Miami Marlins outfielder Avisail Garcia begins Rehab Assignment for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp

Miami Marlins outfielder Avisail Garcia began his rehab assignment on May 29th with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp as they faced off against the Durham Bulls. The Marlins outfielder has been out of the lineup since April 29th with back tightness. The Marlins outfield has be decimated since his departure with a number of injuries, including to Jesus Sanchez and Jazz Chisholm, Jr., leaving Bryan De La Cruz and Jorge Soler as the remaining starting outfielders.

Garcia has had a lackluster start to his 2023 season with the Marlins, drawing the ire of fans, as he has been nothing but a disappointment since arriving in Miami. To date Avisail Garcia's slash line is .188/.243/.333 with an OPS of .577 and he has three home runs with eight RBI and a stolen base. For a guy who was brought to the Marlins coming off of a 29 home run 86 RBI season, he has hit a mere 11 home runs combined in now his second season.

Garcia will have to work his way back into the lineup but that effort could be bolstered by a hot rehab stint in AAA. His first start proved promising on Memorial Day as he hit a towering homerun beyond the left-centerfield wall. However, that was Garcia's only hit, as he ended up 1-for-4 with two strikeouts in the game.

Where Garcia could fit into the lineup is another question altogether, as De La Cruz has been hot, Soler is unstoppable, and Jesus Sanchez has much better stats all around than does Garcia. Sanchez has 3 home runs, 10 RBI, and 3 stolen bases with a slash line of .290/.364/.551 with an OPS of .914, which is far better than Garcia, and Sanchez has only one more plate appearance.

Garcia could play in right if Soler is at designated hitter but that then puts into question what to do with both Yuli Gurriel and Garrett Cooper. Cooper's slash line is about even with Garcia if you double his plate appearances to match Coopers so far this year whereas Gurriel doesn't match the power of either Cooper or Garcia but his slash line is far superior and his ability to drive in runs is the most needed of all and he has done that at a much higher rate and only strikes out 9% of the time. It will be tough for Skip to find a place but I'm sure it will happen.