multiple major league franchises years to understand.
When García defected from Cuba in summer 2016 — he had already had an MVP season for Serie Nacional, the country’s professional league, and a brief stint with the Yomiuri Giants of the Japan Eastern League — he was nearing his 24th birthday, relatively old for an international signee. The St. Louis Cardinals signed him for $2.5 million in February 2017, bouncing him between Double-A and Triple-A, plus a cup of coffee in the majors, before designating him for assignment in December 2019. The Rangers immediately picked him up, then designated him for assignment in February 2021 after signing a starting pitcher named Mike Foltynewicz. García slipped through waivers unclaimed and was outrighted off the 40-man roster.
By that point he was almost 28, coming off a COVID-shortened season that shut down the minor leagues and limited him mostly to workouts at the Rangers’ alternate training facility. His major league career consisted of 23 at-bats and two hits.
Unbridled optimism carried him.
“I knew what I could do, what level of baseball I could play at,” García said. “I always had confidence in that. I just kept working because I knew this team was going to give me the opportunity. I just needed to take advantage of it.”
García surged through spring training in 2021, slugging .781 in 22 games, but the Rangers left him off their Opening Day roster. It wasn’t until Ronald Guzman suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee on April 12 that García was finally called up.
Four days later, he won a game in extra innings with his first career home run. In May, he was named the AL Rookie of the Month. In July, he was an All-Star. By the end of the year, he had become a fixture on a rebuilding Rangers team that lost 102 games and was scrounging to identify core players to build around.
“He was still a developing player, and I think the question we had is if he was consistent enough to be a good major league player at that point,” Rangers general manager Chris Young said. “And I think, honestly, where we were as an organization, we had the ability to give him the runway to work through those things. And as he got opportunities, we saw a player with extreme aptitude, a player with incredible work ethic — an energy, a passion for excellence and continual improvement. He’s made himself into the player he is now.”
THE END OF the 2022 season prompted a sit-down between García and the Rangers’ hitting experts, a group that consists of offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker, hitting coach Tim Hyers and assistant hitting coach Seth Conner. The meeting revolved around two key questions:
What do people think of Adolis García?
What do you want them to think of Adolis García?
At that point, García had put together back-to-back solid major league seasons, accumulating 58 home runs and 41 stolen bases while OPS’ing .749 through a stretch of 305 games. But he continued to carry a reputation as an all-or-nothing hitter, the type of label that had soured major league teams in the first place.
From 2017 to 2019, García had accumulated 366 strikeouts in 368 minor league games, a stretch in which he walked less than 5% percent of the time. Breaking balls in particular bothered him. The Rangers spent a sizable chunk of 2020 remaking García’s swing, incorporating a toe-tap to keep him more lateral and eliminating excess movement to help shorten his swing path. But his first two major league seasons still saw him rank just outside the bottom 10% in chase rate and finish 260th among 297 qualified players in walk percentage. García needed to learn to work counts, lay off breaking balls and force opposing pitchers to throw into his preferred zone.
So after that conversation with Ecker and the Rangers team, almost as soon as the 2022 season concluded, García went to Tampa, Florida, to work with his personal hitting coach, Osvaldo Diaz, a former minor leaguer from Cuba.
Together, they decided to change the answer to Ecker’s first question.
“It was very personal to him — ‘pitchers are going to fear me, and they’re going to respect me,'” Ecker said. “Credit to them. They did the work on that, and then he came in and he executed it. Adolis is a special human, and there’s nothing he wants to do that’s average.”
The 2023 regular season saw García set career highs in home runs (39), RBIs (107) and OPS (.836) while making his second All-Star team. He still struck out a healthy amount — 175 times in 148 games — but he also drew 65 walks, just seven fewer than his combined total from 2021 and 2022. From one year to the next, his chase rate dropped from 37% to 29.4%, an uncommon improvement for a hitter already in his 30s.
Along the way, García learned to better analyze video of opposing pitchers, a skill that has paired nicely with an innate ability to make in-game adjustments.
“It’s pretty cool,” Ecker said. “For his age, he’s really in Year 3. He’s figuring out the game, he’s figuring out Major League Baseball, and it’s pretty special that in Year 3 he’s making these types of strides. It’s kind of scary what could be possible for this guy.”
YOUNG HAD NEVER seen a player get booed so roundly. Before running the Rangers’ baseball-operations department, Young spent 14 years pitching in the major leagues. He played two seasons in New York from 2011 to 2012 and made a World Series run with the Kansas City Royals in 2015. Through it all, he had never experienced anywhere near as much animosity toward a visiting player as what greeted García for Games 6 and 7 of the ALCS from Minute Maid Park in Houston, in the wake of the benches-clearing incident that centered around him getting drilled by a Bryan Abreu fastball.
