Garcia is off to a hot start.
The Kansas City Royals needed someone to set the tone on Saturday afternoon, and Maikel Garcia did exactly that.
Garcia led off the bottom of the first inning with a solo home run against Erick Fedde, and the Royals never trailed in a 2-0 win over the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium.
After the game, Garcia opened up about the mindset fueling him through the early part of the season.
"I think I understand that I'm a good player. Sometimes, like, I just don't play this game well. So to have that confidence, to know that I'm part of this league and I'm an All-Star, that's good for my confidence."
A Hot Start That Speaks for Itself
It is one thing to talk about confidence and another to back it up, but Garcia has been doing both.
Through 12 games, the 26-year-old is hitting .315 with consistent hard contact that suggests his 2025 breakout was no fluke.
He added a double later in Saturday's win before scoring on a Vinnie Pasquantino sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Michael Wacha was brilliant on the mound with eight scoreless innings, but Garcia set the table early and kept finding ways to get on base.
The performance tracks with everything he showed last season, when he slashed .286/.351/.449 with 16 home runs and 74 RBI across 160 games.
He earned his first All-Star nod, won a Gold Glove, and then carried that momentum into the World Baseball Classic, where he was named tournament MVP after leading Venezuela to its first title.
Where Garcia Ranks Among the Best
Multiple outlets ranked Garcia as a top-five third baseman coming into 2026, with some placing him second behind only Jose Ramirez.
His plate discipline and Gold Glove defense check almost every box at the position.
His strikeout rate sat in the 93rd percentile last year, his chase rate was in the 91st percentile, and he led AL third basemen in outs above average.
That is the player Kansas City locked up with a five-year, $57.5 million extension this past offseason.
The Royals are betting Garcia's growth is real, and through two weeks, nothing he has done suggests otherwise.
What It Means for Kansas City
The Royals sit at 7-8 after Saturday's win, which is not where they want to be but also not far from where they expected with a young roster still figuring things out early.
Bobby Witt Jr. has been steady, Carter Jensen is showing pop with a team-leading four home runs, and the pitching staff has been among the best in the American League.
If Garcia keeps playing with the belief he talked about on Saturday, this lineup becomes a problem for the rest of the AL Central.
His saying he understands he belongs is not some empty statement.
He has the numbers, the hardware, and the contract to prove it.