Robel García

Robel Estiwal García Rodriguez[1] (born March 28, 1993) is a Dominican professional baseball infielder for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB).

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is García and the second or maternal family name is Rodriguez.
Robel García
Chicago Cubs – No. 16
Second base / Left fielder
Born: (1993-03-28) March 28, 1993
Las Matas de Farfán, Dominican Republic
Bats: Switch Throws: Right
MLB debut
July 3, 2019, for the Chicago Cubs
MLB statistics
(through 2019 season)
Batting average.208
Home runs5
Runs batted in11
Teams

Career

Cleveland Indians

García signed with the Cleveland Indians as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in February 2010 at 16 years old. After four seasons, he was released by the Indians on his twenty-first birthday in March 2014.[1] He had topped out in the Class A Midwest League in 2012 and 2013.[2]

After his release, he moved to Verona to be with his Dominican-Italian wife and their children. He began playing independent baseball there in 2016 and joined Fortitudo Bologna of the Italian Baseball League in 2017.[1] In 2018, he played for UnipolSai Bologna and was a member of the Italy national baseball team that played in the 2018 Super 6 Baseball Tournament.[3] García would become a citizen of both the Dominican and Italy.[1]

Chicago Cubs

After being spotted during an exhibition series for Italy in the Arizona Instructional League, García signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in November 2018.[4] He started the 2019 season with the Tennessee Smokies before being promoted to the Iowa Cubs after 22 games.[5]

On July 3, 2019, the Cubs selected García's contract and promoted him to the major leagues.[6] He made his debut that night as a pinch hitter for Brandon Kintzler and struck out in his first at-bat.[7] On July 4, 2019, Robel tripled off Jordan Lyles for his first MLB hit. He also singled and hit a solo home run in the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

References
  1. Thompson, Phil (July 29, 2019). "Not even a cardboard glove and a roster snub could derail Robel Garcia's remarkable journey from the Dominican Republic to Italy to the Cubs". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  2. "Robel Garcia Minor & Winter Leagues Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  3. Rogers, Phil. "Robel Garcia Well On His Way From Team Italy to Wrigley Field". Forbes.
  4. Sharma, Sahadev. "'Who is this kid and what's he doing here?' Can Robel..." The Athletic.
  5. "'He's completely exceeding everybody's expectations': Robel Garcia's surprise rise with the Cubs". Des Moines Register.
  6. Mark Gonzales (July 3, 2019). "Theo Epstein threatens 'a ton of changes' if Cubs don't improve and then team calls up Robel Garcia". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
  7. Jake Crouse (July 3, 2019). "Garcia called up to Cubs amid talk of 'changes'". MLB.com. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
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