García's career-best year leads to worthy nod

November 6th, 2024

This story was excerpted from Jessica Camerato’s Nationals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

In a bounceback season – and the best of his career – Nationals second baseman slugged his way to become a 2024 Silver Slugger Award finalist.

García, 24, was selected for the honor along with Jonathan India of the Reds and Ketel Marte of the D-backs.

The winners will be announced on Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET on MLB Network. Voting is comprised of the manager and three coaches from every Major League staff.

García slashed .282/.318/.444 with a .762 OPS in 140 games (528 plate appearances). He tallied 141 hits, 25 doubles, one triple, 18 home runs, 58 runs scored, 70 RBIs, 22 stolen bases, 27 walks and 86 strikeouts.

In his fifth Major League season, he set career highs in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, hits, doubles, homers, RBIs and stolen bases.

García was one of only six Major League players in 2024 to bat over .280 with at least 40 extra-base hits and 20 stolen bases. Among all NL second basemen, he ranked second in slugging percentage, batting average, batting average with runners in scoring position, RBIs and OPS. He also ranked third in the position in home runs.

India slashed .248/.357/.392 with a .749 OPS, 15 home runs and 58 RBIs in 151 games, while Marte slashed .292/.372/.560 with a .932 OPS, 95 RBIs and 36 home runs in 136 games.

García’s impressive production came one season after he was optioned to Triple-A for 25 games in August 2023 and re-established himself playing in the Dominican Winter League last offseason.

“You go 20-for-20, and then you get one fly ball, everybody is like, ‘Hey! What is that?’” García reflected in August. “That made you have more focus on the game. Every stadium is not like here. Here, you have your space. In the Dominican, you don’t have that. The fans are like, right there. I think that’s a good thing.”

García is vying to join Daniel Murphy (2016, ‘17) as the Nationals’ second player at the position to win the Silver Slugger Award.