Member Spotlight: The Garcia Brothers and The Power Showcase

At The Hitting Vault, we love nothing more than to hear about the success of our members! We recently had one of our members reach out to us regarding her two sons competed in the Power Showcase and have seen some tremendous success at the high school and now college level.

Jorge and Jesse Garcia, two power-hitting brothers from the San Diego, CA area have deep ties to The Hitting Vault after becoming members a few seasons ago. Jorge and Jesse had attended hitting clinics put on by Coach Lisle, received a couple of swing analysis for feedback, and then joined up with The Hitting Vault to let their own work ethic and dedication put them on the national stage at the Power Showcase.

12th Annual Power Showcase World Classic

Created in 2004 by Brian Domenico, The Power Showcase is an International High School Home Run Derby that has evolved into one of the most exciting, can’t-miss baseball events each year. The event has developed into a great opportunity for high school hitters to come to a big league ballpark and put their power on full display, while also taking part in a pro scout day to get a taste of what professional and collegiate scouts are looking for during the recruiting process. Scouts are out in full force analyzing players for hitting power, arm strength and overall speed. With the two most important factors being athleticism and overall makeup… which includes the athlete’s overall drive, and most importantly the work they’re willing to put in to improve their performance on the field and in the classroom.

On December 27th, 2017 Jesse Garcia arrived at Miami Marlins stadium for the 12th annual Power Showcase. Many high school athletes would be thrilled just to be invited to an event like this, but Jesse was no stranger to this event and came in with the mindset of not “just being happy to be there” and instead his mindset was on winning the world title.

Jesse and his brother Jorge had participated in this event previously, with Jesse winning the inaugural Rookies Group four years ago, and his brother Jorge taking home the crown for the longest home run hit with a wood bat at 492 feet! I guess you could say power runs in the Garcia family.

Jesse’s Performance at the Showcase

As a high school senior, Jesse knew this would be his last chance to participate in the Power Showcase and had been working his tail off to go out with a bang. He knew he would be surrounded by the best high school hitters in the country, potential first-round draft picks and players locked into Division I college scholarships. For him, he was still undecided on where he would play college ball, and you could say that he had a chip on his shoulder a little bit for being overlooked due to the crazy amount of talent at the competition. Jesse was heavily recruited by NAIA programs all across the country but was finding that the division I offers were hard to come by due to some circumstances that were out of his control at the time.

So how did the event go for Jesse? Well, a few articles floating around out there put it very bluntly. Jesse put on one of the greatest performances in Power Showcase history. Check out the video below for an overview of how the showcase went for Jesse and his approach on the competition. Not to mention some good video of the absolute bombs that he hit out of Marlins Stadium.

Letting His Bat Do the Talking

At the end of the showcase, Jesse left little doubt who had earned the right to be the 12th Annual Power Showcase Champion:

• The most consecutive wood bat home runs
• Most wood bat home runs
• Winner for most home runs in the preliminary round
• Most consecutive home runs 7
• Most overall home runs 35
• Featured group Champion
• Overall World Champion

Going into the final round of the competition, the metal bat round, Garcia and six other hitters were competing for the world championship title.

The Mindset to the Power Showcase Title

“My mindset was just to make sure I got the timing down,” Garcia said. “The wood-bat round was just for timing and I didn’t care if I hit any out. One is good and will help me with the metal bat. I got the timing down and as soon as I went with metal it was unleash time. When I feel that groove it feels like I’m not even swinging. It just feels like a fluid motion, like I am just standing up there having fun. It just feels like I don’t have a bat in my hand.” – Jesse Garcia quote from Power Showcase website.

Given 15 outs to play with during the final metal-bat round, Garcia was chasing Payton Smith (22nd round draft pick to the San Diego Padres) with 13 home runs, and Triston Casas (2018 first round draft pick, 26th overall to the Boston Red Sox) with 12 home runs. Garcia got off to a hot start, hitting his 7th home run of the round and only had three outs. He then swatted six home runs in a row to tie himself with Payton Smith for the overall lead. Finally, with five outs remaining, Garcia crushed a baseball 461 feet that crowned him with the World Championship.

Garcia had successfully accomplished his goal of taking home the World Championship and is one the greatest examples of our mantra here at The Hitting Vault… Hard work, works. He can now put himself in the same conversation as some of the best hitters in Major League Baseball today who have competed and taken the title at the Power Showcase. Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo just to name a few.

The Garcia Brothers and Their Approach with the Hitting Vault

The Garcia brothers were introduced to Coach Lisle and The Hitting Vault following a hitting clinic a few years ago in the San Diego area. Immediately they liked Coach Lisle’s approach to teaching the swing with an emphasis on power. The Hitting Vault is full of baseball hitting drills for any player to get better, as long as they are willing to put in the work. However, these two members of The Vault especially liked Coach Lisle’s approach to the mental aspects of the swing. Kendra Garcia, the dedicated baseball mom who has watched her two boys grow up over the years as successful baseball players, and overall great kids, had this to say about the families experience with The Hitting Vault.

Hitting Vault Feedback

“We’ve always told our boys is that you have to be serious about this stuff, and want to learn and be educated. As parents, we can’t force them into this stuff. For my boys, I never had to do that for them. Baseball, and hitting was a passion they both developed from day one on their own. As they started to see success and the battle of getting noticed heated up, they were finding that not everyone wanted to take a chance on them.

“This fueled the fire even more and ultimately lead them to prove people wrong. With The Hitting Vault, it was a great resource for the boys to check out Coach Lisle’s videos and work on drills that would help them increase their power. More than anything though, they enjoyed Coach Lisle’s mental approach to hitting and found that to be the biggest benefit to being members of The Hitting Vault.”

Where Are They Now?

The Garcia brothers have since moved on from their high school playing days, but their careers continue to advance forward with no signs of slowing down. Jesse’s older brother Jorge is currently playing AAA baseball in Mexico after finishing his collegiate career at Cal State Los Angeles, where hit .327 with seven home runs and 28 runs batted in. For a full payer profile on Jorge, checkout his Power Showcase profile here.

For Jesse, he received a scholarship to play baseball at Concordia University in Nebraska following his successfully senior season. He is currently in his freshman year and gearing up for his first collegiate season. When his high school run was all done, Jesse’s high school accomplishments included: Power Showcase Home Run Derby World Champion, Rawlings All-American, Under Armour and Perfect Game pre-season All-American and Union Tribune CIF Player of the Week honors.

The Hitting Vault is the most popular, most trusted and highest rated online hitting community.

It was created to teach athletes how to move their body to unlock their most powerful swing. It’s designed to help coaches get optimal results from their athletes. Join and get access to over 100+ exclusive videos for members and step-by-step instruction so you’ll know exactly what to do next to unlock your power at the plate.