Adolis has simple plan to snap back into form in 2026

PHILADELPHIA -- Adolis García said he doesn’t want to be a hero.

The Phillies don’t want him to be one, either.

García will try to make this his mindset in 2026. The Phils announced on Tuesday that they signed García to a one-year, $10 million contract. It is a low-risk, high-reward signing for the Phillies, who hope he can do what Max Kepler could not in 2025 -- bounce back from a subpar season to be a middle-of-the-lineup threat for a team with World Series expectations.

(Kepler had a .682 OPS and 91 OPS+ with the Twins in 2024 and then posted comparable numbers with the Phillies.)

García, who will replace Nick Castellanos in right field, has been that threat in the past but not recently. García posted a combined .675 OPS and 96 OPS+ the past two seasons with the Rangers, who non-tendered him in November. But from 2021-23, García had a combined .777 OPS and a 113 OPS+ while making two AL All-Star teams and winning 2023 ALCS MVP honors.

Can García hit like he hit in 2023, when he slugged 39 home runs? Or, at the very least, can he be a league-average offensive performer who plays above-average defense?

He turns 33 on March 2.

“Even though some of the stuff may be slightly down, it’s still positive in many directions,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said.

The positives: When García puts the bat on the ball, he still hits the ball hard. Per Statcast, he ranked among the top 30% of hitters in MLB this year in average exit velocity (92.1 mph), barrel rate (11.6%) and hard-hit rate (46.7%).

The problem is that García chased way too many pitches out of the strike zone. His chase rate (35.7%) ranked in the 10th percentile in MLB, compared with his 29.3% chase rate in 2023 (42nd percentile). His whiff rate (30.3%) mirrored the Phillies’ whiff rate as a team (30.3%).

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“He needs to be more under control with his swing,” Dombrowski said. “We don’t need him to hit the ball out of the ballpark on every swing or every at-bat. We think he can do that. And our hitting coaches … that’s one of the things that they do very well working with individuals.

“For me, it’s a matter of … not trying to do too much. The tools are there. The ball jumps off his bat. The bat speed’s still there. The exit velocity’s still very good. So those are things that we feel encouraged about.”

Said García, through his interpreter: “We are on the same page. The focus is not to be a hero -- to have good at-bats, the concentration, the focus level, the approach of things, being within myself.”

Phillies manager Rob Thomson said hitting coach Kevin Long, who lives outside Phoenix, and hitting development director Edward Gonzalez, who lives in Miami, will travel soon to the Tampa, Fla., area to meet with García.

“It’s simple,” García said, relaying a recent conversation with Long. “We believe in the same things. We’ve communicated. We’re on the same plan. It’s just simple. It’s focus. K-Long knows about my power. It’s about doing the little adjustments that I need to do.”

If García can actually make those adjustments, the Phillies should have more pop in the lineup. They need it.

If he can’t, the Phillies’ outfield could rank among the bottom half in baseball again. Phillies outfielders ranked 19th in the Majors with a .710 OPS this year. They haven’t ranked in the top half since 2023.

“This guy’s a talented guy,” Thomson said. “Last year, maybe for him it’s a down year. But it’s still a lot of production, and you’ve got that really good defense. So we’re going to get to work here pretty quick.”