The MLB Network gave Royals’ Maikel Garcia fresh motivation for 2026 season
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- MLB Network’s top-10 third baseman list omitted Maikel Garcia despite 2025 accolades.
- Garcia earned Gold Glove, All-Star, Silver Slugger finalist and 14th AL MVP finish.
- Garcia amplified the snub by retweeting a “Prove them wrong” message.
Maikel Garcia had a memorable 2025 season with the Royals.
Garcia won a Gold Glove award, was a finalist for a Silver Slugger award, made the All-Star Game and finished 14th in the American League MVP voting after having a 123 OPS+.
However, Garcia is not currently one of the top 10 third basemen in Major League Baseball. That’s according to the MLB Network’s “Shredder” rankings.
No. 7 on the list is a player with zero career games at third base.
Garcia’s omission from the list is an oddity because he was No. 65 on the MLB Network’s ranking of the top 100 players right now.
The Garcia snub didn’t sit right with his teammates and Royals fans. And Garcia seemed to take note with a social media post. He retweeted a message from a year ago that said: “Prove them wrong.”
It seems Garcia has fresh motivation for the 2026 season.
Some of Garcia’s teammates shared messages on X about Garcia being left off the list, as did a former Royals vice president and fans. This is a small snapshot of what was being said.
This story was originally published February 5, 2026 at 10:27 AM.
