Welcome back to Week 8 of our Patience or Panic series, where we take a look at three struggling players and provide recommendations on how you should react to their slow starts and subpar performance. In Week 7, I reviewed Miami’s Sandy Alcantara, Atlanta’s Michael Harris II, and St. Louis’ Jordan Walker. One week certainly isn’t enough of a sample size to see how the verdicts panned out, so I’ll let them marinate for another week or so.
As always, feel free to let us know in the comments or by tagging us on social media what players you would like to see us focus on in the future! Let’s dive right in.
Adolis García, OF, Texas Rangers
Garcia came into camp this season trying to return to form after slashing a subpar .224/.284/.400/.684 with a 92 wRC+ in 2024. He even claimed he would tally “50 home runs and 100 RBI” this season, per MLB’s Jack Magruder. Unfortunately for him and his team, Garcia has been really scuffling.
Texas Rangers OF Adolis Garcia, Performance+
There just hasn’t been any improvement from him. The bad chase rate (34%) got even worse (40%), and his whiff rate (31%) remains way below average. He can’t hit non-fastballs for his life — .188 AVG, .313 SLG, 35% whiff vs. breaking / .190 AVG, .286 SLG, 46% whiff vs. offspeed — and even owns a -2 run value against four seamers this season.
Verdict: panic. Garcia offers a ton of HR potential in fantasy leagues, but that’s about it. He strikes out a bunch, the walk rate has dropped about 2%, and the expected numbers are right about on par with his actual results. As hard as it may be to say, I think there are better options to fill your outfield as of today.
Adley Rutschman, C, Baltimore Orioles
Rutschman, now 27, has gone from “best catcher in baseball” conversations to a potential “panic” candidate. I, for one, am really surprised. On the surface, Rutschman has been really subpar, slashing .208/.299/.338/.637 with an 87 wRC+. However, he’s been getting really unlucky:
Not to mention, he’s had incredibly bad BABIP luck (.228) while increasing his hard hit rate (+2%), barrel rate (+3%), and max and average EVs (+2 mph each) this season.
Verdict: patience. The expected numbers indicate it’s only a matter of time before he gets it going. I did a piece on Ceddanne Rafaela and how his expected numbers could point to a breakout, and so far he’s had the best month of his season in May. Regardless, it would be tough to sit a guy like Rutschman with the lack of quality catching depth on the market. I say give it some more time.
Tylor Megill, RHP, New York Mets
Who would’ve guessed?? Per usual, Megill dazzled as the season opened up, posting a stellar 2.36 FIP and 30% K rate through the first two months of the year. Yet as the calendar turned to May, he lost it.
His hard hit rate has increased by 6%, the FIP has doubled, and he’s only throwing 59% strikes. If his career splits are any indication, Megill is in for yet another disappointing season. There is clearly something there, but the Mets have yet to tap into it.
Verdict: panic. I’d love for this to come back to bite me. It feels like every year we have this conversation. Megill looks like a legit breakout candidate through the first month or so, and then completely falls off a cliff after. He owns a career 2.45 ERA in the months of March and April (88 IP), but an ERA north of 6 in the next two months and an overall ERA over 5. Until he can prove he’s a new pitcher, I have to panic.
Photo courtesy of Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Aaron Polcare (@abeardoesart on Bluesky and X)
