MLB Top 5: Washington Nationals Second Basemen and Shortstops

This is the third article in a series that looks at the five best players at each position for the Washington Nationals. In this installment are second basemen and shortstops.

Like many other clubs in this series, the group of middle infielders for the Expos/Nationals franchise looks at players who made defense and speed their focus. Although there are some All-Stars and even a few power hitters in the group, most of the second basemen and shortstops featured here are good contact hitters who have a knack for getting on base and stopping their opponents from doing the same.

The Best Second Basemen and Shortstops in Washington Nationals History

Second Basemen

Honorable Mentions – Ron Hunt was another of the start in the early days of the franchise. The St. Louis native originally signed with the Braves, but found success with the Mets, earning two All-Star selections and finishing second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1963. Hunt spent time with the Dodgers and Giants before he was traded to the Expos in late 1970. His top talent was his ability to be hit by a pitch, which happened 243 times in his career. Not only was his total the most in the 20th century when he retired, but Hunt led the league in the category seven straight years (including all four with Montreal) His 50 plunkings in 1971 not only led all batters, but it was the highest total in baseball in 75 years and it has not been approached since. That season, Hunt was hit by pitches in consecutive at-bats in a game against the Padres in mid-August, sparking a bench-clearing brawl. With Montreal, he batted .277 and totaled 489 hits and 100 RBIs in 509 games. Following his career, Hunt owned liquor and sporting goods stores, raised cattle in Missouri and ran a baseball prep program before being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Dave Cash was another solid contact hitter who called Montreal home in the 1970s. The upstate New York native started his career in Pittsburgh and earned three All-Star selections with Philadelphia before signing with Montreal in 1977. Cash’s first season with the Expos was one of his best. He batted .289 and, although he didn’t hit any home runs (he only had 21 in a 12-year career), he totaled 42 doubles, 91 runs and 188 hits while stealing a career-best 21 bases. His numbers declined the following season, and he was reduced to a part-time player in 1979. However, he batted .321 that year and hit a game-winning grand slam in a mid-September game against the Cardinals. Cash was traded to the Padres for his final season in 1980, finishing his time with the Expos batting .277 with 181 runs, 414 hits and 105 RBIs in 388 games. He was a minor league coach and manager for more than a two decades after his playing career, with his last major league job coming as a first base coach for the Orioles in 2006.

Rodney Scott is an Indianapolis native who was drafted by the Royals in 1972 and made a brief debut for Kansas City in 1975. The following year, he had an even briefer stint in Montreal, going 4-for-10 in seven games with the Expos. After spending a year each with the Athletics and Cubs, “Cool Breeze” returned north of the border to the Expos, where his started the next three seasons despite a low batting average. He had by far his best season in 1980, setting career hits with 46 RBIs, 84 runs and 63 stolen bases, while his 13 triples both led the league and are tied for the franchise record. Scott’s average dropped to .205 in the strike-shortened 1981 season, and he was released by the following year. He signed with Expos in the middle of the 1983 campaign but never appeared in a game in the majors again.

Danny Espinosa – The Southern California native was drafted by the Nationals in the third round in 2008, appeared in a pair of MLB All-Star Futures Games and had a brief debut two years later. Espinosa finished sixth in the Rookie of the Year balloting in 2011 after hitting 21 home runs, driving in 66 runs, stealing 17 bases and tying for the league lead with 19 hit by pitches. Although he topped the N. L. with 189 strikeouts the following year, he had a solid offensive campaign, hitting 17 homers and setting career highs with 82 runs and 147 hits. Espinosa slumped terribly in 2013 and was a reserve the next two years before setting career highs with 24 home runs and 72 RBIs as the starting shortstop in 2016 despite a .209 average. He was traded to the Angels, but struggled in Los Angeles, as well as Seattle and Tampa Bay, then had failed tryouts with five other clubs and had two stints in Mexico before retiring in 2022. Espinosa finished his time in Washington tied for sixth in franchise history with 834 strikeouts to go with 337 runs, 598 hits, 129 doubles, 92 homers, 285 RBIs and 1,027 total bases in 779 games. He added three runs, three hits and an RBI in 12 playoff appearances.

5. Luis Garcia Jr. – The franchise’s current starter was born in New York City and quickly rose through the minor leagues. He appeared in the 2018 MLB All-Star Futures Game and was the Nationals’ minor league Player of the Year the following campaign. Garcia reached Washington during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, becoming the first player born in the 21st century to hit a home run in the major leagues. He bounced between AAA and the majors over the next two seasons before finally winning the second base job in 2023. Garcia broke out in 2024, setting career highs with a .282 average, 141 hits, 25 doubles, 18 home runs, 70 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. Although he is regressing a bit, he is leading all second baseman in turning double plays in 2025.

