How García transformed into one of the Nationals' top trade chips

ATLANTA -- When the Nationals’ season began, shortstop CJ Abrams was considered their biggest trade chip. Then, left-hander Foster Griffin was added to that mix in his dominant return to the Major Leagues.

As the season went on, though, first baseman Luis García Jr. emerged. His offensive surge became his new level of play. As the Trade Deadline nears, he is a top name to watch in the countdown to 6 p.m. ET on Monday.

How did the 26-year-old García, the longest-tenured member of the Nationals, play his way into this position? It was three seasons ago that García was optioned to Triple-A Rochester in August because of his inconsistent performance. A new front office and new coaching staff decided to shift García from second base to first base. His defense was far from the only improvement.

After Saturday’s 8-3 loss to the Braves at Truist Park, García is slashing .283/.313/.560 with an .873 OPS and a career-high 23 homers and 76 RBIs in 104 games. Entering Saturday, he ranked second in the National League in slugging percentage, fourth in RBIs, seventh in OPS and he tied for eighth in home runs and triples.

All of last season, in comparison, García slashed .252/.289/.412 with a .701 OPS, 16 home runs and 66 RBIs in 139 games. Digging deeper into those numbers paints a picture of his turnaround success.

“I think we saw with Luis, bat speed was a big [area for improvement],” manager Blake Butera said pregame Saturday. “But at the end of the day, it's buy-in from the player. He could easily just sit there and say, ‘Why am I going to do this type of training when I've had success and I've hit well in the big leagues already for a number of years?’”

García improved his barrel rate this season to a career-high 12.4%, good for 82nd percentile among all players. Barrels, measured as the ideal combination of launch angle and exit velocity, frequently result in extra-base hits.

He entered Saturday tied for ninth in the NL in such hits. His 47 extra-base hits in 371 plate appearances already topped last season’s total of 45 in 526 plate appearances.

Barrel rate also can also lead to an increased bat speed and fast-swing rate, which measures the percentage of swings 75 mph or faster. García has improved his average bat speed to 73.9 mph (71st percentile among all players) from 72.4 mph (56th percentile) last season. His fast-swing rate has soared to 40.2% from 28.0% in 2025.

“The overall message to Luis was getting a pitch that he can drive,” Butera said. “When he gets pitches that he drives, you see there's a different type of bat speed and also intent, if that makes sense, when he's hitting these balls versus the ones where you kind of see him just kind of put in play. The bat speed's obviously lower on those because he doesn't have his legs underneath him. So with training bat speed and also training pitch selection, the two kind of tie in together.”

García’s 40% chase rate ranks only in the sixth percentile, but he has improved his whiff rate to the second-lowest of his career at 19.4%. While he continues to hit fastballs well, he is notably more successful against breaking balls: a 17% barrel rate this season compared to an 8.9% barrel rate in 2024-25.

“We want you to swing pitches you can do damage on,” Butera said the Nationals relayed to García. “When he swings at those pitches, the bat speed automatically is higher because of the position his body’s in.”

García cannot control what happens at the Trade Deadline. He has, though, controlled what he can this season, and the results are in his performance.

“All the credit, honestly, goes to him for being willing to try something new and spend the amount of time that he spends in the cage, in the weight room to address these things,” said Butera.