Maikel Garcia gets first reps in outfield as KC Royals continue to explore options

After coming up in the minor leagues as a shortstop, Maikel Garcia has spent the large majority of his major league career at third base, purely because the Kansas City Royals needed him to. Since his MLB debut in July 2022, the 24-year-old has played 228 games at third base (211 starts), including 124 last season when he took on the everyday role. Now, it appears another change could be on the horizon, with Garcia getting reps in center field as the Royals continue exploring outfield options at spring training.

KC Royals experiment with Maikel Garcia in center field

Coming back from an offseason surgery to remove bone chips in his right elbow, Garcia stepped into center field for the first time this spring training on February 28, playing 5 innings in the position during Kansas City's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Despite the D-backs' Jorge Barrosa getting a triple to the center-field wall past him in the third inning, Garcia's overall defensive performance showed a lot of promise, especially as he gained confidence throughout the game.

Going into 2025, MLB.com's Anne Rogers reported that the Royals definitely still consider Kyle Isbel to be their everyday center fielder — especially after his impressive 9 Outs Above Average (OAA) last season — but Garcia is also likely to get a decent number of reps in the role.

In fact, KC general manager J.J. Picollo told Rogers that "Maikel is a great in-house candidate" to take on the infield-outfield role that Garrett Hampson covered last year.

"The more he’s in the middle of the field, the better off it is," Picollo said. "The way our team’s set up, [Bobby Witt Jr. is] playing short, if [Michael Massey is] playing second, the next best spot to get [Garcia] is in center field... Maikel is one of, if not the best, baserunner we have, so we want him in the lineup. We want him impacting the game somehow. But because of the team’s needs, this was the time to see him in center. There are just a lot of things that we can do with him playing infield-outfield."

Despite Garcia's offense proving to be shaky — his .231/.281/.332 line with 7 home runs and 58 RBI in 626 plate appearances last season left plenty to be desired — the right-hander has always been a strong defender. During his rookie season in 2023, his incredible 15 OAA and Fielding Run Value (FRV) of 11 ranked him in the top 2% and 6% of all qualified fielders, respectively, and although he didn't impress quite as much last year, his 2 OAA and FRV of 1 still ranked above average.

"I’m a shortstop and athletic," Garcia told Rogers. "I think I can play any position except catcher. Now that we have India, there are two second basemen. I don’t think I’ll play a lot of second. I’ll be more third and center. But we’ll see what [manager Matt Quatraro] comes up with."

Since the Royals' acquisition of second baseman Jonathan India in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds earlier this winter, the team's 2025 infield plans have been somewhat uncertain, and Garcia's future role has been particularly unclear. Now, it appears the goal is to increase versatility in all three of India, Garcia, and incumbent second baseman Michael Massey, with Garcia getting reps in center field, and both Massey and India experimenting in left.