Luis Garcia Jr has quietly broken out this summer as he has been absolutely mashing the baseball since June. Ryan discusses what the 2B has done much better, and why this could be the real Garcia moving forward. Seaver King was the Nats 1st round pick and he comes with an interesting profile... Where does he fit for the Nats? Also, Tyler Stuart has pitched VERY well in his first two starts with Harrisburg... What does his timeline look like?
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It's the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. As 2024 has progressed for the Washington Nationals, so has second baseman Luis Garcia. So let's get into his breakout season and get into the future of what could be for the Washington Nationals. And thank you all for making lockdown nationals your first list in every single day as we are free and available wherever you get your podcast. And of course, I'm your host Ryan Clary. You can catch me over on Twitter at Ryan Clary 11 and as well as our show page at hello underscore nationals for our latest nationals news notes. Make sure to check us out over on Twitter. And of course, while you're at it, make sure to search up locked on nationals wherever you get your podcast, including over on YouTube, again, just search locked on nationals there. And that is where you'll find your daily nationals content here for free. Single day. And of course, later on in today's show, we'll discuss the Nat's giant series as the nationals. They added three fine game yesterday, I guess James would did fine. But other than that, it was a Patrick Corbin star. We all know what to expect when it's Patrick Corbin. So we'll discuss that game in third segment and preview tonight's game with Mackenzie Gore on the bump against Hayden Bird song. One of the better pitchers over the last few weeks here in Major League Baseball that you have not heard of. So it's a prospect, but he's been very good. We'll discuss that in the third segment of today's show. The second segment, we're going to take a trip down to the body. Seever King, where does he fit within the Washington nationals? Because he was announced a shortstop. You already have shortstop filled up and right now you got a hot second baseman who is still only 24 years old, just turned 24 years old. In fact, Luis Garcia and also Tyler Stewart, the return for Jesse Winker from the New York Mets. His first two starts have been wildly impressive down in Harrisburg. So we'll recognize that in the second segment of today's program, but we start off discussing Luis Garcia's breakout season. This breakout season for Luis Garcia has been one of, if not, the most surprising things for me in 2024. I'll explain that in a little further detail, but today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. Make every moment more as playoffs wind down. The sports stop, sportsing like we want them to, but this summer Fandall is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right. Everyone, every day, all summer long to visit fandall.com to get started. So we get started with this Luis Garcia, one of the most bigger surprises in 2024 for this national team. I've been kind of watching Luis Garcia through a different kind of perspective, I guess you could say. And this is what I mean by that. Luis Garcia has always kind of had like this weird, just way to come about things, I guess you could say. He has had a weird kind of upbringing to getting to the major leagues. Luis Garcia debuted as a 19 year old back in 2020 during that COVID season when the nationals were coming off winning a world series. Right then and there when the nationals had Luis Garcia make the major league lineup and was almost an every day player during that season, it came as a very big surprise to me because at that point in time, you just won a world series. Luis Garcia was not some big time prospect, but he wasn't a small prospect. He was one of the nationals better prospects at that time, but it was still a surprise. No one went into 2020 thinking Luis Garcia was going to make an impact. Well, he did not make an impact. He wasn't very good. The nationals overall though, with Garcia over these last few seasons, he's kind of gotten lost in shuffle and in my opinion, the reason why he has been lost in the shuffle is the way that they kind of brought him up. Luis Garcia, the expectations for him over these last few seasons, I could put a hand up and look myself in the mirror and say this was partly on me, I think his expectations were out of whack. This guy just turned 24 years old back in May. He is still a puppy. Now Luis Garcia on the season, he has been a well above average major league hitter as the OPS plus sits over 120 at this point in time, is an OPS around 784 on the season. He's batting at a very high clip, not striking out as much as we've always kind of known with him. That's one of his better attributes in baseball, in my opinion. But now as the summer has really clicked here, so has Luis Garcia. Over his last 50 games since the beginning of June, he's batting 305, a 333 OBP, a 492 slug and an 825 OPS. In that timeframe as well, looking at the bigger numbers here, only 26 strikeouts to eight walks. Now, he doesn't need to walk more, but that kind of comes with his pitch selection. He's not all too great at this moment still. He's got eight home runs at the beginning of June, 27 RBIs. He has more RBIs than he does have strikeouts at this point. And also on top of that, he has 10 stolen bases, he has nine doubles and he's also got a triple in there. And 57 hits over his last 50 games. Luis Garcia is having this breakout in which we expected a breakout from