The Phillies announced that outfielder Adolis García will undergo right latissimus dorsi repair surgery on Wednesday, June 24. Recovery time is six to eight months, so he will miss the remainder of the season. He is expected to be ready for the start of the 2027 program. He is already on the 60-day disabled list and will remain there for the rest of the campaign. He will be a free agent at the end of the season.
García’s injury was obvious at the time it happened, as seen in this clip from MLB.com. In last week’s game against the Blue Jays, García came out throwing like a George Springer tried to score from third on a fly off the bat of Kazuma Okamoto. García made a solid throw, though Springer was safe in the game. Immediately after being thrown, García was in obvious pain. He got the attention of the coaching staff and left the competition.
Two days later, the Phillies placed García on the 60-day disabled list, indicating they knew early on that he would miss at least a few months. Now he will miss more than that and will have no impact in the second half.
This news closes the book on Philadelphia’s planned switch to right field in 2026 Nick Castellanos in that position for many years and was still signed this year but it was clear in the offseason that they were going to move on from him before the campaign started. They signed García to a one-year, $10MM deal in December and released Castellanos in February.
That pivot didn’t work. Moving on from Castellanos was logical enough. His numbers have been declining for a while and he is hitting .191/.221/.339 for the Padres this year. But García could not amend that place. He hit .195/.270/.329 with a 32.4% slugging percentage before this shoulder injury ended his entire season.
The Phils are reportedly looking for outside help and will likely do something before the trade deadline. They still have it Brandon Marsh again Justin Crawford in two places. Marsh is having a great season but Crawford has a .238/.293/.330 line in his first 222 plate appearances. Since García’s injury, the Phils have been using a platoon of Gabriel Rincones Jr. again Edmund Sosa to cover another area. Sosa has a .234/.269/.378 line on the year and Rinnconces has a .071/.071/.286 line between 14 plate appearances.
For García, it’s a difficult situation to be in. He had some solid seasons with the Rangers from 2021 to 2023, helping that team win the World Series in the finals in those three seasons. His numbers took off from there, as he slashed .225/.278/.397 in the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Texas decided to move on, not tendering him after last year.
His solid defense and past success were enough to get him his aforementioned deal with the Phillies but he’s underwhelming and still recovering from surgery when the season starts. It is widely expected that there will be an external shutdown in early December, as was the case in the 2021-22 off-season. That winter there was a flurry of transactions before and after closing. If that happens again this time, García may be trying to draw attention in the midst of that mess with some kind of show after he recovers.
Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski, Imagn Images
