The Nationals are back at the same old first-base crossroads, and this winter’s answer still isn’t obvious.
Since Ryan Zimmerman retired, Washington has treated first base like a spot to be solved in pieces. Last season, the club leaned on internal options, and for a while that looked smart.
Luis Garcia Jr. moved over from second base and settled in after about six weeks of adjustment, then started raking. From May 9 until he was traded, Garcia was one of the hottest hitters in baseball, batting .305 with a .659 slugging percentage and a .996 OPS over a 70-game stretch.
Once Garcia was dealt, Abimelec Ortiz got the left-handed at-bats at first. His debut brought a brief burst of offense, but it didn’t last.
Over his final 30 games, Ortiz hit .136 with a .371 OPS and no power. Washington also gave him nearly all his chances against right-handed pitching, while often lifting him for pinch-hitters late against lefties.
The right-handed side of the position had its own encouraging signs. Yohandy Morales and Andres Chaparro both hit well at first base, and that set up a workable platoon look. The Nationals, though, have leaned toward matchup-based usage, starting Ortiz against right-handers and using Chaparro and/or Morales against lefties.
Now the front office is staring at the 2027 picture and trying to decide whether this spot needs an outside fix or another internal shuffle. First base and designated hitter have been a revolving door for years, and the second half of the season again showed both sides of the issue: young power was starting to emerge, but the lineup still lacked balance.
There is no clear left-handed first-base prospect in the farm system, which leaves Washington with a few paths to consider. The most aggressive would be a trade, and MLB Trade Rumors wrote yesterday that the Yankees could move Garcia, who is projected to make $11 million in arbitration-eligible salary.
That possibility matters because the Nationals do have surplus elsewhere. With Ethan Petry in the minors and Morales and Chaparro already bringing similar right-handed corner-bat profiles, Washington could deal from a position of depth if it finds a left-handed hitter another team is willing to move.
Still, there’s a simpler path sitting inside the roster already. If Morales and Chaparro split first base against right-handed pitching, that could open the door for President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni to chase a left-handed outfielder and push James Wood into a more regular DH role.
The case for Morales is at least real in small doses. In 26 at-bats against right-handed pitching, he hit three home runs, a double and three singles for a .923 OPS. Chaparro’s track record against righties is even stronger in a larger sample, as he hit .311 with a .905 OPS in 82 plate appearances.
That leaves Washington weighing the same basic question again: trade for a left-handed first baseman, or keep building around the right-handed bats already in-house. Jake Bauers and Ian Happ are two names already on the board, but both would cost plenty and neither comes with much certainty. Both are also over 31.
For now, the cleanest answer might be the most practical one. Let Morales and Chaparro handle first base against right-handed pitching, search for a left-handed bat to pair in right field, and let the roster sort itself out from there.
In Other News...
Nationals Fans Have A Real AFL Prospect Dilemma Brewing
Salt Rivers latest Arizona Fall League game was the kind of messy, back-and-forth affair that reminds you why this stretch matters for player evaluation as much as it does for wins and losses. Washingtons Teo Banks, the Nationals 18th-round pick in the 2024 draft, gave the game plenty of life from the nine-hole, homering twice, scoring three times and driving in four runs while playing right field and helping fuel a rally that had the clubs tied twice late.
For Nationals fans, the bigger-picture tension is starting to settle around the pitching side, where Jarlin Susana is lined up for his fourth AFL start against the Scottsdale Scorpions. The whole point of this league is sorting out what the numbers can tell you and what they miss, especially with young arms who can look one way on paper and another in person, and Susanas next outing figures to be another useful test for that eye-versus-data debate. [Read more 🡒]
CJ Abrams May Not Be Settling Into Washingtons Infield After All
The Nationals plan to shift CJ Abrams from shortstop to second base was supposed to calm some of the defensive turbulence in the middle infield, but the move has not exactly felt settled. Abrams has made it clear he is unhappy with the change, which adds another layer of uncertainty to a position switch already driven by his struggles on the dirt.
Now there is at least some outside speculation that Abrams could eventually end up in the outfield, though Washington has not publicly signaled that as the next step. He has only limited experience out there, so for now the question is less about where Abrams fits best than how long it takes before the Nationals decide his defensive future is somewhere else entirely. [Read more 🡒]
Luis Garcia Jr. Is Reopening A Debate Nationals Fans Know Well
Luis Garcia Jr. is back in the conversation for a familiar reason: where he fits in the infield. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the deadline acquisition could potentially line up at second or third base in the 2027 season, a nod to the kind of versatility that once made Garcia such an intriguing piece in Washington before his defensive issues pushed the Nationals to move him off second.
For Nationals fans, it is an old debate with a new setting. Garcia has already shown he can handle second base in the majors, and Boones comments suggest the Yankees see enough in his infield skill set to keep that door open. The mention of roster flexibility only adds to the idea that his next chapter may still hinge on the same question Washington once had to answer for itself: where, exactly, does he belong on the diamond? [Read more 🡒]