Nationals invite Garcia to spring camp

This spring, the defending World Series champions will get a closer look at one potential piece of their future.
The Nationals have invited No. 97 overall prospectLuis Garcia to Major League Spring Training, the club announced Wednesday. Twenty-two players in total received non-roster invitations from Washington.

The 19-year-old shortstop is coming off a down 2019 season spent entirely with Double-A Harrisburg, where he was the Eastern League's youngest player on Opening Day. Garcia hit just .257/.280/.337 with four homers, four triples and 22 doubles in 129 games with the Senators. He also stole 11 bases in 16 attempts and did finish tied for second in the Eastern League with 135 hits. Garcia also appeared in 20 Arizona Fall League games, hitting .276/.345/.382 with six extra-base hits and two steals for Surprise.
The Nationals have been aggressive with Garcia since singing him for $1.3 million out of the Dominican Republic in July 2016. The left-handed slugger debuted in the Gulf Coast League in 2017, hitting .302 with a .717 OPS in his first taste of the Minors. He put up similarly strong numbers the following season with Class A Hagerstown and Class A Advanced Potomac and earned a non-roster invite last spring as a result.

Garcia's stats may have dropped against tougher -- and much older -- competition at Double-A, but he still ranks among MLB.com's Top 100 prospects on the strength of his above-average hit and run tools. Defensively, he's considered solid at both shortstop and second base, though he's more likely to end up at the latter with Trea Turner and fellow Top-100 prospect Carter Kieboom ahead of him at short on the Washington depth chart.

Other ranked Nationals prospects to receive non-roster invites Wednesday were No. 4 Wil Crowe and No. 28 Jhonatan German. The other non-roster invitees were right-handed pitchers Dakota Bacus, Bryan Bonnell, Paolo Espino, Javy Guerra, David Hernandez, Kevin Quackenbush and Derek Self; left-handed pitchers Fernando Abad and Sam Freeman; catchers Welington Castillo, Taylor Gushue and Jakson Reetz; infielders Brandon Snyder, Drew Ward and Jacob Wilson and outfielders Emilio Bonifácio, Yadiel Hernandez, JB Shuck and Mac Williamson.