García proceeded to strike out in each of his first four at-bats, and the vitriol escalated further with each one. He found himself too eager.
“I wanted to get the big hit; that’s all I wanted to do,” García said. “But I told myself, ‘No, you need to calm yourself down and just do your best.'”
What followed was one of the best surges in recent memory. In a string of six at-bats over the next two games — at a time when his team needed back-to-back road wins to knock off the defending-champion Astros and reach the World Series — García accumulated five hits, three of which were home runs (it would’ve been four had his first-inning double in Game 7 sailed a couple of feet higher). He drove in nine runs in that stretch, solidifying ALCS MVP honors while setting a record for RBIs in a single postseason series with 15.
In a highly contentious environment, with more than 40,000 people openly rooting for his failure, García found a way to extract his best self.
It captured his essence.
“I think some of the best players have a little bit of that ‘f— you’ mentality,” Rangers left-hander Andrew Heaney said. “They don’t care what other people think; they don’t take into account other people’s opinions. I think he has that ability. I don’t know how much he’s shutting out the noise versus absorbing it and letting it fuel him, but I think either way, you’re still going, ‘F— these guys. I’m gonna show them.'”
Later, in the champagne-soaked clubhouse he helped ignite, teammates gushed about García’s performance and how it spoke to his distinctive traits. One raved about his supreme talent but brought up the unwavering confidence that allows it to spill out so routinely in pressure-packed moments. Another laughed that an entire country is now learning about the greatness they had long realized. Others noted that MLB should market García as one of its transcendent stars, up there with the likes of Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna Jr. He has the skill set, but also the swagger.
“It’s so good for young players to watch him and how he plays with such confidence to just prove stuff to everybody else,” Semien said. “I think a lot of young players can learn from that guy.”
García said he took the animosity in Houston as a “positive — knowing that there was an entire stadium that was focused on me.” He viewed it as an opportunity, not a burden. In recent years, García has learned to quiet the outside noise and simplify his concentration. The tail end of the ALCS proved to him that he could do it on the grandest of stages.
Which, of course, meant he could do it in Game 1 of the World Series, too.
“I only have three years playing in the big leagues, but I’ve had a long baseball career in general and I’ve been through a lot during that time,” García said. “That’s why moments like that don’t get me stressed out.”
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Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff Writer
Golden Tate spent more than a decade as a receiver in the NFL. He won a Super Bowl. He appeared in a Pro Bowl. He made a winning touchdown catch in the playoffs.
For everything he did on a football field, it was an impromptu decision as a Notre Dame player 15 years ago on this day that might stand out from the rest.
“It’s something I’ll never be able to forget,” he said.
The internet will not let him.
“It pops up every year,” Tate said. “It’s one of the main highlights of all time, which I had no clue it was gonna happen.”
Tate, of course, is referring to a spectacular catch in the end zone to give Notre Dame a fourth-quarter lead at home against Michigan State on Sept. 29, 2009. But it’s not exactly the score that has been memorialized in college football history. After making the catch, Tate proceeded to leap — arms extended as if to motion for a touchdown — headfirst into the Spartan Marching Band in what can only be remembered as one of the most iconic spur-of-the-moment celebrations of all time.
Did I do thaaaaatttt ??? (steve urkle voice) 🤓😂 https://t.co/f15zHYfCr5
— Golden Tate (@ShowtimeTate) July 1, 2020
In what was eventually Charlie Weis’ final season as the Irish head coach, Notre Dame had just suffered a disappointing upset loss to Michigan the previous week. Michigan State had also lost the previous week, against Central Michigan, and was led by a redshirt sophomore quarterback named Kirk Cousins, whose only win as a starter had come two weeks earlier against FCS Montana State.
For Weis, a loss to that Michigan State team would have been an irredeemable sin. It all added to the gravity of the moment when quarterback Jimmy Clausen dropped back to pass, trailing 29-26 with just over five minutes to play.
After more than 65 yards in the air, the ball dropped perfectly into Tate’s outstretched hands and the rest Tate can relive as if it happened in slow motion.
“I didn’t even realize the band was there,” he said. “I was able to catch it, get my feet in and then my body clock was telling me I had to be getting pretty close to the end of the end zone.”
A careful analysis of the footage shows Tate took about three steps before he encountered the wall of band members. Impact was unavoidable.
“I can’t remember what the little girl played — I don’t know if she had like a little trombone or a flute or a clarinet or something — I see this little girl like right in my line and I know I couldn’t stop, so I’m going to destroy her [if I kept going],” Tate said. “And I got on full on gear. So, quickly I think, ‘OK, well if I just jump and land on all of them, everyone wins.’ I don’t want to completely hit-stick this little girl who’s in the band.
“They catch me and it’s a win-win. And I probably looked really cool doing it.”