CJ Abrams, who, which he did, by the way, he wasn't all-star. He deserved to be an all-star, one of the better short stops in baseball this season. But Luis Garcia over at second base, you're certain to see that tandem kind of gel. That is the dream scenario for the Nationals so far. Now while it may not be coming in wins, you may not be seeing it on the box score, but Luis Garcia has been a very good offensive piece for this team. But also we've always known that Garcia has been a better offensive guy than he has defense, but since he has moved over to second base, it has been relatively natural for him. He's still not great defensively over there, but what he does have is good range, which by the way, his range is kind of one of the more surprising things when you look at his deep analytics here. But he is well above Major League average for range over at second base. Luis Garcia is turning into a pretty legit guy for the Nationals moving forward. Now again, it brings up a lot of questions for what should the Nationals do, because he does enter an arbier going into next year, but then again, he is locked up for over the next three to four seasons. Garcia at this point in time, he's going to be part of the future. There's no doubt about that. But I also have to think about this, where do the other pieces fit? Where does Seever King fit? Because again, he was announced as a shortstop and we'll tackle that more in the second segment, but one big key with Garcia that I do want to kind of hone in on here. He was rushed up to the bigs when talking about Luis Garcia. If things were at a normal pace, if the Nationals just kind of didn't do the Nationals thing, where in my opinion, where they have done so many times in the past, where you have Brock guys up way too premature and let them linger on in the majors, have them struggle and then you send them back down. You bring them back up, you send them back down, the kind of the yo-yo effect is what I say. They're up and then they're down, they're up and then they're down. That's my one big knock on the Nationals as far as prospects go. If Luis Garcia had a semi-normal way of doing things, getting on a normal schedule from jumping from the minors to the bigs, he probably would have been up in the majors maybe in the second half of 2022. This would have been his second full season and we would have been talking about Luis Garcia being a very big breakout kind of prospect for the Nationals moving forward in his second full season up in the majors, which would be in 2024 if they brought him up on a normal schedule. But they didn't and so we were under the impersonation that this is someone who should be hitting the ball already. He's never finished this season with OPS above 700. Last year was not a pretty year for him. He really struggled throughout the summer and this year it's been a complete 180. He has turned it around. He's hitting the baseball. He's hitting for a little bit of power as well. He's playing solid defensively and now you have to actually think to yourself, Luis Garcia could be a big part of this future for the Nationals. Now how big? Well, I think that the term that really kind of lies to the hands of Seaver King and what the Nationals think of him because at this point, I think Seaver King is a second baseman and if he's not a second baseman, maybe a left fielder. But Seaver King, this is also another very toolsy guy who could take a little bit of time to get up to the bigs but where does he fit amongst the Washington Nationals? Well, we'll talk about his tools and what could happen but also get into Tyler Stewart and what he has done for the Harrisburg Center so far through his first two starts. But again, before we do all that, you all know what we're here for in his for the future of the Washington Nationals. But before we get into it, I'm going to tell you guys about some of our very good friends over at Supply House. Guys, get supplies from the site that's made for the skilled tradesupplyhouse.com. SupplyHouse.com is a reliable way to order plumbing, HVAC and electrical products online. They're easy to use. 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Discover automatically doubles the cashback you've earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with cashback match. That means with Discover you could turn $150 cashback to $300. That's right, you could put it towards some memorabilia you've had your eye on or treat yourself to a premium sports network you earn and discover doubles. See terms at discover.com/creditcard. Now we get back into it with the Washington Nationals and again you all know how to find us. Just search up Lockdawn Nationals wherever you get your podcasts including over on YouTube and when you do that hit that subscriber button for us as well. Now where does Seaver King fit in the Washington Nationals future? Because there is kind of like this weird kind of log jam I guess you could say as far as Nationals prospects go. Not really a log jam but the Nationals have a much better farm system than what they have had in years past. So how can you kind of get these guys to fit in? Well let's look at 2024 first round pick Seaver King. Seaver King in his last year with Wake Forest when before the Nationals went on the tenth overall pick in this year's draft, Seaver King kind of fits at second base in my opinion. If I were to guess and I would really kind of take my time I would say Seaver King is going to be your second baseman of the future. That's what I would say but we just talked about Luis Garcia in his breakout season here. So really kind of put that to the side here. I think Seaver King is going to be