Adolis Garcia was left out of the lineup for Game 4 of the World Series. And with the Fall Classic being only seven games, at most, the focus quickly turns to whether he’ll play again for the Rangers in 2023.
Garcia left Game 3 against the Diamondbacks with left side tightness. He hit a fly ball in the top of the eighth inning, and immediately reached for his back. He was removed defensively starting in the bottom half of the inning by Travis Jankowski.
Any time missed by the outfielder could be significant for the Rangers. He was the ALCS MVP, and has had a stellar postseason, posting an impressive .323/.382/.726 slash line with eight home runs and two stolen bases.
MORE: Latest injury updates on Adolis Garcia
His absence from the World Series would be a major blow to the lineup, as Garcia has been a feared middle-of-the-order presence, providing lineup protection to Marcus Semien and Corey Seager.
Will Adolis Garcia play again in the World Series?
Garcia was removed from the World Series roster ahead of Game 4. Ezequiel Duran will replace the slugger.
Adolis Garcia is being taken off the roster. Ezequiel Duran will replace him, sources tell me, @JesseRogersESPN and @JeffPassan.
— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) October 31, 2023
Garcia was left out of the Rangers’ Game 4 lineup on Tuesday. Instead, Jankowski will play right field and bat ninth. According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, Garcia said all was good as he carried a bat through the locker room, but oblique injuries are tough to quickly bounce back from due to the rotating motion required to hit a baseball.
Considering Garcia was working out on Tuesday, it’s clear he was at least attempting to make sure he was not done in this year’s Fall Classic. However, with so little time remaining to get healthy, it made too much sense for the Rangers to turn to Duran rather risk being shorthanded.
Rangers options for replacing Adolis Garcia on World Series roster
The Rangers opted to place Duran on their World Series roster in place of Garcia.
Major League Baseball postseason rules mean teams have to submit their 26-man rosters before each round of the playoffs. That roster cannot change unless there is an injury, which allows for the team to submit a request to the Commissioner’s Office to replace the player on the roster.
Replacing a player on the roster comes with certain limitations. Position players can only be replaced by position players, and pitchers by pitchers. Taking a player off the postseason roster also means that injured player could play in neither the remainder of the current round or the next round.
MORE: Latest injury updates on Max Scherzer
In the case of the Rangers, they at least would not have to worry about the latter restriction. There is no round after the World Series, meaning replacing Garcia would only impact the World Series.
The Rangers might look to replace more than Garcia on the roster. Depending on the severity of Max Scherzer’s Game 3 injury, Texas might also look to add a healthy arm to the pitching staff, if the Rangers veteran starter is unable to return from back spasms. He had said after the game that he would know during the coming days whether he’d be able to return in the series.
The Diamondbacks have already utilized this rule during the postseason. Arizona replaced outfielder Jake McCarthy before the wild-card series after he injured his oblique with utility infielder Jace Peterson. The injury replacement made McCarthy ineligible for the NLDS.