Leury García

At 33 years old, Leury García has this physical status:

Leury Garca (born March 18, 1991) is a Dominican professional baseball utility player for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball.

On April 6, 2013, he made his MLB debut with the Texas Rangers.

Garcia, who is mostly known as an infielder and center fielder, has worked at every position other than catcher and first base.

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Career

After participating in tryouts in the Dominican Republic, the Texas Rangers signed Garca as an international free agent in December 2007. In 2008, he appeared for the Arizona League Rangers in the Rookie-level Arizona League.

Garcia played for the Hickory Crawdads of the Class A South Atlantic League in 2009 and 2010, winning 47 bases in 56 attempts during the 2010 season. In 2011, he was drafted into the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League. In June 2011, he was named North Carolina Player of the Month (.342 batting average), leading the league with 22 runs, 38 hits, 51 total bases, and 10 stolen bases. For the 2012 season, he was selected to play for the Frisco RoughRiders of the Class AA Texas League. After batting.292 with 12 doubles, 11 triples, two home runs, 30 runs batted in, and 31 stolen bases in 100 games for Frisco, the Rangers added Garca to their 40-man roster after the 2012 season to keep him from being picked by another team in the Rule 5 draft.

In the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Garca competed for the Dominican Republic national baseball team. He did not participate in most games, but it was fun to watch veteran shortstops Miguel Tejada and Jose Reyes. He was on the Rangers' Opening Day roster for the 2013 season as a utility infielder. Lance Berkman's pinch hitter in his first at-bat on April 6, making his big league debut on April 6. When Ian Kinsler returned from the disabled list, he was admitted to the Triple-A Round Rock Express on June 14, 2013.

Garca was traded by the Rangers to the Chicago White Sox on August 11, 2013 as the player to be named later in the trade that sent Alex Ros to Texas. He was then traded to the Triple-A Charlotte Knights. Garca was promoted by the White Sox to Garca on August 22. He batted.204 with 1 RBI and 6 SB in 20 games with Chicago in 2013.

Garca made the Opening Day roster in 2014 with both Gordon Beckham and Jeff Keppinger injured to begin the season. Garca made his first appearance on the mound on April 16, batting the 14th inning in a game against Boston. Picking up the loss, he gave up 2 runs on two walks and a double. Garca fired his first major-league home run on June 4, a go-ahead solo shot off Dodgers starter Josh Beckett's first big-league home run. Garcia won the game for the White Sox 3–2 on July 2, 2014. Garcia hit his first walk-off single off of Los Angeles Angels pitcher Mike Morin on July 2, 2014.

He batted.279/.378, led the American League in ground ball percentage (54.9%) in 2019, while having the lowest fly ball percentage in the AL (23.6%). With 11 sacrifice hits, he also led the American League.

Garca played in 16 games in 2020 before he suffered his left thumb when he tried to beat a throw to first base with a headfirst slide in a game against the Detroit Tigers that required surgery to end his 2020 regular season. He was able to return in time for the postseason in a timely manner. In game 1 of the Wild Card Series against the Oakland Athletics, he made his postseason debut.

Garca won the White Sox 2–1 on September 12, 2021, off a walk-off home run from Boston Red Sox pitcher Garrett Whitlock. Garca's first postseason home run off of Yimi Garca two days earlier, giving the Houston Astros a 6–5 advantage in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, giving him his first postseason home run off of Yimi Garc. The White Sox won the game 12–6 to force a Game 4, which they lost. Garca played.336/.736 in 126 games in 2021, a record breaking record in the 2021s.

Garca re-signed with the White Sox on a three-year, $16.5 million deal on December 1, 2021.

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