Nationals second baseman Luis García Jr. has begun taking pregame drills at first base, writes Andrew Golden of The Washington Post. While the Nats don’t have any plans to get García imminent game action there, Golden writes that they could give him a look at some point as they plan ahead to 2026.
García hasn’t played anywhere other than second base since the end of 2022. He got a few months of shortstop run that year but clearly wasn’t cut out for that position. He’s not a particularly good second baseman either. Defensive Runs Saved has graded him negatively in three straight years. Statcast’s Outs Above Average gave him above-average marks in 2024 but has had him as a subpar defender in every other season of his career. Both metrics have him alongside Kristian Campbell and Brandon Lowe among the league’s three worst defensive second basemen this season. Statcast feels he’s been particularly poor at tracking balls hit up the middle.
Infield defense has been a team-wide issue for a few seasons. CJ Abrams grades as one of the sport’s weakest defensive shortstops. José Tena was a non-viable option at third base earlier in the year. Rookie Brady House is getting everyday run at the hot corner now and raised the floor with the glove, but he hasn’t hit enough to stake a firm claim to the job going into next season.
Statcast grades the Nats’ overall infield defense at -31 Outs Above Average. That’s not only the worst in MLB, it’s 11 outs below the 29th-place Angels. Washington ranked 25th in that category a year ago. The Nats have allowed an MLB-high .278 batting average on ground-balls despite ranking middle of the pack in hard contact. They need to be far better defensively if they’re to take a step towards contention in 2026.
García has been a solid but not elite hitter over the past couple seasons. He turned in a career-best .282/.318/.444 showing with 18 homers and 22 stolen bases last year. The slash line has regressed to a .260/.300/.397 mark this season, but his results have lagged more impressive batted ball metrics all year. García doesn’t seem dramatically different than he was a year ago: a slightly above-average hitter who shouldn’t be playing up the middle on an everyday basis.
The bat is probably too light for him to be an average or better regular at first base. That said, the Nationals don’t have an obvious in-house candidate to play there next season. The Nathaniel Lowe trade didn’t work. Josh Bell is an impending free agent. Even if Washington re-signs him on a one-year deal, his streakiness makes him a better bench bat than a regular. There’s nothing to suggest the Nationals are projecting García to make a full-time move there, but there’s little downside in getting him comfortable at another position.
Washington’s offseason plans won’t be known until they hire a permanent GM and manager. Mike DeBartolo and Miguel Cairo are currently holding those roles on interim bases. Whether they keep that leadership structure in place or hire externally, they’ll need to address the infield over the offseason. First base is the most obvious priority, but getting García some kind of versatility would provide more flexibility for a free agent run at Gleyber Torres or to explore trade possibilities at the keystone.
Barely passable at the keystone when considering his glove. His profile would be sub replacement at either corner infield slot.
Garcia is already a 2b, the place where you put your generally athletic guy who shifted off of everything.
Probably just to finish the year. Can’t imagine they go into next season with him starting. Wonder if they’ll sign a FA like Hoskins to a deal to see if he rebounds.
I would expect it to really be part of the longer move to make him a utility player. This year would not cut it as an every day player on a contending team- either the D needs to take a major step forward or he needs to hit like he did in 24.
I think that would be the best outcome for all, if he were a passable bat that could be plugged in multiple places to rotate around and keep people fresh. I’m not sure him getting 1B reps really does that. If they were getting him some outfield reps and 3B reps maybe, but a 1B/2B who is average-ish with the bat is… Yu Chang? It’s not a typically viable major league path.
Prior management held on to hope too long with Garcia. I say this rooting for him and with the whole town just about rooting for him.
A little like Danny Espinosa all over again, but without any of the defense.
I think they undervalued Garcia. He was called up super young. At this point most prospects are about his age- and he is already an established big leaguer. I always wonder if the team knew he never had that extra gear so let him go, or if the early call up cost him his ceiling.
The Nats call up everyone too early.
The Nats will probably be exposing Josh Bell to waivers. If another team wants to pick up the remainder of Bell’s $5M contract, the Nats will need someone else at 1B to play out the season.
They are probably doing him a favor if they expose him to waivers. On the other hand, garcia jr. is a good candidate for non tender next season.
So much for my hope that they’d give Andres Chaparro a legit shot.
Two things. The first is his conditioning. Is he a bit fat or is it my TV?
And, if they planned on moving a weak/mediocre bat to 1st, should they have not tried to trade him at the deadline. The RS would have to have taken a look with Mayer out.