This new direction the Nationals are taking for the remainder of the season and into next year presents plenty of opportunities.
Opportunities for rookies to make their major league debuts. Opportunities for veterans to finish their seasons strong and make their cases for 2022. And opportunities for young guys who have been around a while to continue to grow.
Carter Kieboom and Luis GarcÃa find themselves in that last category and are embracing the chance to grow together.
Both players entered the Nationals organization in the summer of 2016: Kieboom as a first-round draft pick and GarcÃa as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic. Little did we know back then that they would be faces of a rebuild in 2021.
While rising through the system ranks and making their major league debuts (Kieboom in 2019 and GarcÃa in 2020), they have spent a lot of time together sharing the same infield, either at Triple-A Rochester or here in Washington, which is where they'll remain for the remainder of the season.
Since July 29, they have both been in the Nationals starting lineup eight times, with Kieboom at third base and GarcÃa at second base or shortstop. Before arriving permanently in D.C., they shared the infield 33 times at Rochester this year.
All that time together has allowed a strong friendship to grow, as well.
"Yeah, they're pretty close," manager Davey Martinez said of his two young infielders in a Zoom call with reporters this week. "They've been together for some time, so they understand each other. It's fun to watch those guys go out there and play and come up together."
They've been talking about this moment all season long at Rochester. Now that it's here, they're trying to take full advantage of playing in the big leagues on a consistent basis together. Hitting back-to-back home runs in Wednesday's game against the Phillies helps that cause.
"We have an amazing relationship," Kieboom said of his friendship with GarcÃa. "We talked about it a lot when we were in Rochester. How our opportunity is going to be there and we were just super excited to be able to do this together. We talked about hitting a home run (Wednesday) back-to-back when we realized we were hitting back-to-back there. So it was kinda funny we did it in that very first at-bat. Luis is great. I love him as a teammate and a friend. He's been tremendous as well. So it's been very fun for us to be able to come up here and do this kinda thing together."
This friendship also works on the appreciation of one another's talent and how success for one can benefit the other.
"First of all, he's a very exciting and happy player, and as a teammate, he's always been that way," GarcÃa said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "I almost consider him my brother. Having that relationship down (at Rochester) and come up (to Washington), we've always talked about if we both get the chance to play in Triple-A and come up to the big leagues together, let's embrace it. We've been having a lot of fun up here. We motivate each other. I feel like we're a family. We learn from each other and feed off and motivate one another."
That motivation has led to success on the field, with each of them contributing in his own way.
GarcÃa is only hitting .188 on the season, but has three RBIs on three home runs with two walks, and he brings a better glove into the field. Meanwhile, Kieboom, who has his struggles in the field at third base, has 11 hits in his last 27 at-bats while hitting .306 with a .909 OPS on the season.
But having fun is also an important part of the growing process.
"They're doing well. They're starting to swing the bat the way we thought they could," Davey Martinez said. "They're having fun. The biggest thing is I'm starting to see Carter smile a lot more. Luis is always kinda smiling. But they're having fun. So I just want to see them continue to progress and to have fun out there. You know, it's a lot easier when you hit the ball and they start falling in for you that you can do those things. So hopefully, they continue to get their hits and help us win games."