Two Nationals Stars Among Unluckiest Hitters in Major League Baseball

Some bad luck has taken place for these two Washington Nationals players.

May 12, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Washington Nationals right fielder Dylan Crews (3) in the dugout before a game against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

This season is all about development for the Washington Nationals.

While winning games is much more fun than losing them, in the grand-scheme of things, the Nationals are still in the midst of their rebuild.

Getting their young stars to the point where they are comfortable and productive at the Major League level will ensure this franchise gets back to competing for division titles and World Series championships.

Two players were circled coming into the year.

Dylan Crews, the second overall pick in the 2023 draft, got his first taste of the bigs last season. But entering this campaign, the thought was he would finally showcase his high-end talent and compete for the NL Rookie of the Year Award.

Luis Garcia Jr. enjoyed his breakout last season, so the expectation was he would build upon that and become an impactful second baseman for Washington for the rest of this decade.

Neither has come to fruition thus far.

Before Crews hit the injured list, he was slashing .196/.266/.354 with an OPS+ that was 25 points below the league average. Similarly, Garcia is putting together the worst showing of his career with a slash line of .233/.282/.365.

That doesn't tell the whole story, though.

Garcia and Crews are two of the unluckiest hitters in Major League Baseball when it comes to what has transpired during the first quarter of the year, with the difference between their wOBA and xwOBA being the 10th and 13th-most drastic in the sport, per Baseball Savant.

Garcia's xBA is .287 compared to his BA of .233. His xSLG is .461 compared to his SLG of 365.

Crews' xBA is .258 compared to his BA of .196. His xSLG is .469 compared to his SLG of .354.

Those are vast differences, and they should be indicators of a massive turnaround that could come for both players at some point during this campaign.

Of course, baseball doesn't always lend itself to making that a reality, but both players are taking what is transpiring in stride.

"When he hits it hard, he just looks at me and I say, 'I know,'" Garcia said with a smile, per Spencer Nusbaum of The Washington Post (subscription required). "I give confidence to him, he gives confidence to me. One day, it's going to be good."

The Nationals likely aren't worried about either player.

They see these numbers and know how unlucky both have been. But keeping their confidence high in the midst of this stretch is the challenge.

Hopefully the other side of the coin will come soon for the sake of their sanity.