As Escobar flails in D.C., García thrives in Rochester

At one point Tuesday night, right around the time Alcides Escobar was making one of his four outs during the Nationals’ loss to the Marlins, Luis García was circling the bases in Rochester for the second time.

While Escobar was trying in vain to track down a soft liner hit to his right with two outs in the sixth, García was reaching base for the fifth time in as many plate appearances.

And when the night ended, Escobar was the not-so-proud owner of a .123 batting average and .334 OPS, third-worst among all qualifying major league hitters, while García was sporting a .360 average and 1.020 OPS at Triple-A.

It all begged a simple question: Why isn’t García currently in D.C., regularly playing for the Nationals instead of Escobar?

The answer may not be quite as simple. García may be tearing up the International League at the moment, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the Nats believe the 21-year-old is ready for everyday duties in the big leagues.

“What I’ve said before and I’ve always said: It’s not just about hitting with him,” manager Davey Martinez said last week when asked about García. “It’s about the overall game. When he comes here, he’s going to come here and play every day. Whether it’s shortstop, whether it’s second base, we don’t know that. We hope that he can play shortstop for us in the future, but we need his defense to be crisp and clean.”

That’s still a work in progress for García, who was charged with four errors at shortstop early this season but has managed to avoid any more since. So he’s still learning, in the lower-pressure environment of Triple-A rather than the caldron of the majors.

Then again, it’s not like Escobar is playing elite defense these days. The 35-year-old currently sits at minus-5 Defensive Runs Saved, worst among all major league shortstops. And that doesn’t even include the play he didn’t make during Tuesday’s loss.

With Josiah Gray trying to escape a sixth-inning jam and keep the Nationals down by only two runs, Marlins catcher Jacob Stallings hit a 79 mph soft liner towards the hole at shortstop. Escobar tried to make the backhanded play, but the ball didn’t stick in his glove.

That two-out hit brought home a run and left the Nationals trailing 4-1. It didn’t go in the books as an error, and the run was charged to Gray. But make no mistake, it was a play not made by Escobar, and it’s not his first of those this season.

“The big thing for me is his defense,” Martinez said. “The hitting, you go through stretches like this, especially early in the year. But his defense … I look for him to make all the routine plays, catch the balls. And he’s made some mistakes out on defense. But he’s a veteran.”

Therein lies the problem. In certain circumstances, the Nationals would be motivated to wait things out and give Escobar a chance to re-establish himself as a productive player both at the plate and in the field. But on a rebuilding club, with a 21-year-old with some promise waiting in the wings, it becomes harder to justify Escobar as the everyday shortstop.

García may be mistake-prone, and he may struggle in multiple areas if he’s promoted from the minors to rejoin the Nats roster. But it’s easier to stomach those struggles from a kid who’s still learning what it takes to be a big leaguer.

For now, Escobar remains the starter. But the spotlight is shining brightly on a young infielder in Rochester who looks poised to force his way back in the majors sooner rather than later.

One of these days, the Nationals will decide it’s time to just play García in the big leagues and see how he handles it.