Juan Garcia (Spain)

Juan García Pagan

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 4", Weight 205 lb.

• School University of California, San Diego

• Born July 11, 1976 in Barcelona Spain

Biographical Information

Juan García frequently played for the Spanish national team. García debuted for Spain in the 1997 European Championship, scoring 11 runs to tie Lars Koehorst for the tourney lead. In the 1997 Intercontinental Cup, he hit .227/.320/.409 with 9 strikeouts in 22 AB. He led a weak Spanish offense in runs (3), RBI (2, tied) and home runs (1, tied).

García remained Spain's regular right fielder in the 1998 Baseball World Cup, in which he had 3 assists in 9 games. He hit .407/.500/.519 with 7 runs as one of Spain's top producers along with Jose Arza and Javier Zabalza.

The Barcelona native only batted .174/.208/.174 in the 1999 European Championship. In the 2003 European Championship, he only had 5 hits in 31 at-bats and struck out 12 times, but drew 5 walks, stole 4 bases in 4 tries, hit a home run and scored six runs. He tied Petr Baroch and Nick Markakis for 4th in the event in steals and tied for 6th in runs.

In the 2004 Division Honor season, García hit .381/.484/.486. He tied Jesus Golindano for 6th in the league in OBP.

He hit .250/.415/.281 with 9 walks and 8 runs in 8 games in the 2005 European Championship and had 23 putouts without an error. He stole four bases in four tries to lead Spain in steals and walks; only Zabalza had more runs. He was 1 for 4 with a run in the Bronze Medal Game win over Germany. He tied Zabalza and Michal Kočí for second in the event in steals, one behind Sebastien Herve of France. In the 2005 Baseball World Cup, Juan played error-free ball in 8 games in center field and had one assist. He hit .222/.300/.400 with 13 strikeouts in 27 AB. He led Spain in steals (2 in 2 tries), runs (6) and extra-base hits (4).

During 2006, Juan produced at a .354/.400/.451 rate for FC Barcelona. He fell to .276/.359/.425 in 2007.

García was Spain's primary right fielder in the 2007 European Championship and hit .231/.334/.231 with 3 steals in 4 tries. In the 2007 Baseball World Cup, Juan batted .294/.294/.353, starting in right field ahead of former minor leaguer Jose Cruz.