Born in El Cajon and attended Valhalla High School in El Cajon (class of 2007)...Greg and his wife, Hannah, reside in Santee, Calif., with their daughter, Olivia. His brother, Drew, was an infielder in the CWS and COL organizations...His grandfather, Dave Garcia, served as a coach on the Padres' big league staff in the 1970s, and managed in the minors for the Padres, Giants and Angels. Dave also managed Major League clubs for the California Angels (1977-78) and Cleveland Indians (1979-82), going 307-310...Played SS at the University of Hawaii and was first team all-WAC his junior year (2010), batting a team-high .358...A true San Diegan, Garcia enjoys California burritos, and his favorite TV show is The Office.
2020
Completed his second season with the Padres in 2020, appearing in 35 games, including 15 starts...Went 3x9 with a walk in a pinch-hitting role, while he batted .400 (6x15) with runners in scoring position...since the 2014 season, Garcia leads all active Major Leaguers with 50 hits as a pinch hitter.
2019
In his first season with the Padres, set career highs in games played (134), hits (77), 2B (13), 3B (4), HR (4), RBI (31), BB (53) and runs (52)...Led the Padres in percent of pitches taken (65.8%) and in swing and miss percentage (16.0%)...With RISP, posted a .421 OBP and .414 SLG, and with RISP/2 out, he owned a .346 AVG, .541 OBP and .500 SLG...his .541 OBP with RISP/2 out ranked 2nd in the majors (min. 30 PA)...Hit .278 (10-for-36) as a pinch hitter, which ranked T-8th in the majors (min. 30 AB)...made 74 starts, including 57 at 2B, 12 at 3B, 4 at SS and 1 as a DH...Tied his career high with a 7-game hit streak from Sept. 1827, going 8-for-22 (.364) with 1 2B, 5 BB and 4 runs scored...On June 16 at COL, set career highs with 4 hits, 2 3B and 4 RBI, logging a season-high 8 total bases…became 1 of 6 Padres with at least 1 4+ hit game in 2019: Hunter Renfroe (2), Austin Hedges (1), Eric Hosmer (1), Manny Machado (1) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (1)...Made his 1st-career appearance at 1B on April 14 @ ARI (1.0 inning) and played 3.0 innings in LF on July 25 @ NYM, marking his 1st-career appearance in the OF...His 7.02 BB/PA led the Padres...walked 18 times in 87 PA over 26 games in September...Finished his 6th consecutive ML campaign with a .300+ OBP.
2018
Spent the entire season with STL, recording the secondmost PH at-bats (49) and plate appearances (57) in the majors...Ended the season with 181 career PH plate appearances, which tied for 12th among active players with LAD's Justin Turner...Played in 100+ games in consecutive seasons for the first time in his career (133 in 2017 and 114 in 2018)...His three stolen bases set a career high in a season... Recorded a career-high two-HR game on 4/14 at CIN, going 3-for-4 with a double, three RBI and three runs scored...hit both HR off LHP Brandon Finnegan, his first and second-career HR off a LHP...Appeared in 114 games and made 34 starts, including 16 at 2B, 13 at SS and three at 3B...Averaged 4.39 pitches/PA as a pinch-hitter (14th in MLB)...Against NL West clubs, hit .292 (7-for-24) with a .320 OBP...Hit .167/.200/.417 vs. LHP and .229/.324/.287 against RHP...Made his first-career pitching performance on 6/21 at MIL in the eighth...worked a scoreless inning, allowing one hit in a 11-3 loss.
2017
Played in career-high 133 games while making 52 starts (23-3B, 21-2B, 8-SS) ... Posted new single-season highs in hits, RBI, triples and stolen bases ... His .365 on-base percentage was more than 100 points higher than his batting average (.253) ... Since his career began in 2014, has a career .372 on-base percentage, ranking 12th among MLB infielders (min. 600 plate appearances) ... Batted .282 (58-206) against right-handed pitchers and .086 (3-35) against left-handed pitchers ... Posted .300 BA or higher in April (.308, 12-39), July (.300, 9-30) and August (.311, 14-45) ... Batted .265 as a starter and .225 in reserve ... Hit .222 (10-45) as a pinch-hitter, T2nd most pinch-hits (10) on the Cardinals ... Reached base safely in five consecuitve pinch-hit appearances (9/20-24) ... Tied his career-high with three hits vs. Tampa Bay (8/27) ... Batted .400 (10-25) in Interleague play ... Blasted a 462-foot home run at COL (5/28) off German Marquez, the longest of his career.
