Avisail García

Prospect Ratings by Baseball America:
Pre-2013: Rated #74 Prospect 

Before the 2003 season, Baseball America ranked Miguel Cabrera as the #12 prospect in the country. An interesting ranking because, while he had shown progression with the Marlins high A team – 43 doubles as a 19 year old – he only slugged .421 and walked a mere 38 times in 545 plate appearances. However, the folks at BA were correct to rank him that high. He started 2003 in AA and it was there that he exploded. In 303 plate appearances he had 42 extra base hits and an OPS of 1.038 before he was called up to the Marlins, which is the point where he never looked back.

Garcia has obviously just broken into BA’s top 100 and, at 21, is a year older than Cabrera was when he broke out so there is a certain difference between the two. How much so remains to be seen, as highlighted by last September, when Cabrera and Garcia were so infamously linked together by stature and nature, and apparently  nurture. So, while the stats for Cabrera were noticeably better, there still are some striking similarities that go behind appearances.

Both players improved their statistics as they moved up the minor leagues system, from rookie ball to double A, and they both were promoted to the big leagues after succeeding in double A. The most significant improvement for both players was at double A, although Cabrera had a more noticeable leap. This leads most to think, and probably correctly so, that Garcia isn’t going to have the impact Cabrera has had. It makes sense since the going belief is that he is going to spend 2013 in the minor leagues, but that’s all comparative to the Tigers situation; the Marlins had a need for Cabrera, the Tigers at this point do not. That said, Garcia still needs to work on that walk rate, which is the one criticism I can make. Once he does that, he’ll probably be up for good before he turn 23. This is what I’ll be looking for this year in Garcia’s game.  I think it’s the key difference between him becoming an impact player and not becoming an impact player.

There’s obviously a huge difference between Miguel Cabrera and Avisail Garcia, and I’m in no way suggesting that Garcia is ever going to be the type of hitter Cabrera is. But they look similar and have advanced through the minor leagues in a similar fashion and, simply put, we like to compare people who look similar or have similar up-comings.

What I am saying, if I’m saying anything, is that baseball players are not always found on the top 10 lists of prospect rankings and when there is improvement as a player moves up the minor league chain, things tend to look interesting, when seen next to a player blows everyone away in or A ball and then struggles in the higher levels, as so much top talent does.