Managing a balky knee, Avisal Garca benched for lack of hustle by Rick Renteria

May 01, 2024

Avisaíl García, bedeviled by a troubled right knee which could easily be a contributing factor in two separate disabled list stints this season for hamstring strains, felt a click in that same joint as he jogged up the baseline Friday. García had flipped an inning-ending fly out to right field in the first inning of a 9-3 victory over the Royals, and with Matt Davidson on first, and Jorge Bonifacio barely breaking from a trot to snag it, García did not make it to first base by the time the ball hit the glove.

“I felt a click and I was a little bit scared about it, but I’m OK,” García said afterward.

Last season’s White Sox Heart & Hustle Award winner went back out to defend his position in right field for the top of the second. It proved to be a smooth 1-2-3 frame for James Shields, who logged seven strong innings in his 400th career appearance. But that was it for García as he was replaced in right by Leury García for the top of the third, for what was revealed to be a manager’s decision based on the play in the first.

“I didn’t think he had given me an effort on the Texas Leaguer,” manager Rick Renteria said of García’s benching. “If the ball falls in, you have to possibly advance. To his credit, you guys know he does have a knee that’s bothering him a little bit. I told him you certainly looked like something was bothering you. He said ‘I felt it click when I came out of the box.’ I said you understand you can still give me a better effort out of the box. He said ‘Yes, I understand that. I’m feeling this.’ We addressed it a little bit. He’ll be back in there tomorrow.”

For an indiscretion that drew a benching, García’s pace to first base certainly did not draw much notice. The White Sox erasing an early 3-0 deficit by bludgeoning a moribund Kansas City bullpen for a season-high seven-run inning in the bottom of the seventh all worked to quickly push the issue to the background. Tim Anderson had an insane night coming back from two days off, reaching base four times, nabbing a pair of stolen bases and runs scored, knocking in a run on a check-swing single to left and finishing a home run short of the cycle. Nicky Delmonico knocked in Anderson three times, the last of which on a three-run homer to right on a first-pitch heater that sealed a career-high five-RBI night for the left fielder.

Sometime after what seemed like 20 minutes of an uninterrupted high-five line in the White Sox dugout, García moved over from standing uncomfortably in his normal spot to sitting next to Renteria for a prolonged but outwardly peaceful conversation at the end of a suddenly relaxed bruising of a last-place team.

“Even if I felt a click, I can do a better effort if I want to play — and I want to play,” García said. “I just have to keep going. But I was scared a little bit because I felt like, a click. But at the same time, I didn’t run hard enough so I’m OK with it. I’m good to play.”

Ricky’s boys don’t quit. Except when they do and get benched. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)

Counting a Cactus League game in March in which he was cited, and similarly owned up to not sprinting out a groundout, this is the second time García has been benched for lack of hustle in 2018. But as someone whose breakout 2017 campaign was more reliant on running out infield hits (27, third-most in baseball) than the bursts of power he’s shown this year, he’s hardly the traditional example of a player who needs extra motivation to squeeze out every inch he can with effort, which Renteria acknowledged.

“Listen, we’ve never had a problem with him,” Renteria said. “Despite a couple times here or there where we’ve taken him out, if you watch him he busts his rear end. Pretty much all the time. That was a rarity. At that particular point in time it was my decision to pull him out.”

While Renteria has pointed to benchings of veterans Leury García, Welington Castillo and most recently Anderson as examples that his manager’s decisions are about enforcing consistent standards rather than harping on specific players, Avisaíl García’s knee seems like a situation that would earn an exemption, if any exists. García and Renteria have noted multiple times that he will have to manage his effort level with his legs going forward this season, and García said Friday that his knee issue will need to be addressed in the offseason. The line of what is the best effort García can offer given his condition seems very fine, but Renteria is intent on enforcing it.

“That’s why we had the conversation,” Renteria said. “He doesn’t want to come out of the lineup. He says he can play every day, he says ‘I can manage this, I can play through this, I’ll be fine.’ I said then give me a little more effort on some of those plays. If you can give it to me at a particular time. I get it that you may feel it but if you feel it, just explain to me what’s going on and we can manage it that way. He really doesn’t want to come out. He wants to play.”

For what’s it’s worth — and as far as the White Sox are concerned, it’s probably worth everything — while the benchings are piling up over the course of the year — and looking increasingly uncompromising from the outside — Renteria has a perfect record in regards to the player in question addressing media after the game, and affirming that everyone is on the same page.

“Yeah, for sure,” García said.

(Top photo: Jim Young/USA TODAY Sports)

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