4. Mike Lansing – The Wyoming native made his major league debut with Montreal as a third baseman in 1993 but moved to the “keystone position” the following year. Lansing was a solid base stealer in his first few seasons, but his offense picked up in 1996, when he batted .285 with 11 home runs, 53 RBIs and 23 steals, and he set career highs with 99 runs and 183 hits. The following year, he maintained a .281 average and picked up his power numbers, amassing personal bests by hitting 20 homers and driving in 80 runs. Lansing was traded to the Rockies after the season, finishing his five-year stint with the Expos (1993-97) with a .276 average, 340 runs, 709 hits, 165 doubles, 265 RBIs and 1,039 total bases in 677 games. Lansing spent the rest of his career with Colorado and Boston, officially retiring in 2002 after a back injury kept him from playing with Cleveland. He was named in the infamous Mitchell Report for allegedly buying HGH and testosterone in 2002.

3. Delino DeShields – The Delaware native was selected in the first round by the Expos in 1987 and made his major league debut three years later. DeShields was a star from the beginning, getting four hits in his debut and using his speed to disrupt the opposition. He batted .289 with 69 runs, 144 hits and 42 stolen bases to finish second in the Rookie of the Year voting. Although he led the league with 151 strikeouts in 1991, he amassed at least 130 hits and 40 steals in each of his four seasons with Montreal. “Bop” was traded to the Dodgers for a young pitcher named Pedro Martinez following the 1993 season, finishing his Expos tenure ranked fifth in franchise history with 187 stolen bases and tied for with 25 triples to go with 309 runs, 575 hits and 181 RBIs in 538 games. DeShields also played for the Cardinals, Orioles and Cubs, finishing his 13-year career in 2002 with 1,548 hits and 463 steals. He has two children who were professional athletes. His son, Delino Jr., had a seven-year career, mainly with the Rangers, and his daughter, Diamond, has played six seasons in the WNBA.

2. Daniel Murphy – Another of the many great contact hitters on this list, Murphy was drafted by the Mets in 2006 and made his major league debut two years later. Although he missed an entire year after tore his MCL in 2010, he continued to improve once he returned from the injury. Murphy was an All-Star in 2014 and earned notoriety the following postseason, when he earned the NLCS MVP Award after amassing six runs, nine hits, four home runs and six RBIs in a sweep of the Cubs. He used his postseason performance and signed a three-year deal with the Nationals. Murphy justified his big contract by batting .347 (second in franchise history) with 88 runs, 184 hits, posting career highs with 25 home runs and 104 RBIs and leading the league with 47 doubles (tied for third in team history). The offensive explosion led to a runner-up finish in the MVP voting as well as an All-Star selection and a silver slugger.

Murphy earned those last two honors again in 2017 after finishing with a .322 average, 23 homers, 93 RBIs, a league-leading 43 doubles and a career-best 94 runs. The following year was marred by knee surgery, and he was sent to the Cubs in August. Murphy batted .329 with 413 hits and 226 RBIs in 342 games with the Nationals. He totaled eight runs, 11 hits, one home run and eight RBIs in 10 postseason games with Washington. Murphy spent his final two seasons with the Rockies but, after a stint with the independent Long Island Ducks, he tried a comeback with the Angels in 2023 that did not work out. He worked for the Mets as a broadcaster for the Mets in 2024.

1. Jose Vidro – The native of Puerto Rico was a starter for twice as long as anyone else in franchise history. Vidro was drafted by the Expos in the sixth round in 1992 and made his debut five years later, serving as a reserve for his first two seasons in Montreal. He quickly made his mark as a stellar contact hitter with a good amount of power. Vidro posted five straight seasons with a .300 or better average and at least 150 hits and 30 doubles. His best season was 2000, when he earned his first All-Star selection after scoring 101 runs and setting career highs with a .330 average, 24 home runs, 97 RBIs, 327 total bases, 51 doubles (third in the league and second in franchise history) and 200 hits (second in the N. L. and fifth in team history).

Vidro hit .319 the following year, but his other offensive numbers declined. He rebounded to earn two straight All-Star selections, including 2002, when he posted a .315-19-96 stat line with 190 hits and a personal-best 103 runs. Injuries began to take their toll on Vidro, who saw playing time decrease as the team struggled on the field. The Expos spent their final two seasons splitting games between Montreal and San Juan, Puerto Rico, before moving to Washington in 2005. Vidro had a resurgence of sorts the following year, batting .289 and driving in 47 runs. He was traded to the Mariners after the season and spent two years with Seattle before he was released and retired.

During his decade with the franchise (1997-2006), Vidro earned three All-Star selections, as well as a silver slugger in 2003. He is tied for second in franchise history with a .301 average, and he ranks third in doubles (304), sixth in games (1,186) and hits (1,280), seventh in runs (614), RBIs (550) and total bases (1,953), tenth in walks (397) and tied for tenth in home runs (115). Vidro also led all National League second baseman in assists twice and putouts once (in 2002). He spent the next decade playing and coaching in his native Puerto Rico.

