The season started out slowly for Dayton Dragons shortstop Jose Garcia. In his first 241 plate appearances this season the 20-year-old infielder hit just .196/.238/.262. Starting out slowly may have been an understatement. But, as I’ve written on these pages before, he looked better – far better – than his numbers suggested.
Things began to turn around in late June for Jose Garcia. Since June 26th he’s racked up 151 plate appearances. He’s walked more times in that span than he did in those previous 241 trips to the plate. Garcia has hit .307/.364/.394 in that span. Last night just continued that run as he went 3-5 with two doubles for Dayton in an extra-innings win.
A scout that I spoke with recently had some very nice things to say about Jose Garcia. He absolutely praised what he could do defensively. But he was also complimentary of the bat – saying that he believed he’d hit in the future and he wasn’t worried about the stats right now.
Zeek White continues to rake
Perhaps the forgotten part of the Dan Straily and Luis Castillo trade, Zeek White is using 2018 to try and be sure you don’t forget about him much longer. He began the season with the Greeneville Reds, but that didn’t last very long. He would spend nine games there, just crushing the baseball. White hit .438/.514/.625 for the Reds before he was sent out west to join the Billings Mustangs.
Last night saw Zeek White go 2-5 with a walk, a steal, and he scored three runs. That pushed his line with the Billings Mustangs to .354/.456/.554 in the 19 games played since he joined them. Between his two stops he’s hit an absurd .381/.474/.577 with 15 walks, 26 strikeouts, and nine steals in 28 games played.
The former 3rd round pick of the Marlins (2015) had been known for his tools, but he hadn’t yet put those tools into action on a consistent basis since signing. That seems to be changing this year as he’s posted an OPS over 1.000 at two different stops this season.