One adjustment can make Adolis García a Phillies fan favorite this season

The Philadelphia Phillies and their fan base are ready to turn the page to the 2026 season. The team has reflected long enough on how their season ended in October of last year. Following the release of Nick Castellanos, the team and the fans are also eager to move on from the polarizing player and welcome new right fielder Adolis García.

García is also ready for a change of scenery following two challenging seasons with the Texas Rangers. The Phillies new outfielder is keen to get to work and prove that he's a good fit for the organization and has the right attitude that will make the fan base embrace him. He's been working on how he can improve as a hitter since signing with Philadelphia back in December.

Phillies fans will love Adolis García's personality but he'll have to prove himself at the plate first

García mentioned he's eager to show off his fun, emotional attitude and aggressiveness, which will be quite a change from Castellanos' temperament. Philadelphia's new right fielder could be a much better match with the fan base based on his emotional makeup.

García believes he's suited to play in Philadelphia, as he told the media earlier this week at spring training.

"I've heard a lot about how Philly is and how playing in Philly is. That's one of the things that characterizes this group is that we like to play in that type of environment," García said through an interpreter. "We like to play aggressive baseball and happy baseball, letting our emotions out. I'm just happy and I think it's going to be a great experience because that's the kind of ball that I like to play. I like to play aggressive, I like to be happy when I'm playing and I like to let the emotions out."

García already appears to be a better fit than Castellanos for the Phillies based on the first impression he's made in spring training.

The 32-year-old has expressed that he wants to be in Philadelphia and will certainly be an upgrade over Castellanos defensively in right field. If he can improve offensively from his past two seasons with the Rangers, he'll be a new fan favorite with the Phillies fan base.

But it'll take more than just a fun attitude and emotion to win over Phillies fans. He'll also have to improve his plate discipline (subscription required), but that's something he's been working on.

MLB.com's Todd Zolecki recently detailed what García and Phillies assistant hitting coach Edwar Gonzalez worked on during the offseason to improve the right fielder's approach at the plate.

"Part of the goal moving forward with [García] is having a lot of conversations about approach, where he’s looking for certain pitches, different pitches. Just being himself," Gonzalez said, per Zolecki.

García can be a power hitter. The Ciego de Avila, Cuba native's career high in home runs is 39, which he hit in his career-best season in 2023 with the Rangers. He also totaled eight homers, 22 RBIs, and slashed .323/.382/.726 with a 1.108 OPS in 15 postseason contests and received ALCS MVP.

However, he can be overly aggressive as a hitter. Per Zolecki, Garcia's 34.5 percent chase rate the past two years ranked 114th out of 138 hitters who had a minimum of 500 swings. He had a 29.3 percent chase rate in 2023. So what does he need to change to be more successful as a hitter this year?

"It’s about plate discipline,” García said, per Zolecki. “It’s about how to be aggressive at the plate. In the end, it’s just about having quality at-bats. That’s the key for everything. I think that’s the thing that we’re going to focus on. I’ve done it before. It’s just being focused at the plate, knowing what you want to do, know what pitches you want to go after, knowing what you want to attack at the plate.”