Robel García

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Robel Estiwal García Rodriguez

  • Bats Both, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 0", Weight 168 lb.

BR page

Biographical Information[edit]

Robel García played in Italy and for the Italian national team before making his major league debut.

Garcia was signed by Cleveland Indians scouts Ramon Pena, Felix Nivar and Marcelino Vallejo in February 2010, at age 16. [1] Usually Dominican signees would start in the Dominican Summer League but Garcia went straight to the Arizona League, hitting .164/.328/.286 with 32 walks in 43 games for the AZL Indians. He was second in the AZL in walks, 5 behind Travis Shaw. In 2011, he batted .284/.371/.544 with 8 triples and 31 runs in 45 games for the AZL Indians, though he fielded .893 at third. He tied Gioskar Amaya and Yeison Asencio for 3rd in the AZL in triples, tied for 6th in homers (6), tied for 5th in extra-base hits (24) and tied Kelvin Rojas for 8th in slugging. [2] Jose Cuevas was named the All-Star third baseman instead.

The Dominican infielder struggled in 2012 with the Lake County Captains (.210/.298/.309 in 63 G) and Mahoning Valley Scrappers (.227/.312/.293 in 56 G). In '13, he again fared poorly at the plate for the two teams - .174/.321/.283 in 16 games for the Captains, .216/.299/.375 in 51 games for the Scrappers. While he was still only 20 years old, the Indians gave up on him, granting him his release.

Signing with Fortitudo Bologna for 2017, he did very well in the 2017 European Champions Cup, scoring 3 against the Mainz Athletics and driving in four in a 9-8 win over the Amsterdam Pirates. He hit .444/.474/.778 with 5 runs and 10 RBI in four games in the first round. That put him 8th in average and slugging, tied for first in hits (8, even with Paolino Ambrosino), first in RBI (one ahead of Gabriel Fromental) and first in total bases (14). He was held in check in the championship game against Neptunus, going 1 for 4. [3] Garcia hit .274/.360/.521 with 21 runs in 24 regular-season games in the 2017 Italian Baseball League. [4]

Garcia batted .214/.421/.286 in the 2018 European Champions Cup, tying Dylan Gleeson and Thomas De Wolf for the most walks (5) and tied for 3rd with two errors. [5] He played for Italy in the 2018 Haarlem Baseball Week, hitting .200/.304/.200 with one run and no RBI in seven games. [6] In the 2018 Serie A1 regular season, he hit .281/.343/.490 for Bologna, fielding .955. [7]

Robel played for Italy in the 2018 Super6 as well, doing far better than in his prior tourney for Italia. He hit .563/.579/1.313 with 5 runs, 3 homers and 7 RBI in 4 games before their finale was rained out. He hit for the cycle, the first player to do so in a Super6, in a game against Belgium. He doubled off Artuur Driessens in the 2nd, smacked a 3-run homer off him in the 3rd with ex-big leaguers Alex Liddi and Chris Colabello aboard to open the scoring, was retired in the 5th, tripled in the 7th and singled off Jace Van Droogenbroeck in the 9th to score Liddi. He also went deep off Spain's Richard Castillo (a former AAA hurler) and the Czech team's Boris Bokaj. He tied Dennis De Quint for 3rd in the high-offense event in average, was second in slugging (.137 behind Colabello, .027 ahead of Liddi), placed 6th in OBP (between Petr Čech and Steven De Lannoy), tied De Quint for 3rd in hits (9), tied Martin Mužík for 6th in RBI (7), tied for 2nd in homers (2 behind Colabello) and was 3rd with 21 total bases (behind Colabello and Liddi). [8]

He signed with the Chicago Cubs that fall, returning to the US ranks after a five-year absence. [9] He started very strong for the Tennessee Smokies (.295/.391/.590, 26 RBI in 22 G) and was called up to the Iowa Cubs. He kept on hitting (.281/.352/.596, 15 HR in 50 G) and had 21 homers in 72 games when the Cubs brought him to the big leagues when Dillon Maples was sent down. In his debut, he pinch-hit for Brandon Kintzler and whiffed against Dovydas Neverauskas, another player with European experience.

Sources[edit]

  1. ↑ 2013 Indians Media Guide, pg. 264
  2. ↑ 2011 AZL leaders at MILB.com
  3. ↑ 2017 European Champions Cup at baseballstats.eu
  4. ↑ 2017 Bologna stats at FIBS.it
  5. ↑ 2018 European Champions Cup at baseballstats.eu
  6. ↑ 2018 Haarlem Baseball Week at the Dutch Baseball and Softball Federation site
  7. ↑ 2018 Serie A1 stats at FIBS.it
  8. ↑ 2018 Super6 at baseballstats.eu
  9. ↑ Mister-Baseball.com

Further Reading[edit]

  • Jake Rouse: "From Class A to Italy ... to his first Cubs HR: Garcia triples for first MLB hit, falls double shy of cycle in first start", mlb.com, July 4, 2019. [1]

Related Sites[edit]

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