Brewers: Constructing The Crew’s Perfect Lineup For 2021

Batting Sixth: RF Avisail Garcia

Avisail Garcia‘s first season in a Brewers uniform didn’t quite go as planned. After hitting .282 with 20 homers and a 112 OPS+ in 2019, Garcia’s 2020 season was a dud. He finished with a .238 batting average, just two home runs, and a 79 OPS+.

Garcia’s now entering the final guaranteed year of his contract and will be paid $10.75MM in 2021. He has a club option for $12MM for 2022 and if he wants that option to get picked up, he’s going to need a strong season in 2021.

The addition of Cron pushes Garcia down to the sixth spot in the batting order. He should have plenty of RBI opportunities there and while he isn’t expected to be the biggest power threat, he can provide between 15-20 homers like he has previously in his career. He’s less of a power threat than Cron and Vogelbach, which is why he drops a little.

Garcia will move back to right field now that Cain is back and perhaps going back to his more comfortable position will make him more comfortable at the plate. Changing positions is never easy, especially doing it on the fly at the big league level, and it likely impacted his performance at the plate.

There was a lot of pressure on Garcia to fill the void that Cain left in center field defensively that his offense seemed to take a back seat.

This is a chance for Garcia to reset himself. Things will (hopefully) be back to normal in the 2021 season, both when it comes to his position in the field and the circumstances in which the season operates. He’s got one guaranteed year and then a club option for next season. This is going to be a big year for Garcia and being in a contract year could push him to perform better as well.