Except Tate’s plan had an undiagnosed flaw.
“Little did I know, this marching band skedaddled out of there so quickly and all that was left to land on were these plastic chairs,” he said.
The adrenaline staved off any physical pain, leaving Tate more concerned about how it might have looked to a national TV audience.
“I go from, ‘This is gonna be cool,’ to now, ‘I probably look like an idiot.’ I was gonna jump in the band and now I just landed on a bunch of chairs,” Tate said.
Somehow, all of this happened in less than four seconds.
“They could have probably hit me with their instruments,” Tate said. “Someone could have poured a beer on me and I would’ve never noticed, because I was so locked into the game and had tunnel vision. I would have never known.”
Weis didn’t see the leap as it happened, but later had one critique.
“It was the wrong band,” Weis said.
Tate doesn’t remember why the band was that close to the field in the first place, but the response was a predictable one for college football.
“Michigan State fans and alumni sent Notre Dame a bunch of emails of their disapproval of me jumping into their band,” Tate said. “Which I thought was kind of hilarious.”
Archived message board conversations have preserved the opposing fan overreaction, some of which painted the moment as some kind of overarching referendum on Tate and Notre Dame:
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“It would be one thing to run into your own band, but what G. Tate did was unclassy.”
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“It looked somewhat intentional to me. I hope [MSU coach Mark] Dantonio raises a stink about it.”
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“The more I see of ND this season the less I respect them and Weis.”
The touchdown stood as the game-winner, and the bigger conversation after the game was more about what effect the result had on Weis’ job security.
“It’s a big win for Notre Dame, it’s not a big win for Charlie Weis,” Weis said after the game.
It was the first of a three-game winning streak that saw the Irish climb back into the AP Top 25 before falling apart late in the season. Weis was eventually fired two days after the season ended and replaced by Brian Kelly.
Fifteen years later, Tate’s leap is appreciated for the entertaining moment it was, and it holds a special place in Irish lore. It has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube, and it continues to be discussed on online platforms. A few years ago, it was even memorialized in a Notre Dame children’s coloring book created to help Notre Dame fans help pass the time during remote schooling.
“Being a part of history from such a prestigious and traditional university is like pretty special,” Tate said. “It was my honor to represent the university for the years I was there and now to be just part of the history books. Not only for I guess my celebrations, but also for my play.
“Now that I think about these stories or retell these stories, they seem a lot better than they were back then because I guess that was just my life. And now it’s like, ‘Man, that was really cool.'”
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Rachel Doerrie, ESPN
After hockey fans went many years without best-on-best international competition, the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-off will see the best players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States compete in Montreal and Boston from Feb. 12-20.
Each nation has named six players to its roster, with the rest to be named closer to the tournament. All four teams have a plethora of talent, so for the first time in nearly a decade, fans will get to see the best players in the world compete against each other on the international stage.
Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid skating for Canada. Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and the Tkachuk brothers for Team USA. The stacked blue line for Sweden, and two-way center depth for Finland.
Before the NHL season gets rolling, here is our projection of what each of the four rosters will look like:
United States
The national team development program has done a fantastic job of developing American superstars. The reigning Rocket Richard, Norris and Vezina Trophy winners and the best goaltending depth in the tournament is a good start. The Americans are well set up at every position to have success, while the other three teams have weaknesses in one position.
It really doesn’t matter which centers play the wing, but Matthews, Eichel and Dylan Larkin make the most sense to be permanent fixtures in the middle for the all-around game. The luxury of a 40-goal man (Brock Boeser) as a spare — should any of the American forwards falter — is quite something. The forwards are likely to come down to who is in the best form when it comes to decision time, as the U.S. could take any of Clayton Keller, Cole Caufield or Vincent Trocheck. The gap between those on the team and those who just missed is razor thin, and it is easy to see a scenario where any number of those players make the team due to performance or injury.
The defensemen were relatively easy to select, with the Norris Trophy winners expected to the lead the power play. Charlie McAvoy and Jaccob Slavin bring proven shutdown ability, which will be key in this tournament. Brock Faber was brilliant in his rookie season and should make the team if that performance continues into his sophomore year. Zach Werenski may or may not be healthy, potentially opening the door for Noah Hanifin or John Carlson to get in the lineup.
The toughest decision was in goal, where the Americans are loaded. To put it in perspective, one of Jake Oettinger, Thatcher Demko or Jeremy Swayman will be left off the team. Any one of those goaltenders would be better than any current Canadian option — the depth is tremendous. Demko is there now, but mystery surrounding his injury may see him lose his spot to Oettinger or Swayman if he doesn’t get healthy and perform well. Regardless of which three the Americans choose, all three are capable of stealing games, including reigning Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck.
