Greg Garcia

Injuries across the Cardinals' infield allowed Garcia to appear in 114 games in 2018, but he struggled mightily in his opportunities. He produced his worst batting average and slugging percentage since 2014 (when he made just 18 plate appearances), as well as his worst on-base percentage in the majors. However, his strikeout rate was pretty low and his walk rate was good. His .259 BABIP suggests bad luck may have played a part in his struggles. Nevertheless, his low power output and limited playing time cap his fantasy utility. Even after a move to the Padres during the offseason, it doesn't seem like Garcia will be anything more than a reserve/utility player. There aren't many reasons to roster the 29-year-old outside of NL-only formats.

Garcia provided adequate performance for the Cardinals in 290 plate appearances as a utility infielder. The 28-year-old posted a .253/.365/.332 slash line, good for a respectable 94 wRC+. He's strictly a platoon player, hitting .282 against righties and .086 against lefties last year. If he continues to avoid lefties, he could provide some value in deeper settings, though the fact that his best skill is his 13.2 percent career walk rate hurts his value in non-OBP leagues. At his age, he's probably reached his ceiling as a part-time player, and he's blocked by better players around the infield, but his ability to fill in across the diamond should keep him in a major-league role next season. Garcia has just seven homers and three steals in 295 career games at the big-league level.

Garcia played all over the infield last season, seeing time at shortstop, second base and the hot corner over the course of the year. In total, he logged 257 plate appearances, nearly three times as many as he had in 2015. Garcia may very well see less time on the field in 2017, as most of his playing time last season was a product of the myriad of injuries to those ahead of him on the depth chart. The 27-year-old brings essentially no power to the table, and he doesn't have the speed to capitalize on his decent on-base skills. Garcia's best chance at regular playing time would be in a platoon role at second base, but Kolten Wong should get the first chance at holding down that job alongside Jedd Gyorko.

Garcia saw 75 at-bats for the Cardinals as a utility infielder for the big league club, similar to the role he played with Triple-A Memphis, though he sees most of his time at shortstop when in the minors. Jhonny Peralta has been fairly durable and it would have been unlikely that Garcia would see anything more than a bench role in 2016, but after the acquisition of Jedd Gyorko to serve as the utility infielder, Garcia will have a very hard time even making the 25-man roster out of spring training. He is a solid defender but probably won't offer a ton with the bat as he's a career .282/.382/.393 hitter in six minor league seasons. Garcia is generally pretty solid on the bases and if he were in a full-time role could probably collect double-digit steals as he'll likely draw enough walks to get on base a fair amount of the time.

Garcia saw just 14 at-bats for the Cardinals in 2014, serving as a bat off the bench and not much else. He'll probably return to Triple-A Memphis for the Cardinals as a utility infielder in 2015.

Garcia's contract was purchased by the Cardinals in November to protect the 24-year-old shortstop from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. He's a career .281/.386/.384 minor league hitter with some speed and doubles power. He'll likely serve the Cardinals as a utility infielder and organizational depth, but Garcia could find a way to more consistent playing time if Jhonny Peralta has any injury problems as Pete Kozma has proved ineffective.