On March 23rd, Manager Davey Martinez made some changes to the expected Spring Training lineup. For the first time this Spring, Martinez started Starlin Castro at third base and inserted Luis Garcia into the lineup at second base. This sudden change prompted speculation in the media and on social media that this could be the Manager’s back-up plan for a faltering Carter Kieboom. Most online pundits were excited for this move, but if you take a step back and look at the numbers, rushing Luis Garcia back to the big leagues might not be the best idea for the player or the team.

Garcia is not even 21-years-old yet and he has already seen some time in the big leagues. Last season, Starlin Castro’s wrist injury forced the Nationals’ hand and they called up Garcia from the alternative training site to play second base. During his 40 games in the Majors, the now 20-year-old prospect posted a .276/.302/.366 slash line. These numbers are pretty good when you consider the average slash line for all second baseman in MLB last season was .246/.312/.380.  Considering he had yet to play above AA, Garcia had some impressive moments, but his numbers certainly do not scream that he is undoubtedly ready to make the leap to being an everyday player in MLB. If you dig deeper into his statistics from last season, it will prove that he still has some work to do.

(See Related Article: Perspective: Is Luis Garcia the real deal?)

As a matter of fact, among batters with at least 130 plate appearances last season, Garcia’s OPS of .668 ranked 199th in the league and his wRC+ of 78 was 204th. Defensively, he was not much better. Out of the 20 players that played at least 250 innings at second base, Garcia ranked 18th in dWAR, 17th in DRS, 18th in ultimate zone rating (UZR) and dead last in revised zone rating (RZR), which measures “the proportion of balls hit into a fielder’s zone that he successfully converted into an out.”

The signs that Luis Garcia is not ready to be an everyday player are not limited to his time with Washington in 2020. In 2019 while Garcia was with the AA Harrisburg Senators, he struggled. Yes, he was one of the younger players in the league, but his OPS and wRC+ were just as bad as his time with the Nationals in 2020. This is not just a short term struggle. These numbers are over his last 169 games as a professional baseball player are not what you would expect out of a young prospect that is ready to take the league by storm. While those 169 games are concerning, we likely wouldn’t be having this conversation if Luis Garcia was having a great Spring Training. Unfortunately he is not, hitting just .188 with one extra-base hit in 32 at bats through March 23rd.

One positive over his time in the Majors was his performance in 99 at bats against right-handed pitchers. He hit them extremely well with a slash line of .323/.356/.444 and this saved his overall numbers from being extremely bad. While the majority of pitchers he will face in the Major Leagues will be right-handed and a platoon could be possible, he would certainly be a more well rounded player if he could master left-handed pitching while getting more time in the minors.

Garcia is going to be a stud, but he should not be rushed to the bigs while there are still clear holes in his game. If the team decides to look elsewhere for a third basemen in the event that Kieboom can’t claim that position, they should not look at Garcia right now. Instead, they should use Josh Harrison and Hernan Perez, who are having great Spring Trainings, as a bridge to either Garcia or Kieboom. Kieboom’s struggles should not be the reason you rush a player who is also not ready yet. That decision could negatively impact both players. We will see in 9 days what the Nationals decide to do, but hopefully, whatever decision they make will turn out to be a good one for this season and the future.

Edited by: Jonathan Mailloux

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