Chicago Cubs: Robel Garcia continues to mash in minors

After a strong start to the season, Chicago Cubs prospect Robel Garcia continues to hit in the minors and is doing everything he can to get a call-up to the Show.

It was a little over a month ago when Chicago Cubs prospect Robel Garcia was playing in Tennessee and slashing .295/.391/.590 with a 183 wRC+ in 22 games. He was making a bit of a name for himself among Cubs fans and beat reporters who follow the minor leagues closely and his play earned him a promotion to Triple A.

The results with the Iowa Cubs so far have been just as good, a .310/.385/.647 slash with 11 home runs, 1.031 OPS and a 147 wRC+ in 32 games. He has four home runs in his past six games which includes two doubles, nine runs batted in and has reached base safely in every game this month but one so far. Between Tennessee and Iowa, Garcia is slashing .304/.387/.624 with 17 home runs and 50 RBI.

Garcia is a switch-hitting infielder who can play second, third and short. Most of his time in 2019 has been spent at third, but he is still versatile around the infield. One may wonder what is next for the 26-year old slugger.

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Could a trip to the Majors be next?

More and more frustration grows with the lack of hitting production from the second base position. With Ben Zobrist still away from the team, Daniel Descalso really struggling, hitting just 100/.214/.133 since the start of May and Addison Russell batting a very “meh” .243/.318/.419 and battling injuries, could this be a door opening for Garcia?

He has certainly earned his first promotion to Iowa and he is hitting the ball hard. Sample sizes are not huge but in the month’s worth of games he has played with the Iowa Cubs, 30.6 percent of his batted balls are line drives and his home run/fly ball ratio is at 45.8 percent.

Obviously that HR/FB ratio is not sustainable over a full season but 17 home runs in the minors so far show he has serious pop regardless. Plus he has not been an all-or-nothing player with a very good average and OBP to go along with his power. He has been a complete hitter this year.

Now there is still a matter of fitting in even with many second basemen struggling or out. Do not forget David Bote (slashing .282/.359/.494) has played a lot of second and has produced. The addition of Carlos Gonzalez allows for another right fielder to play in case of Jason Heyward either having a game in center or having a day off. Without CarGo, one could have argued to see more Bote at third and Kris Bryant in right with a spot for Garcia to play second.

Would it be impossible then to fit Garcia on the team? No. Joe Maddon would find ways to fit him in, it would just be hard to do it every day if you want (X) number of guys playing most days. At the pace he is going at it will get harder and harder for the Cubs not to give him a shot at the majors.