Canada
Canada is loaded up front with the three generational players in Crosby, McDavid and Connor Bedard. Bedard is not a lock in the eyes of Hockey Canada, but he should be on the team if he gets off to a strong start.
The toughest choice up front was Nick Suzuki over Mark Stone, with Steven Stamkos as the extra. Stone’s injuries are a factor, and he will get significant consideration if healthy. Suzuki brings a valuable two-way game, can play multiple roles and should fit nicely in Canada’s bottom six. Stamkos is the spare, but no one should be surprised if he takes a spot in the bottom six to boost the power play. Other players who likely will be considered up front are Travis Konecny and Wyatt Johnston.
Things get complicated on the blue line, with Canada having quite a few elite defensemen on the right side. Cale Makar and Devon Toews make sense as a natural top pairing. Noah Dobson had a fantastic 2023-24 season, is better defensively and has flown under the radar. Shea Theodore and Josh Morrissey make sense on the left side, with Owen Power and Morgan Rielly likely to get consideration.
Evan Bouchard is the most interesting debate, given his ascension to stardom last season. Having four members of the electric Oilers power play must be enticing, but Makar is likely to run the top unit. If Canada doesn’t see Bouchard running a power play, they may look to the likes of Alex Pietrangelo or Aaron Ekblad for their defensive game, with Bouchard as the spare. Shaping the defense will certainly be the toughest for Canada’s brain trust, given the plethora of talent available.
The goaltending is … not great. While Canada has an overabundance of talent in the skater category, they lack in goaltending. Jordan Binnington, Stuart Skinner and Adin Hill have demonstrated they are capable of winning high-pressure games. However, all three have had moments or long stretches of games where they cannot be trusted. Canada can ill afford to choose pedigree over which goaltender is playing the best given who they will face in this event. If Tristan Jarry and Joel Hofer play well to start the season, Canada will have no choice but to consider them here, as having a goalie in form is vital.
Sweden
Sweden has some interesting decisions to make all over their lineup. Elias Pettersson, Joel Eriksson Ek and Mikael Backlund represent strong two-way play with scoring prowess. If Gabriel Landeskog returns without setback, it is easy to see how Sweden would consider bringing him to the tournament. Rickard Rakell will get consideration if he plays well to start the season, and could take a spot from Gustav Nyquist, Lucas Raymond or Leo Carlsson.
Sweden has the option to go young or give veterans one last kick at international competition; a mix of both is likely the best route.
About that blue line: Victor Hedman, Gustav Forsling, Erik Karlsson and Rasmus Dahlin is some kind of top four. The Swedish defensemen are a who’s who of Norris Trophy conversations over the past decade. Behind that group, Mattias Ekholm has been consistently steady, and Hampus Lindholm plays a key shutdown role on a great team. Their inclusion frees up Karlsson and Dahlin from penalty killing, and should allow them to thrive offensively. Jonas Brodin will be in the mix too, with Rasmus Andersson and Adam Larsson likely to get consideration for bottom-pair roles. Sweden’s depth on the blue line will be a major strength.
If Jacob Markstrom plays the way he’s capable of in New Jersey, he is likely to back up Linus Ullmark. Both goalies have been in the Vezina conversation in recent seasons, with Ullmark playing more consistently over the past few seasons. Lucas Wallstedt goes in favor of Sam Ersson, given that Sweden views him as a key piece of their international landscape in the future. If Ersson vastly outplays Wallstedt in the early season, he may get the nod, but it is unlikely either sees action in the tournament if Ullmark and Markstrom are healthy.
Finland
Finland’s strength is up front, where its center depth includes Aleksander Barkov, Sebastian Aho, Roope Hintz and Anton Lundell. Other nations have more scoring depth, but Finland has three centers who are elite two-way players, while Lundell is developing into a two-way stud.
Outside of Mikko Rantanen, Finland lacks elite scoring talent on the wings. If Patrik Laine can find his form in Montreal, he’s likely to play higher in the lineup and score. Eeli Tolvanen and Joel Armia are on the bubble up front, if players like Laine or Mattias Maccelli don’t have good starts to the season. Expect Finland to play a tight checking game and rely on their elite two-way players to win low-scoring games. This is a country that has had significant success in recent international tournaments, so they shouldn’t be overlooked despite that relative lack of pop.
On the blue line, Finland is led by Miro Heiskanen — the only true star on the back end. He will log major minutes, play in all situations and quarterback the power play. Olli Maatta and Juuso Valimaki could trade places depending on their performance. Expect Esa Lindell, Rasmus Ristolainen and Niko Mikkola to be key penalty killers and bring a physical element to the defensive zone.
Juuse Saros will be a huge part of Finland’s ability to contend in this tournament, and is a shoo-in to be the starter. Saros will likely be backed up by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen or Kaapo Kahkonen, but is likely to remain Finland’s starter for the entire tournament.
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