How Martinez's tough love helped García finally break through

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – As he frequently heaped praise upon the majority of the players on his roster last spring, Davey Martinez also found himself regularly criticizing one guy in particular. Luis García Jr. seemed to be on the hot seat throughout camp, hearing it from his manager whenever he misplayed a ball at second base or was thrown out on the bases.

To be clear, García did commit more of those kinds of infractions than most. But Martinez’s response wasn’t an attempt to boost the young player’s spirits, but rather to put added pressure on him with not-so-veiled suggestions his job was in jeopardy.

“That can’t happen,” Martinez said at one point in March 2024 after a series of mistakes by García. “We talked about that with him. We’ve got to be beyond that now with him. I mean, like I said, he’s not a rookie. He’s been in this league now for a while. Those things cannot happen.”

Looking back on it all now, one year later, both manager and player can smile and acknowledge how much has changed. García took the criticism to heart and put together the breakthrough season the Nationals long believed he had in him. And Martinez can take some solace in knowing his tough-love approach seems to have worked as he hoped it would.

“I just really felt that it was the right moment,” the manager said this week. “I had him now for over four years. He was very young, so we tried to groom him to be the everyday second baseman. And last year, I knew the talent was there. I always told him: ‘You can hit. You just give away too many at-bats. You can play second base. You’re just not ready to play it every pitch.’ We talked a lot with him about being fundamentally ready, to be engaged every single pitch. …

“I don’t want to be the bad guy. I do praise him when he does things good. But sometimes I do have to put my foot down and say: ‘This is what I see. We need to get you there, or we’re going to do something else.’ But he’s been so good this entire spring. He’s matured a lot.”

García, indeed, has come a long way in a year’s time. There’s the actual on-field performance, which last season included a .282/.318/.444 slash line and career-high 25 doubles, 18 homers, 70 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. There’s also off-the-field maturation, from beginning to act like more of a clubhouse leader even though he’s still only 24, to a more-serious persona when he knows it’s time to be serious.

García even conducted an interview fully in English this week, declining to have an interpreter assist as he almost always has done since his major league debut in 2020.

“I think what Davey did in spring training, that helped me. That helped me a lot,” he said. “He was really hard on me, and I was thinking: ‘Man, I really got to do my job.’ I went into the season, and I told him: ‘Hey, that’s my base. I’m going to do my job to be a really good second baseman.’ He gave me the confidence. And good for me, I did my job.”

Ask García what he’s most proud of from his 2024 season, and he doesn’t immediately mention his offensive improvement. He first points out the strides he made defensively, becoming a much more consistent second baseman who could be counted upon to make nearly every routine play for the first time in his career.

What made that transformation possible? García listened to his coaches’ advice and made sure he was fully engaged on every pitch of every game, not letting his mind wander like it sometimes did in the past. And he stayed focused in the field, no matter what had just taken place at the plate the previous half-inning.

“I think two years ago, I didn’t separate that,” he said. “One day, I maybe go 0-for-4 and I take that with me to the field. I think last year was good for me. I feel different, too. When you go to play defense, concentrate on defense. When you go offense, you’re only thinking offense, that’s it. I think that really helped me.”

As for his offensive improvement, García points to a key shift in mindset and approach. Again, taking some long-advised coaching to heart, he focused more on trying to hit the ball to left-center or center field instead of trying to pull it to right field. That allowed him to cover the outer half of the plate with more authority while still providing opportunities to hit for power to the pull side when he got a pitch on the inner half.

“I see the ball really big when I think like that,” he said. “When I go to home plate thinking I’m going to pull, I look for everything inside and my hips go too quick to the right side. But when I go up there thinking about hitting the ball to the middle or the other way, I see the ball really good. I take more pitches. I think that was the key for my offense.”

Having finally seen everything click, García would seem to be in everyone’s good graces now. No more pressure on him this spring, right?

Not exactly.

“Oh, I’m going to be all over him,” Martinez insisted. “Because I think there’s more in there. And he knows that.”

García gets it. He may be supremely proud of the progress he made last season, but he doesn’t want to let himself get complacent. He insists he’s still approaching this spring as if he has to compete for the starting job that’s obviously his.

The tough love is still there from his manager. And it’s even there from within, from a young player who took major strides a year ago but isn’t content to rest on those achievements.

“I’m proud, like 100 percent. I’m happy for that,” he said. “And now, if I keep working and working, I’ll do even better.”