{"id":2339869,"date":"2026-03-21T11:32:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2339869"},"modified":"2026-03-21T11:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:32:19","slug":"whats-next-for-maikel-garcia-after-special-wbc-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/whats-next-for-maikel-garcia-after-special-wbc-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s next for Maikel Garcia after special WBC performance?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kansas City Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia couldn\u2019t have written a better script to begin his 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n

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After a breakout campaign last season<\/a>, he rolled back into Royals spring camp as a newly minted champion. Earlier this week, Garcia helped his home country Venezuela win its first World Baseball Classic title.<\/p>\n

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And he arrived with one more piece of hardware. Garcia earned MVP honors<\/a> for the 2026 World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n

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Much to the delight of his Royals teammates.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey told me like 10 minutes before they were going to announce the MVP, so I knew already,\u201d Garcia told reporters in Surprise, Arizona. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it when they said my name and people were yelling my name all the at-bats in the game. I can\u2019t believe everything I did in that tournament, and that\u2019s great for me and great for my family. I think everything I learned in the WBC is going to help me all my career in the big leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Royals rewarded Garcia with a five-year contract extension<\/a> this offseason. He posted career highs with 16 home runs and 74 RBIs in 2025. It culminated with an All-Star appearance<\/a>, Gold Glove<\/a> and American League MVP votes.<\/p>\n

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Can Garcia reach the next level? That\u2019s the million-dollar question as he looks to build off his meteoric rise in Kansas City.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s already an All-Star and Gold Glove winner, so that\u2019s a pretty good ceiling right there,\u201d Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. \u201cSo I think it\u2019s (learning) the same type of maturity that guys go through. Less time between inconsistent at-bats and those kinds of things. He\u2019s got room to grow with power, probably. It\u2019s hard to say more than he can be an All-Star, right? Just keep doing it year after year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Garcia will look to replicate his recent success. Last season, he worked on his batting stance by adding a toe-tap<\/a> to stay balanced through the strike zone. He began to see results at the plate.<\/p>\n

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Now, the Royals hope Garcia can be a consistent offensive force. He has all the tools to emerge as a superstar. The 2026 campaign will give him a chance to continue his momentum.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI always say to my little brother that everything can change in one year in baseball,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cIt was a tough 2024 year for me personally. I came back in 2025 and played around the field. … And then, everything changed in months. All-Star game. Gold Glove. Everything goes quick. I just try to (appreciate) everything that\u2019s happened in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Royals conclude Cactus League play Saturday. From there, the club will play two exhibition games against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n

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Garcia is set to enter his fifth MLB season. The Royals will pencil him into the opening day lineup at third base against the Atlanta Braves. It\u2019s an honor he doesn\u2019t take lightly after working hard to secure his spot.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou know, we almost are starting the season in Kansas City, and now I\u2019m focused on the Royals,\u201d Garcia said after his WBC experience.<\/p>\n

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Garcia will likely get a few more spring training at-bats under his belt before the regular season begins. He forms a dynamic quartet alongside Bobby Witt Jr., Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino in the starting lineup.<\/p>\n

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The core is expected to carry the offensive load. If Garcia can continue his elevated rise, the Royals have a good chance to return to the postseason again.<\/p>\n

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His WBC performance<\/a> could be a good indicator.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI would imagine it gives him a lot of confidence,\u201d Quatraro said. \u201cAgain, I think the biggest thing is controlling his emotions and understanding the big moments and what he can do in those moments. I think it was phenomenal for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Related Stories from Kansas City Star<\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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Jaylon Thompson<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Kansas City Star<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jaylon Thompson covers the Royals for The Kansas City Star. He previously covered the 2021 World Series and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jaylon is a proud alumnus of the University of Georgia.<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kansascity.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kansas City Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia couldn\u2019t have written a better script to begin his 2026 campaign. After a breakout campaign last season, he rolled back into Royals spring camp as a newly minted champion. Earlier this week, Garcia helped his home country Venezuela win its first World Baseball Classic title. And he arrived […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2056456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[43627,313842,25866,400055],"class_list":["post-2339869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-maikel-garcia","tag-mlb","tag-world-baseball-classic"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Cole-Ragans-shines-as-KC-Royals-finish-2025-on-high.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2339869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2339870,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339869\/revisions\/2339870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2056456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2339869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2339869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2339869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}