\u201cI\u2019m so fortunate for this opportunity,\u201d Garc\u00eda said through an interpreter before the Bombers opened their homestand against the Cardinals. \u201cA lot of people know that I was born here in New York, and that I spent a big chunk of my life here in New York. So, to be part of this team, and walking in, very fortunate.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely grew up a Yankee fan. I left to the DR when I was 8 years old. So, growing up, my favorite players were Jeter and Cano, Robbie Cano, and it\u2019s one of the reasons why I wear [No.] 2.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/new-york-yankees-first-baseman-136384377.jpg\")
Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. is pictured before the Yankees\u2019 Aug. 3 game against the Cardinals. Jason Szenes for the NY Post<\/p>\n
With Jeter\u2019s No. 2 retired, Garc\u00eda had to settle for No. 26 as he started at first base and hit third in the order.<\/p>\n
But Garc\u00eda was happy to don the pinstripes of his childhood team, no matter what number or position or spot in the lineup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means so much to me. I was born here, so to be able to play for this team, as players, I think everybody wants an opportunity to wear this jersey, these pinstripes,\u201d Garc\u00eda said. \u201cTo be able to play in front of my family, it means a lot. I have a lot of family members here in the city, so to be able to do that is going to be cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bombers will hope Garc\u00eda\u2019s lefty bat can add a needed jolt to their lineup.<\/p>\n
Garc\u00eda entered Monday having hit .283 with 23 homers and 76 RBIs, the latter two stats both career highs. <\/p>\n
He was third in the majors (and first in the NL) in slugging percentage, and the Yankees are convinced there\u2019s even more offense to unlock.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have Luis Garc\u00eda in here who\u2019s been a wrecking ball in the National League this year, leading that league and slugging, becomes an instant presence in our lineup,\u201d Aaron Boone said. \u201cObviously we\u2019ve had our struggles offensively for a good stretch now, and we think he helps that a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s largely because of that short porch in right and Garc\u00eda\u2019s newfound penchant for pulling the ball.<\/p>\n
While Garc\u00eda was batting a more modest .218 with a .627 OPS in just 55 at-bats against lefties, he\u2019d raked righties to the tune of .295 with 20 homers and a .918 OPS. <\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/new-york-yankees-first-baseman-136384374.jpg\")
New York Yankees first baseman Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. takes fielding before the start of the team\u2019s game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday, August 3, 2026, at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Jason Szenes for the NY Post<\/p>\n
His new power-hitting approach has clearly worked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been one of the keys to how this season has played out so far,\u201d Garc\u00eda said. \u201cBefore I used to hit the ball very well, but a lot of times, it was on the ground. So the focus was to get the ball in the air, to keep hitting it with the same intensity but lift it up. Better results have come.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Yankees will look to cash in on those results the rest of the way.<\/p>\n
They entered Monday having scored just seven runs in their past four games and 35 in their past 12. <\/p>\n
They hope Garc\u00eda can take advantage of the short porch.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, as good a year as he\u2019s having \u2014 leading the league in slugging percentage over there \u2014 we think there\u2019s even more in there potentially in our ballpark,\u201d Boone said. \u201cSo it\u2019s exciting. We needed to inject a presence in our order, and we\u2019ve done that in a big way.\u201d<\/p>\n
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While Garc\u00eda is capable of playing elsewhere in the infield, expect him to play either first or just DH as he settles in. <\/p>\n
Ben Rice was at DH on Monday, while Boone said Paul Goldschmidt will still get time at first against lefties.<\/p>\n
\u201cExpect [Garc\u00eda] to be [at first], some DH,\u201d Boone said. \u201cI know he\u2019s played some second in the past, he works everywhere most days, so he\u2019s taking ground balls to get that flexibility. First and foremost, just these first couple days, want him to get settled with his routine and comfortable. We\u2019ll see if that role evolves much.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. was born and bred in New York and grew up rooting for the Yankees. Even…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[20,94970,9,24,55,54,321,56,319],"class_list":["post-313000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-trade-deadline","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-ny","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}