Jesse

Garcia

Garcia spent much of the last three years on the bus between Richmond and Atlanta. With shortstop prospect Pete Orr back from Canadian Olympic duty and destined for the majority of playing time, Garcia was cut.

The Braves were penalized for placing Garcia on the 40-man roster (and exempting him from Rule 5 eligibility) and then removing him too soon after the draft was completed. Garcia is a candidate to make the Braves if they keep a second utility infielder.

Castro has made four errors this spring. Garcia will rejoin the Braves today after being forced to sit out the first half of the Grapefruit League schedule due to an offseason rule infraction by the front office. He won’t have any fantasy value this year.

Consider Garcia day-to-day. That is why Mark DeRosa made his second start of the season at second base last night.

Garcia, who played in a career-high 50 games for Atlanta last year, has a line of .224/.243/.300 in 237 AB over the last six seasons. He’s very good with the glove, but all the defense in the world can’t make up for that. He probably won’t make the Padres.

Garcia’s grandmother passed away. His departure resulted in Wilson Betemit getting the start at shortstop tonight.

He played nine innings in consecutive games, a rarity in the spring. Signed as a minor league free agent from Atlanta, Garcia is still probably a longshot to make the San Diego roster.

The three homers match his career total from regular-season play. He has hit just one home run in 208 major league at-bats since 2000. Garcia’s big spring isn’t going to earn him a job in San Diego unless someone wants to trade for Geoff Blum. It’s Garcia himself who might be picked up by another team (Washington?) if he keeps this up.

Garcia was suspended because of an incident in Saturday’s game. The infielder was called out on a close plate at first by umpire Justin Klemm. Garcia argued the call and eventually was ejected. While in the dugout, he threw a bat in the direction of first base, nearly hitting Klemm.

Garcia still has the excellent glove and not much else. He could be an option at shortstop if Clint Barmes gets hurt again, but the Rockies would be better off using Omar Quintanilla.