Detroit Tigers Prospect Avisail Garcia Cost Himself Spot With Injury

Major League Baseball doesn’t get much more fun than watching a young prospect try to win a roster spot on a big league club when he isn’t really expected to be on that level yet. For the Detroit Tigers in Spring Training this year, they have had prospect Avisail Garcia vying for a spot. That desire to make the team led to his hustle on a play where he tried to beat a throw to first with a last second lunge. His foot hit the bag badly and he was injured bad enough to miss action.

The X-Rays were negative but Garcia is still sidelined until his symptoms disappear. Manager Jim Leyland basically said that the lunge for the base showed hustle and determination but wasn’t a smart play. The best way to leg out any hit is to run through the base, not lunge for it. Lunging can be very risky and easily can jam a muscle or something worse. This injury to Garcia might wind up having cost him the roster spot he longed for, but I doubt it.

I don’t believe they were going to have him stick around at the big league level right now anyway. They probably want to see him get more everyday work in and try constantly to improve where he needs to improve. Garcia would have way too much time sitting at the on a major league bench if he stuck around. Leyland and the Tigers are high on him and want to make sure they don’t let the desire to see him succeed get in the way of his success.

Now, unfortunately, it looks like he won’t start the season in the minors either. He will be on a minor roster everyday but only after a short stay on the disabled list, in all likelihood.  Hopefully, for his and the Tigers sake, he’ll get healthy enough to play soon and improve his impressive résumé to a point where his name will be too big not to put in an outfield spot every single day.

David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google₊.