JUPITER, Fla. • When Greg Garcia arrived at his first big-league spring training, one of the established players from the other side of the clubhouse walked over and introduced himself as Daniel.
“Like I didn’t know who he was,” Garcia said.
This was 2013 and the previous fall Daniel Descalso had one of the key hits in the Cardinals’ comeback to win Game 5 and the National League Division Series in Washington. Garcia had watched the lefthanded-hitting utility infielder carve out a role for himself by learning new positions, moonlighting as a starter and, most of all, embracing sporadic playing time and pinch-hit at-bats.