2016
Began the season on the Major League roster for the first time...batted .600 (6-10) in 10 games before 4/17 option...Was recalled on 5/26 (Matt Carpenter paternity leave) and remained on the roster the remainder of the season. Went 6-12 (.500) with a HR three walks in 5/26-29 WSH series...Batted .348 BA (8-23) as a pinch-hitter for the 4th-best average in MLB, ranked 4th in pinch OBP (.444) and 9th in pinch slugging (.522). Hit 2nd career PH-HR 4/8 at ATL as Cardinals set record with three pinch HR's that game...His pinch-hit on 10/2 at PIT, gave the Cardinals 81 pinch hits and tied the MLB record for most by a team in a single season...Had 2 streaks of reaching safely in 8 straight plate appearances (8/21-25 & 8/31-9/3)...Batted .333 (8-24) with runners in scoring position and 2 outs...Made starts at 2B (23), SS (31) & 3B (12) and set his career-high with eight assists vs. KC (6/29) while playing at shortstop...Tied his career-best with three walks twice (4/10 at ATL & 9/3 at CIN)...Ran off a career high 7-game hit streak (10-17, .588, HR) from 4/15-5/30, ending with a pinch-hit appearance on 6/1...Reached base three times off bench vs. LAD on 7/22 in a 16-inning game (BB, HBP, 2B), entering in the bottom of the 7th...Hit 3rd home run of the season 7/31 at MIA...Had a career-best two doubles as part of 3-for-3 game on 9/2 at CIN...Reached base safely in his last 14 starts (17-44, .386 BA) with four multi-hit games...Batted leadoff in 17 starts (20 games) with a .254 BA and .363 OBP...At Memphis, batted .269 with eight RBI and had a .350 OBP, playing 2B, 3B and SS in 30 games from 4/19-5/25...In his last six games at Memphis (5/17-24) he went 10-26 (.385).
2015
Appeared with St. Louis three times during the season; 6/19-7/4, 7/30-8/6 (Holliday DL), 8/23 - end of season, in addition to splitting his time at Memphis (AAA)…Led the Cardinals in pinch hits with nine, T13th in the National League; went 9-26 (.391) in pinch hit role…Made 7 starts at shortstop, 6 at second and one at third while with STL…Batted .350 (7-20) in 16 games with St. Louis during his first 2 recalls…Hit game-tying home run vs. CHI on 6/26 for his 1st Major League home run and first at any level in 2015…Of 4 total RBI, one was game-winning RBI (7/30 vs. COL) and one was game-tying RBI (HR 6/26 vs. CHI)…Had a four game hitting streak in September (9/6-9), in which he went 4-7, .571 with two doubles…Batted .294 with Memphis (20th in PCL) over 94 games…Named the Cardinals Minor League Player of the Month of May when he hit .361 over 27 games at Memphis. Had 4 doubles, 12 RBI and stole 5 bases during the month with a .421 OBP…Hit .346 in June with Memphis and had a 10-game hit streak 6/1-11 (14-34, .412)…Played at second base, shortstop and third base while at Memphis, where he was 16-for-19 in steal attempts…Drove in 35 runs with runners in scoring position, batting .316 (25-79) in RISP situations at AAA…Rated by Baseball America as having the "best strike zone judgement" in the Pacific Coast League.
