Luis García Jr. has begun taking pregame drills at first base as the Nationals plan roster options for 2026. The team has no immediate plans to play him there but could give him a look later. García has played only second base since late 2022 after a brief, unsuccessful run at shortstop. Defensive Runs Saved has graded him negatively in three straight years, and Statcast's Outs Above Average was above average only in 2024. Washington's infield defense grades -31 OAA, worst in MLB, and the team allows an MLB-high .278 batting average on ground-balls. Offensively, García regressed from a career-best .282/.318/.444 with 18 homers and 22 steals last year to .260/.300/.397 this season.
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.
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.
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