Because I am a
glutton for punishment (and every bit an “authentic fan” that our local cable
sports’ channel is looking for), I was watching the Royals-White Sox game
Friday night. What struck me about
Avisail Garcia’s one and only at-bat is how bad he looked in flying out to
short right field, not how slow he ran out of the box. Sox manager Rick Renteria felt differently
and benched Garcia for lack of hustle.
Garcia said
after the game he felt both “a click” and “a little pain” in a bulky right knee
that will probably require postseason surgery.
I would tend to give Garcia the benefit of the doubt here. According to James Fegan in The Athletic,
Garcia had the third-most infield hits in baseball last season with 27. I have never seen a player so big—Garcia is
listed at 6’ 4” and 240 pounds—hustle down the line the way he does. Renteria said, “I didn’t think he had given
me an effort on the Texas Leaguer [in question].” Renteria went on to say that Garcia “does
have a knee that’s bothering him a little bit.”
Huh?
Bench Garcia for
needlessly risking further injury, but don’t say he needed to hustle more
regardless the level of injury. That’s
just showing up a player and sounding dumb.
I wonder, when Eloy Jimenez gets called up sometime before his 30th
birthday, will Renteria do unto Jimenez as he’s done unto Avisail Garcia?
Fair is fair,
after all.
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