Nationals’ Foster Griffin and Luis García Jr. make a case for All-Star caliber seasons, even as Washington sends just Abrams and Wood

The Washington Nationals did send two players to the All-Star Game in Philadelphia, with CJ Abrams earning the spotlight as the National League’s starting shortstop and James Wood also named to the roster. But the selection process has a way of leaving strong seasons behind, and Washington’s summer storyline has quickly turned into a “who got overlooked” debate. In that conversation, Foster Griffin and Luis García Jr. have emerged as the most plausible candidates for a Nationals “third and fourth spot” that never came.

Griffin’s case rests on how quickly his pitching profile translated to the majors. Federal Baseball framed his breakthrough as more than a feel-good adjustment after his return to MLB on a one-year deal following time overseas. The outlet described Griffin as a pitcher who does not rely on overpowering velocity, instead leaning on a multi-pitch repertoire and the ability to outthink and out-execute hitters. The results, per that analysis, have been substantial: a 2.87 ERA with 100 strikeouts across 103.1 innings as of the midseason check-in described in the piece.

Luis García Jr.’s case is less about deception and more about production, specifically power that has arrived alongside a much stronger overall line. Pitcher List’s All-Star-era evaluation emphasized that García has been one of the game’s hottest hitters in the recent stretch, posting a.556 batting average with five home runs over the past seven days and a.306 average with 12 homers over the prior month. It tied those surges to season-level production, citing a slash line of.280/.310/.540 with 38 runs, 16 home runs, 55 RBI, and two stolen bases through the timeframe of its June-to-July check.

Both players fit the same broader team narrative that has complicated expectations for Washington this year. Even with Abrams and Wood drawing the official All-Star attention, the Nationals have been building a level of competitiveness that makes “rebuilding” less tidy than it sounds from the outside. Federal Baseball’s piece argued that Griffin and García have been major contributors to that shift, suggesting their contributions are part of why the club has remained above the kind of baseline many preseason projections attached to it.

Still, All-Star selections are not a pure scoreboard exercise. Rosters are influenced by positional and league-level needs, and the voting process can reward name recognition or highlight reels as much as it reflects run prevention and run creation measured over the same calendar window. That helps explain why Washington can be both “underrepresented” in the final count and still have its best-known stars properly showcased. Abrams and Wood are the headline selections, but Griffin and García represent the deeper argument: the Nationals did not just find one or two ways to win this summer, they found multiple.

What to watch next is whether the numbers that supported these All-Star-caliber cases continue through the second half, or whether the surge becomes a short-term peak. For Griffin, the key question is whether his approach holds against late-season scouting and whether he can keep his strikeout production paired with the efficiency that has produced the low ERA. For García, the focus is whether the power production and hit-quality gains persist, especially given how swing changes tend to be the most volatile in the later months of the year.