With veteran Alcides Escobar sidelined with a hamstring strain, the Nationals had little choice but to turn to Luis Garcia, a former top prospect who came into the year sporting a 79 wRC+ through 386 career plate appearances. Despite a host of veteran signings that seemed to block Garcia from regular playing time, his time has come. Manager Dave Martinez has made clear that Garcia is his starting shortstop from here on out, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. Since taking over, Garcia has hit .352/.368/.519 over 57 plate appearances. That’s obviously above and beyond what the Nats can expect from Garcia, but even developing into an average regular would be a boon for a Nats team with few offensive building blocks beyond Juan Soto and Keibert Ruiz. Elsewhere around the National League…
- The Diamondbacks don’t yet know what their approach will be when it comes to the trade deadline, per MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert. GM Mike Hazen wants to see a little more from his club, who at 30-35 sits 6.5 games out of a wild card spot. It does not sound like the Diamondbacks are willing to move any heralded prospects, no matter how the next few weeks go, but if they remain in the race, Hazen could augment his current roster around the periphery, certainly when it comes to pitching, Gilbert notes.
- Cubs prospect Caleb Kilian is going to be in the rotation for the foreseeable future, and while that’s certainly their long-term hope for him, right now it’s more about need than performance, per The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney. With Wade Miley, Marcus Stroman, Adbert Alzolay, and Drew Smyly all on the injured list, the Cubs are going to let Killian earn his keep in the rotation, at least for a while.
- As for Stroman, he played catch today for the first time since going on the shelf, per Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times (via Twitter). That puts Stroman still aways from a return. No timetable has been put on his official return schedule.
Garcia has gotten off to a hot start this year, but the dude really needs to improve his defense.
He is playing out of position. He really is a second baseman. Think the plan is to move him to second very soon. Of course, that means they will need a shortstop. Brady House won’t be up before 2024 and he may move to third base.
Since when is “aways” one word?
Quite a while… I’ve used it in scrabble ☺️
Are you saying it is two words?
Hazen knows the D-backs aren’t competing for a WC this year, but he isn’t going to say that publicly in mid-June. Nevertheless, I suspect he will be both buyer and seller at the deadline as he’s always looking to upgrade the roster.
Dbacks have a problem with their young OF prospects, but it’s a nice problem. They are ALL left handed hitting center fielders. That includes the current starters, the 4th outfielders, and the top OF prospects in both AAA and AA. Now that Carson Kelly is back off IL, Daulton Varsho will get most of his starts in the OF, not at catcher. He’s a left handed hitting CF, but the Dbacks just announced he is shifting to right field. Left handed Alek Thomas starts in CF. Left handed Jake McCarthy, a CF, is the primary 4th OF. Left handed Pavin Smith, a former first round pick, has played some CF this year and last year. Top prospect Corbin Carroll, another left handed CF is absolutely tearing up pitching at AA Amarillo, and is widely expected to be called up to the majors after the All-Star break. Dominic Fletcher is hitting .344 at AAA Reno. He of course is also a left handed hitting CF.
This “nice” problem can realistically only be solved by trading one or two of these young prospects. I don’t expect the Dbacks will trade Thomas, Carroll or Varsho, but I think any of the others could be traded for the right, high price.
Of course, this left handed OF problem can be internally solved if/when right handed CF top prospect Kristian Robinson gets his career back on track by getting past his legal/Visa problems.
scottaz, do you think the D-backs would consider trading Christian Walker and moving Smith to 1B?
Angels&. Yes, for the right price
Only problem is that makes the Sbacks even more vulnerable to left handed pitching. That is already their Achilles Heel
When Hazen first arrived he had to clean up the mess LaRussa and Dave Stewart had made. Now it seems every year he is “ waiting to see,” in a division he has no chance of winning. Make a decision already
Yep He has made a decision, and Hazen has announced his decision every year. It’s just that he hasn’t made the decision you want him to make, so in your mind he doesn’t make decisions. He’s actually an excellent GM, which is light years away from the wannabe, unemployed GMs on these posts.
Killian needs to remain the rotation, no need to be sent back to AAA anymore the Cubs are going nowhere and need to see if Killian can be the mid rotation guy we all think he can be.
As a fan, I’ve seen some bad streaks for them over the years (going all the way back to the 60s), but it’s been awhile since I’ve seem them look this bad. This will be a real test for that kid. It’s not like he’s getting his first chance on a competitive team…