your second baseman in the next two seasons or so. It might take some time for him but here's the thing the Nationals have time. That is the beauty of this right now. Having Luis Garcia in this fold and really wherever he fits as far as a Major League or goes when talking about Garcia at worst Garcia is going to be someone who comes off the bench and it's kind of like your tenth man in a sense. Someone who I think probably could play over at third base as well but someone who could also play second base and play it pretty well and someone who can fit in at shortstop just for a few games. That is the worst case scenario with Luis Garcia. The best case scenario though is you want Seaver King to be your starting every day second baseman, someone who could win a silver slugger down the road. That is kind of where I think Seaver King could fit. Now we haven't seen him make any sort of debut just yet. I would expect for him to make rookie ball debut maybe in the next week or so in the next few days we don't really necessarily know when the Nationals will get him on the train tracks here. But Seaver King has a very bright future. A big one in fact. I look at all the tools that he possesses. Sneaky power even though it may not be reflected on your prospect rankings website he does kind of have that in him. A good bat to ball ratio. Solid exit velocities. Really good defensively. Going to move from shortstop to second to third left field he has played it all throughout his college days even back in Division 2. I think Seaver King is going to be one of those guys where you may not look right now and say he's going to be a big kind of help for this team down the road. But where Seaver King could help you is position flexibility and really versatility as well. It's both those definitions there. But he has a very toolsy guy. Now this is what I want to see though from Seaver King. I want to see patience really and this is not something that Seaver King can control. I want to see patience within this organization though. Now if he is killing the ball at every single level similar to what Dylan Cruz is doing last year then yeah you fly him up through the rankings but Dylan Cruz is in his own little category here. He was a developed college player. One of the better bats to come in the draft in quite some time at that point. Seaver King is a project. You're really going to have to work on Seaver King and some of the swing and miss potential that he could bring to the majors and really find some power in him. Because you did see the huge exit velocities over the years from really this last season awake for us in back in his division two days and when he played club ball for Team USA. He's got the potential but also the nats are going to have to bring that out of them. So in the future I do think Seaver King will be your second base but I do think that he is going to be someone who will help you down the road but the nats will have to kind of take their time with them. And again that is really the big kind of question/concern when it comes to the Nationals. But I do want to talk about someone else who is a prospect who has made his impact within the national system already and that is Tyler Stewart, 24 year old sixth round pick back in 2022 at the University of Southern Miss was traded from the New York Mets to the Washington Nationals for Jesse Winker and he's already made two starts with Harrisburg including one just two days ago but his first two starts you may be asking well Ryan what did he do? I can tell you this much the kids impressive and I would not be surprised to see him in triple A here pretty damn soon. Over his first two starts with Harrisburg let's start with start number one, July 30. He went five innings pitch, oh yeah four hits, he did give up three runs, three earn in fact but overall though Tyler Stewart is one of these guys where it may not be because he did give up a home run there. Tyler Stewart's line here was really impressive and he is pumping the strike zone as we sit here today. His first start he had 74 pitches through 53 strikes, his last start just two days ago he threw 90 pitches and had 59 strikes and in that second start he went six innings pitch only up four hits, gave up no one runs, struck out nine batters and only walked two batters and his first start he struck out five batters and only walked two batters. That's a very impressive first two starts from getting from Harrisburg, that's what you want to see from Tyler Stewart. Now I don't know how legit of a prospect this guy is going to be. I don't know how quick of a timeline he will have to get and reach the majors but I think back to last year's deadline when he got someone named DJ Herbs. I think that's the timeline that Tyler Stewart will be on here, he'll probably finish out the year in AA and then next year he'll start in AAA and then you could see him probably midway through the summer early on in the summer of 2025, making impact in the rotation. Because as we were talking about in the first segment the Nationals do sort of have a little bit of a weird vlog jam here, especially when it comes to starting pitching. This is the young guys that you've got, Jake Irvin, Mackenzie Gore, Kate Kibali, Josiah Gray, you got DJ Herbs, Mitchell Parker, now you've got Tyler Stewart and you also have Travis Sakura who will be making his way up climbing the ranks in my opinion over the next year or so. The Nationals have very good pitching right now, they do as far as young pitching goes, they have a lot of talent right now in the system, up in the majors, it makes a lot of sense at this point, but you gotta help them think to yourself this, where