Washington Nationals second baseman Luis Garcia, the youngest player in Major League Baseball, made history against the Atlanta Braves on Monday night by becoming the first player born after January 1, 2000 to hit a home run in the big leagues. Garcia's homer was of the two-run variety and came in the second inning against right-hander Touki Toussaint.
Take a look:
Luis Garcia, the youngest player in MLB, put the #Nats on the board with his first career homer. pic.twitter.com/2xNyKyTKFV
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 17, 2020
Garcia, who turned 20 in May, is roughly 200 days younger than San Diego Padres right-hander Luis Patino. Patino had been the youngest player in the Show until Garcia was promoted over the weekend as a replacement for the injured Starlin Castro. (Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Elvis Luciano was the first player born in the 2000s to reach the majors; he did so last season after being selected in the Rule 5 draft from the Kansas City Royals system.)
Garcia was ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the Nationals system entering the year. Here's part of what we wrote at the time:
Statistically, Luis Garcia had a poor season, hitting just .257/.280/.337 with five times as many strikeouts as walks in Double-A. Yet it's hard to hold those marks against him, seeing as how he won't turn 20 until next May.
That's right, Garcia spent most of the season as a 19-year-old, playing against competition that was -- on average -- about five years his senior. There are aggressive assignments, and then there are aggressive assignments. This was the latter.
Physically, there's still plenty to like about Garcia, who could develop four average or better tools in due time (everything except power). He does need to improve his approach if his hit tool is going to play, but that's to be expected: He's a teen.
It's anyone's guess as to how well Garcia will take to facing big-league pitching. As a franchise, the Nationals have benefitted more than most from wunderkind hitters. Dating back to the last round of expansion, the two most productive teenage hitting seasons have been authored by Nationals: Bryce Harper in 2012 and Juan Soto in 2018, according to Baseball-Reference's Stathead tool.