2014
In a season in which he made his Major League debut, spent the majority of the year at Memphis (AAA), while playing four games at Springfield (AA) in late August prior to roster expansions...Of his 106 games at Memphis, the majority came at second base (90), also playing 13 at shortstop and one at third (2 PH AB)...Led the Pacific Coast League with 209 putouts at second...Began the season reaching base in five-straight contests at Memphis, extending a streak he began in 2013 to 30 consecutive games reaching base (25-straight 8/8/13-end of season at Memphis)...Batted .359 (23-64) in August with Memphis; combined with his August numbers at Springfield (AA) hit .354 (28-79)...Hit .324 with runners on and .338 with runners on w/2 outs; went 13-39 (.333) when batting with RISP and 2 outs...Recalled on 4/28 to St. Louis and made his Major League debut with a pinch-hit at-bat (walk) vs. MIL. Was HBP the next game (4/29 vs. MIL) in a pinch AB...Started his first MLB game at second base on 4/30 vs. MIL and picked up his first Major League hit with a double in the 5th inning off Wei-Chung Wang...Drew bases-loaded HBP in 12th inning of a 4-3 win vs. CHI (5/13) to give Cardinals their first "walk-off" HBP in over 25 years...Optioned following game on 5/13 to Memphis and recalled a second time to STL 8/19-24. Optioned to Double-A Springfield on 8/24 where he played second base, third base and shortstop (2 games) over four games, hitting .333 (5-15)...Transferred to Memphis 8/31 to play for the Redbirds during Pacific Coast League playoffs vs. Omaha in the best of five series...Went 3-13 in four games and scored the go-ahead run in Memphis' only win during the playoffs, a 4-3 Game 2 victory. Singled to lead off the 9th, advanced to second on a steal and to 3rd on a throwing error, before scoring on a wild pitch...Recalled by St. Louis on 9/8 to end of season, appearing in five games.
2013
Played entire season at Memphis (AAA), appearing in 116 games, starting 73 at shortstop, 21 at second base and 13 at third... Ranked 9th among Cardinals minor leaguers with a .377 on-base percentage and T8th with 23 doubles... Posted career bests in doubles (23), stolen bases (14), sacrifices (10) and hit by pitch (11)... Reached base safely in a team-high 25 consecutive games to finish the season (8/8-end of season), posting a .390 batting average and .495 on-base percentage during the streak... Batted .368 (32-87) in August during pennant run with 2 HR and 12 RBI... Homered in three games, and Redbirds were 3-0 in those games... Recorded 26 multi-hit games and rapped out two doubles in a game in three different instances... Batted .316 (25-79) with runners in scoring position and .356 (16-45) w/RISP and 2 outs... Had a critical three-RBI pinch-hit single in the 11th inning at Nashville to key a Redbirds 6-3 win.
2012
Posted a career best season with 10 home runs, 51 RBI and 80 walks over 124 games at Springfield (AA)... led Texas League shortstops with 92 double plays and 425 assists...batted .346 in June (28-81, 3 HR, 16 RBI) and .319 in July (29-91, 4 HR, 15 RBI)...had a career-high four-walk game at Arkansas (5/14)... posted first career multi-home run game vs. Northwest Arkansas (7/22), with the first coming on the back-end of back-to-back shots with teammate Xavier Scruggs...had 28 multi-hit games, eight three-hit games and one four-hit game, a 4-for-4 effort at Frisco (4/13)...ran off a team-best 30-game on-base streak (6/14-7/22), ranking 3rd in the Texas League. Batted .343 with an on-base percenteage of .476 over the 30 games... Springfield was 9-0 in games which he homered...ranked third in the Texas League in walks (80) and on-base percentage (.408)...his 80 walks were the most of any Cardinals minor leaguer and his 81 runs scored ranked fourth among the farmhands...hit two home runs and had six RBI in the Texas League playoffs. The six RBI were tied for most in TL playoffs...his three-run home run in Game 1 of the playoffs at Tulsa, tied the game in the top of the ninth as part of a 6-0 come-from-behind rally to win 8-6 in 10 innings.
2011
Ranked T2nd among Cardinals minor leaguers in triples (6), 6th in on base percentage (.384) and 9th in walks (48)...made the Midwest League All-Star team as an infielder but was promoted to Palm Beach.
2010
Was top fielding second baseman in the Appalachian League with a .985 fielding pct...ranked 2nd in the Appy League in runs scored (49)...batted .467 (7-15) in the playoffs helping Johnson City to league championship...hit first professional home run in pinch-hit role off Jhonathan Torres vs. Kingsport (7/18).
