MINNEAPOLIS — He was one face of what fans objected to about manager Tony La Russa, the White Sox’ longest tenured player who found himself in the lineup on a regular basis despite struggling through his worst offensive season ever.
Leury Garcia knew it, often hearing [“crap”] from fans in the stands, as he put it, and as La Russa said, the harder he tried, the worse things got.
“Not good at all,” Garcia told the Sun-Times, summing up his season. “Since Day 1, I’ve been up and down. It was not the best season. It was the worst season.”
Garcia heard boos, directed at him and La Russa, and it’s probably a good thing he’s not on social media where fans’ displeasure got brutal at times. La Russa’s unwavering support didn’t help his cause.
But he gets it.
“We are supposed to be in a better place at this time of year,” he said.
The switch-hitting Garcia even batted third twice and cracked his generous smile with an “alrighty then” smile before one of those starts. It looked like a puzzling vote of confidence from La Russa, who always preferred his veterans.
“He told me, ‘Hey, put your head down, we believe in you,’ ’’ Garcia said.
But Garcia, a career .254/.293/.350 hitter with a .644 OPS in 701 games, never got untracked aside from a few moments, including a walkoff single to beat the Twins in 10 innings on July 6 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Getting picked off third base on ball four to Yoan Moncada to end an inning during a 6-5 loss at Colorado on July 27 was was a signature baserunning blunder by a Sox team that had too many of them in 2022.
Garcia’s pose, face down in the Coors Field dirt, was a snapshot of the Sox’ season.
Since bench coach Miguel Cairo took over for the ailing La Russa, Garcia has started in just four games, and not since Sept. 11. He hasn’t appeared in the last seven.
“Yes, it’s kind of like, you want to go with the guys that are going to be healthy and the guys that are doing the job,” Cairo said Wednesday “It is baseball, man. Sometimes you’re going to be fine and sometimes you’re going to … You want to be consistent in everything you do.”
Garcia is batting .210/.233/.267 with a paltry .500 OPS in 90 games, his worst season since his first full year on the South Side in 2014. This comes after Garcia, who plays three positions in both the outfield and infield, was awarded for his versatility with a three-year, $16.5 million contract that was surprising at the time and seems even more perplexing now.
Garcia, 31, said that first multiyear contract of his career did not affect his performance.
“Not really,” he said. “When you have a good contract, you feel good. But at the same time you have to take care of it, you know? Because they pay you and they believe in you. That’s why I don’t feel good at all. It is what it is, but next year come back and do better.”
“He was just trying to swing through everything instead of being more selective,” Cairo said. “He needs to work a little bit more on a approach. When you have a guy like that that can hit line drives, sometimes he hits a homer, it would be good.”
Cairo again on Thursday drove home the importance of players coming to spring training in shape and ready to roll next year. There will be no lockout or shortened camp in February and March, so no excuses.
Garcia is one of many who have underperformed for the Sox (76-79), who were trying to snap an eight-game losing streak Thursday.
“I just want to work in the offseason to be healthy, and I have to work on my hitting,” Garcia said. “Those are the things I’ll focus on in the offseason.”
