Yunir Garcia

Yunir I Garcia

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 170 lb.

• Born August 3, 1982 in San Felipe, Yaracuy Venezuela

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Yunir Garcia played eight seasons in the minors then moved to the dugout.

Garcia signed with the New York Mets in 1998. He hit .228 for the 1999 VSL Mets, fell to .141 with the same club in 2000, then rebounded to .244 in 2001. After three seasons at third base, he moved to catcher with the 2002 Kingsport Mets and hit .233/.423/.367 with 27 walks in 33 games.

In 2003, Yunir slumped to .177/.304/.260 for the Brooklyn Cyclones but threw out 45% of attempted base-stealers. He split 2004 between the Cyclones (5 for 30, HR, 2 BB) and Capital City Bombers (.270/.386/.446, 10 HR in 222 AB). The next season, Garcia hit only .171/.321/.294 for the St. Lucie Mets and was 3 for 12 with a double and a walk for the Binghamton Mets.

The San Felipe native struck out in 82 of 188 AB in 2006, split between St. Lucie, Binghamton and the Norfolk Tides and posting a composite line of .144/.288/.202. One surprise is that his best work came in his lone look at AAA pitching, going 5 for 20 with two doubles, his only homer of the year and four walks for Norfolk.

He remained with the Mets system as a coach for the 2008-2009 VSL Mets then became a manager with the 2010 DSL Mets 2. He came stateside in 2011 as a hitting coach for the GCL Mets. Garcia then coached for the Kingsport Mets in 2012-2014, Brooklyn Cyclones in 2015, and GCL Mets again in 2016-2017.

Moving to the San Diego Padres' chain, he was a hitting coach with the DSL Padres in 2018-2019. Garcia was scheduled to return to the team in 2020 before COVID-19 shut down the minor league season. He coached DSL Padres hitters again in 2021-2022. Garcia was hitting coach of the DSL Padres Brown in 2023 and San Antonio Missions in 2024.

Garcia also has considerable coaching experience in the Venezuelan League.

• 2012/2013 - 2015/2016 First base coach Leones del Caracas
• Start - 12/14/2016 Third base coach Leones
• 12/14/2016 - end, 2017 Bench coach Leones
• 2017/2018 - 2018/2019 Third base coach Leones
• 2021/2022 - 2023/2024 Third base coach Bravos de Margarita