Alright. I’ll flat out say it; Stone Garrett should be in the Opening Day lineup for the Nationals. Sure, the outfield is crowded with both returning players like Victor Robles, Lane Thomas, and Alex Call as well as new signing Corey Dickerson but I think Garrett deserves playing time over most of them.
Before I get into why Stone Garrett should be playing everyday we should talk about exactly who he is.
Stone Garrett was a high school draft pick, taken in the 8th round in 2014 by the Marlins. He was a pretty highly ranked prospect with Miami ranking 4th in ‘16, and 8th in ‘17 despite struggling a lot in those years; Garrett’s highest OPS with Miami was an abysmal .636 in Low A in 2016. His high ranking makes even less sense considering the amount of time he missed. In fact Garrett only played 55 games in 2016, much of which stemmed from an incident deemed a “prank gone wrong” by the Marlins where a knife held by Josh Naylor ended up in his hand.
Following these injuries and poor performance, Garrett fell out of the top 30 in 2018 before being released by the Marlins in 2020. Garrett then signed with the D-Backs in 2021 and flourished, hitting .275 with a .900 OPS in 103 AAA games in 2022, before being called up where he didn’t skip a beat. Garrett proved he could hit MLB pitching, putting up an .848 OPS and a ridiculous .263 Isolated Power (ISO)- a measure of power production.
Garrett Raked in Arizona, hitting for which is why it’s surprising he was released again, though Corbin Carroll becoming a regular part of the lineup and the addition of Lourdes Gurriel Jr likely played into the DBacks’ calculus. Luckily, Mike Rizzo swept in and signed him. So why Garrett?
Garrett has tools, and sorely needed power. He has 83rd percentile sprint speed and usable power that put him on a 44 home run pace in 103 AAA games last year, and a 24 HR pace in 27 MLB games last year. Garrett would bring a significant dose of power to lineup containing virtually none. In fact, only one player is projected for over 20 HRs (Joey Meneses with 27). Garrett is projected for 10 HRs over 217 PA which on a 650 PA basis would place him first on the team (Garrett 30, Meneses 29, Thomas 22, Adams 22, Call 22, Ruiz 21, Candelario 19, Garcia 19, Smith 18, Dickerson 15, Abrams 13, Robles 13, Ildemargo Vargas 13)
So I ask; unlike Victor Robles, Stone Garrett is not a reclamation project. Unlike Alex Call, there is MLB success, and unlike Corey Dickerson there is a high ceiling. His success is recent, and significant. Nats fans often point to Joey Meneses’ flash in the pan 2022 as a signal for things to come. Everyone seems willing to give Joey another shot in the lineup. I see no good reason why Garrett shouldn’t be there too.
