SAN FRANCISCO -- As part of his efforts to improve at baseball's mental side, Royals infielder Maikel Garcia read “a lot of books” during the offseason. Among them? Joseph Nguyen’s “Don’t Believe Everything You Think.”
When it comes to Garcia, that title makes for pretty apt advice. Because those who might have written off Garcia as a subpar hitter after a poor 2024 at the plate have been proven wrong so far in ‘25.
Garcia still stole 37 bases and played solid defense for Kansas City last season, but his .613 OPS was the lowest among 129 qualifying hitters. This year? He’s hitting .315 with five home runs, a team-leading .377 OBP and an .860 OPS -- offensive numbers that have rivaled Bobby Witt Jr.’s 2025 production.
That will certainly play.
“He’s been one of the better players in baseball,” first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said before Tuesday’s game against the Giants at Oracle Park. “We rely on him a lot, and he’s come up big for us quite a bit.”
Now 50 games into 2025, the work Garcia put in during the offseason is paying off -- and it wasn’t just reading. Alongside hitting coach Alec Zumwalt, Garcia revamped his swing and fixed his timing at the plate as early as January. The small toe tap and other changes he made felt weird at first, he said, but he “trusted the process” and was soon rewarded.
“When I got to Spring Training, I was seeing the ball jump off the bat,” Garcia said.
That has carried over into the regular season, where Garcia has been hitting the ball hard consistently. His expected batting average (.291), average exit velocity (92 mph) and squared-up rate (35.8%) were all in the upper echelons of Major League hitters -- backing up the excellent results Garcia has been seeing.
“I think we’ve seen a lot of growth from Maikel: mentally, physically, approach-wise in the box,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “He’s bounced around the field and done exceptionally well defensively. He’s a really good Major League player.”
So much is different about Garcia in 2025. He’s bigger and stronger after more time spent in the Royals’ weight room during the offseason. His pregame routine looks different. He’s improved his body language. He’s tweaked his batting stance.
But according to his teammates, he’s the same guy -- “just Mikey being Mikey.”
“I don’t think he feels any different,” Pasquantino said. “He expects a lot out of himself. We expect a lot out of him. He carries himself with a lot of confidence, a lot of conviction. He’s been doing it for years, and it’s cool to see him do it on this stage.”
It has been a true breakout campaign for Garcia so far after his disappointing 2024. That year, the native of Venezuela took a step back after a promising ‘23 campaign in which he hit .272 with a .681 OPS. Garcia’s batting average and OBP both dropped by more than 40 points.
Garcia’s speed and defensive value still helped him accrue 1.2 bWAR in 2024, but he’s already soared past that total with 1.7 in ‘25, entering Wednesday. He knows taking a leap at the plate has made a major impact.
“It’s great because I help my team play better,” he said. “This is good for me. Last year, I wasn’t strong like other years. It’s better to play the way I’m playing right now.”
Garcia feels like he’s able to balance better at the plate this season, able to stay back on the baseball rather than get out in front of it. That way, he can spit on pitches out of the zone while making solid contact on pitches over the plate. If he gets on base, he knows the hitters behind him will receive a steady diet of fastballs -- if opposing pitchers throw breaking balls, Garcia is more than willing to run.
“The pitchers don’t like when you have a fast runner on base,” Garcia said. “They get nervous, and they don’t want you to steal the base.”
Garcia still has to work on his basestealing success rate -- despite 10 steals, he’s been caught an MLB-high seven times -- but it’s much less of a concern with the rest of his offensive game looking significantly better.
He’s a whole new hitter in 2025 thanks to his offseason improvements, and the Royals are happy to believe it.
“Good for him,” catcher Salvador Perez said. “He put in a lot of work in the offseason. That’s the kind of player he is.”