Brewers: Teenage Prospect Eduardo Garcia Reportedly Added To Player Pool

The Brewers have made another addition to their 60 man player pool, and it’s another young prospect.

With no minor leagues this season and a limited amount of spots at the alternate training site in Appleton, the Brewers haven’t been able to get as much development time as they’ve wanted for some of their young prospects.

Just a couple weeks ago, the Brewers added hotshot outfield prospect Hedbert Perez to the 60 man and he’s just 17 years old. Perez ranks 9th on MLB Pipeline’s new Brewers Top 30 list.

Now the Brewers have also added another Top 10 prospect and another teenage Venezuelan native to the player pool in 18 year old SS Eduardo Garcia.

If my counting is correct, this should put the Brewers player pool back up to 58.

Who Is Eduardo Garcia?

As Jim Goulart noted, Eduardo Garcia was one of the top signings for the Brewers international prospect class in 2018. The Crew signed him for $1.1 million on his 16th birthday. MLB Pipeline ranked Garcia as the 24th best prospect in that international signing class in 2018.

Now he ranks 8th on the Brewers Top 30 prospects list.

Scouts have said that Garcia, a shortstop, is a gifted defender that will likely be a glove-over-bat kind of player. They didn’t make the direct comparison, but that’s the same kind of profile that Orlando Arcia had coming up through the system as well.

Garcia has a solid hit tool and could turn into an “average run producer” down the road and he could have some decent power as well, but that won’t be what carries him offensively.

Last year in the DSL, Garcia hit .313/.450/.469 with two doubles, a home run, three RBIs, and six walks in just 10 games played. His season was cut short due to a leg fracture and 2020 was due to be a strong return season for Garcia.

With Garcia now up in Appleton, the Brewers will be able to get a closer look at him and he can further his development against upper level minor league pitchers. He just turned 18 and still has a long development road ahead, but this can be a huge positive for the young shortstop.

Garcia is not going to be called up to the big league roster at all this year, and we won’t get a close look at him in Milwaukee for a few more years. But if he performs well in Appleton, perhaps he could permanently move stateside and pass the DSL to move into either Rookie ball or Low-A in 2021. That’s a future problem to deal with, however. For right now, he’s getting his reps in up in Appleton.

The only Brewers Top 10 prospects that aren’t in the player pool now are Aaron Ashby and this year’s first round pick Garrett Mitchell.

The Brewers have purposefully kept a few 60 man roster spots open throughout the year to ensure some flexibility. With the recent DFA and release of Logan Morrison, another 60 man spot opened up and they tabbed Garcia to take that spot.