do they fit? The good thing for Tyler Stewart right now is that he has got time, he's going to be one of the last guys as far as the pecking order goes, as far as those names that we just mentioned outside of Travis Sakura, but Tyler Stewart, if there's some injuries and if there's some other things that go wrong with them, then you could see him make the climb up to the majors and I would not even be surprised to see him make a spot start up in the bigs in 2024, if he does pitch well. But good thing for him, he has pitched well over his first two starts with Harrisburg, so make it a little bit tough for the Nats, but ultimately the Nats are looking pretty damn good as far as pitching goes, thank you all for making a lockdown Nats your first list every single day as we are free and available wherever you get your podcast Nats. Next let's preview tonight's Giants Nats game as you have got a pretty solid pitching match up up for you again, one of the better pitchers over the summer that you may not have heard of Hayden Birdsong against Mackenzie Gore will Mackenzie Gore get back on track. We'll see about tonight, but before that I'm going to tell you guys about our friends over at Fandel and you guys know I love sports, you love sports, we love sports and we love them so much that I never want them to stop just like you know, but as the playoffs wind down, we have fewer games and the sports aren't sports like I want them to, but Fandel lets me keep the sports going whenever I want. All I have to do is open the app and dream up bets anytime I'm in the mood and this summer Fandel is hooking me up all customers they boost or a bonus daily, that's right there's something for everyone every day all summer long. So head over to Fandel.com and start making the most out of your summer because Fandel is the official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball and when you do just head over to Fandel.com maybe tonight you think Luis Garcia stays hot and hits a little home run over right center field, you can bet that over on Fandel or maybe CJ Abrams gets hot yet again and he adds a home run to his very brilliant 2024 season, you can bet that over on Fandel and of course remember Fandel, the official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball. Delicious, meets nutritious and the snack that packs a real protein punch, wonderful pistachios, this is Ryan Ficklestein the host of Lockdown Mets and I love the no shells wonderful pistachios so I can eat them straight out of the bag whenever I need a boost and my favorite flavor is their sea salt and vinegar. But if you're a pistachio purist who loves cracking open every nut, they also have great flavors like sweet chili and salt and pepper. Grab wonderful pistachios and elevate your snack and game today, visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more. Excuse me, but the Nationals, will they get back on track again, Hayden Birdsong, one of the more surprising guys this summer who has broken out and if you are a prospect Mark like myself, you may know the name but this is someone who is a six round pick out of Eastern Illinois just two years ago by the San Francisco Giants almost said the New York Giants Geez. Rover's first six starts, he's got 30 and a third innings pitch, 38 strikeouts and a 1.22 whip on the 2024 season, he's been very impressive so far, a sub three ERA sitting at two nine seven on the season, three and oh, hasn't lost a start yet, he has been very good. And again, when talking about Hayden Birdsong, you may be thinking, well, he's gonna eventually run into some Buzzsaw, right? Well he has had six quality starts to start his career and truly that's really what it is. He's only given up one home run over his last four starts considering he gave up three in his first two starts of the season. I don't know what to tell you with this, but with the way that the Nationals offense hasn't really been hitting, the way that this national is pitching and really the bullpen in particular hasn't been all too great, that's could be in big trouble here, big trouble. I'm going into tonight's game and really the second half in the season with very low expectations. Sorry, it may not feel the best, it may not feel all too great, but at this point in time, I can't expect the Nationals to go into a game against good pitching and have solid run support for your ace, Mackenzie Gore. I just can't do that. The Nationals haven't proven that to us in quite some time since they were in the wildcard race. Well, now as we sit here today, the Nationals are a bottom team in baseball, yet again. Now do I think they're a lot better than what the record indicates? Absolutely. Do I think we're selling an upper trajectory for the future? A hundred percent do. But where the 2024 Nat sit today, Mackenzie Gore isn't pitching like he once was, Jake Irvin isn't the stud like he once was just about a month ago, and the Nationals pitching and their offense is all out of whack. So I sit here today, going up against a rookie pitcher with Hayden Bird song, do the Nationals get back on track, overall, I just don't think so. It's unfortunate, but we'll see. And that's why you got to play the game. So thank you all for making a locked on Nets, your first listen every single day. So we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts, I will catch you as on the flip side. Enjoy tonight's game and again, go Nets, beat Hayden Bird song, Mackenzie Gore, pitch a gem. Why not? I'll catch you on the flip side. Have a good one. A prime member. You can listen to this locked on podcast ad free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. [MUSIC PLAYING]
