The Kansas City Royals placed third baseman Maikel Garcia on the 10-day injured list on Tuesday because of muscle strain in his left hand.
In a corresponding move, the Royals recalled utility infielder Josh Rojas from Triple-A Omaha.
Garcia, 26, said he has been dealing with hand soreness for about a month, and he missed three games last week. He played Sunday as well as on Monday, when he went 1-for-4 with a double in a 2-1 road win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
An All-Star third baseman last season, Garcia
has been filling in at shortstop for Bobby Witt Jr. (right knee sprain), who missed his fourth straight game on Tuesday. Garcia was in pain after fouling a pitch in his first plate appearance on Monday.
Garcia was hurt on May 16 in St. Louis while taking a swing, and imaging revealed the strain in his left hand. He is batting .227 (10-for-44) in June, including 1-for-10 in the past seven days.
"My last homer was before St. Louis," Garcia said. "After that, I'm not making damage in the box and hitting. It's not an excuse, but I'm not being myself. I'm trying to help my team because we've been fighting, like all season, and I want to be part of winning and bring something to the team. Playing like that is hard to do. This game is hard to do (when you) play 100%. So you can imagine playing at 70% is harder."
Garcia is batting .261 with 17 doubles, three home runs and 30 RBIs in 69 games this season.
He had a breakout season in 2025, when he batted .286 with career highs of 39 doubles, 16 homers and 74 RBIs in 160 games. Garcia won the Gold Glove Award for American League third basemen.
Garcia is a career .263 hitter with 104 doubles, 30 homers and 214 RBIs in 518 games for the Royals since 2022.
Rojas, who turns 32 on June 30, is 1-for-5 with two RBIs in two games this season, his first with Kansas City. He was batting .251 with eight homers and 37 RBIs in 58 games at Omaha.
He is a career .241 hitter with 36 homers and 202 RBIs in 640 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks (2019-23), Seattle Mariners (2023-24), Chicago White Sox (2025) and Royals.
--Field Level Media
