A former White Sox outfielder has announced his retirement from Major League Baseball for the third time this offseason. Michael A Taylor and Travis Jankowski, who both played for the White Sox in 2025, made the transition from playing to coaching earlier in the offseason. This time, it’s former White Sox outfielder Avisail Garcia, who spent parts of six seasons on the southside and made the AL All-Star team in 2017. Garcia last played in the big leagues in 2024 and has made the decision to hang it up at age 34.
The White Sox first acquired Garcia from the Tigers at the trade deadline in 2013, in a three-team deal that sent RHP Jake Peavy to the Boston Red Sox. Once a highly-touted prospect, Garcia showed why in his first stint with the White Sox, posting a .774 OPS in 42 games down the stretch in 2013. Unfortunately, injuries stunted Garcia’s growth with the White Sox and limited him to just 46 games in 2014. He posted below-average offensive numbers in both 2015 and 2016 before his big breakout season in 2017.
Garcia's White Sox tenure left a lot to be desired
Garcia slashed .330/.380/.506 and posted an OPS of .886 during his 2017 campaign, landing an all-star nod and giving White Sox fans hope that he’d reached his potential. Unfortunately, Garcia’s 2018 season was another step back. His OPS dropped to .719, although he did set his career-high with 19 home runs in 93 games. The White Sox let Garcia walk following the season and he landed a one-year pact with the Tampa Bay Rays, where he hit 20 home runs and posted a .796 OPS in 2019. He landed a two-year deal with Milwaukee, where he leveraged a 29-homer season in 2021 into a four-year, $53 million contract with the Miami Marlins before the 2022 season.
Avi returns!
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 3, 2021
García drives in 2 in his first game back in the lineup after a few days off.#ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/dZztWRzy5d
Garcia’s Marlins tenure certainly didn’t go as planned, as the outfielder played just 153 games and hit 13 home runs over three seasons with the Marlins before his release in 2024. He underwent back surgery following his release and did not play during the 2025 season before making his decision to call it a career this offseason. Overall, Garcia played in 13 big league seasons, slugging 140 career home runs and posting a .733 career OPS. Serviceable numbers, but certainly never the superstardom the White Sox envisioned when they traded for Garcia back in 2013.
The next steps for Garcia are unclear, but he represents an era of White Sox baseball that fans would rather forget. At the time, I didn’t love the White Sox decision to move on from Garcia, but it turned out to be a fine decision after watching his remaining career trajectory. The White Sox have had a revolving door in right field since Garcia, but the tides might now be finally turning with the impending debut of Braden Montgomery.
In an alternate world, maybe Garcia’s White Sox career would’ve yielded more fruit, but White Sox fans can only accept the results and continue to look ahead to brighter days.