Shortstops

Honorable Mentions – Tim Foli came out of high school with so much hype. He was selected first overall by the Mets in the 1968 draft, but the Mets never really gave him a shot. Foli was sent to the Expos in 1972 in the trade for Rusty Staub. Foli was a typical shortstop of the time, focusing on defense, contact and speed. However, he did flash occasional power, hitting for a natural cycle in an April game for a team that lost 107 games in 1976. After six seasons with the Expos (1972-77), Foli was traded to the Giants for another player on this list, finishing his Montreal tenure with 642 hits and 196 RBIs in 710 games. He went back to the Mets in 1978, had two stints with the Pirates and spent time with the Angels and Yankees before retiring in 1985. Foli spent the next 25 years managing for several clubs, both at the major and minor league levels. His final five seasons were spent working for the Nationals, where he served as a minor league manager and field coordinator.

Spike Owen was best known for his time with the Mariners and later the Red Sox, where he chased a World Series ring in 1986 after a late-season trade. The Texas native and 1982 first-round pick was traded to the Expos at the end of 1988 and spent the next four seasons north of the border. Owen was known for his fielding. Although he never won a gold glove, he set a record for shortstops by beginning the 1990 season with 63 straight errorless games. He had arguably his best season at the plate two years later when he batted a career-best .269 and drove in 40 runs. From there, Owen spent one season with the Yankees and two with the Angels, and he retired after a being sent to the minor leagues by the Rangers in 1996. He worked as a minor league manager for around 15 years until he was not retained by the Rangers following the 2018 season.

Wil Cordero is a native of Puerto Rico who signed with the Expos at age 16 and made his debut with Montreal in 1992. He was a better hitter than fielder, with his best season coming in 1994, when he earned an All-Star selection and a silver slugger after batting .294 with 15 home runs and 63 RBIs. Cordero was traded to the Red Sox in 1996 and bounced around to six clubs over the next decade. He had two more stints with the franchise, including the final two years in Montreal, as well his final season in 2005 with Washington.

Mark Grudzielanek replaced Cordero after his trade and was an even better contact hitter. He batted .281 during his four-year stay in Montreal (1995-98), and he had a pair of stellar seasons. Grudzielanek made the All-Star team in 1996 after batting .306 with 99 runs, 201 hits (fourth most in franchise history), 49 RBIs and 33 stolen bases. The following year, he stole 25 bases, amassed 177 hits and rapped 54 doubles, which both led the league and set a team record. Grudzielanek was sent to the Dodgers at the trade deadline in 1998, and he also spent time with the Cubs, Cardinals, Royals and Indians, winning a gold glove in Kansas City. After his retirement in 2011, he was a minor league coach and manager with the Diamondbacks and White Sox. Grudzielanek was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.

CJ Abrams was a first-round pick of the Padres in 2019 and appeared in the ML B All-Star Futures Game two years later. Following a brief callup with San Diego in 2022, he was sent to Washington in the Juan Soto trade. The team’s current starter, Abrams has become the typical modern-era shortstop, low average with speed and occasional power. He hit 18 home runs and set career highs with 83 runs, 138 hits and 47 stolen bases in 2023 and followed that with his only All-Star selection to date thanks to 31 steals and a personal-best 20 homers. The young, talented shortstop has continued to be one of the best in the game and his improved his average to .273 through August in 2025.

5B Christian Guzman – A native of the Dominican Republic, he originally signed with the Yankees but was sent to the Twins in the trade for Chuck Knoblauch in 1998. Guzman made his mark with the Twins, earning an All-Star selection in 2001 and leading the league in triples three times during his six seasons in Minnesota. He signed with the Nationals in 2005 but had a dreadful season in which he batted just .219. Guzman figured out the problem and returned strong after missing the following season thanks to eye surgery and a torn labrum in his shoulder. He batted .328 in a partial 2007 campaign then made the All-Star team for the second time after posting a .316 average, 55 RBIs, 77 runs and a career-best 183 hits the following year. Guzman was traded to the Rangers in 2010, finishing his five-year run ranked seventh in franchise history with 28 triples to go with a .282 average, 581 hits and 177 RBIs in 550 games. He missed the following season with family issues, was cut by the Indians after suffering an injury in spring training in 2012 and retired.

5A Hubie Brooks – The Los Angeles native was drafted six different times, including five in the first round, before he signed with the Mets, who took him third in 1978. Brooks gradually improved as New York’s third baseman, batting .283 with 73 RBIs in 1984 before he was traded to the Expos as part of the deal for Gary Carter after the season. He converted to shortstop in Montreal and won the silver slugger in his first season after amassing 163 hits and driving in a career-high 100 runs. Despite missing time with a thumb injury in 1986, Brooks made his first All-Star team and won another silver slugger after batting .340. After another All-Star season, he was converted to right field in 1988. Brooks signed with the Dodgers two years later and, after a second stint with the Mets, he played for the Angels and Royals before retiring in 1994. He finished his five seasons in Montreal (1985-89) with a .279 average, 689 hits, 139 doubles, 75 home runs, 390 RBIs and 1,089 total bases in 647 games.

4. Chris Speier – The Bay Area native was selected second overall by the hometown Giants in 1970. Speier went on to earn three All-Star selections in seven seasons in San Francisco before being traded to the Expos for Tim Foli in 1977. He was a typical shortstop of his era, light hitting but a great fielder with a strong arm. Speier’s best season in Montreal was 1982, when he batted .257 with 136 hits and 60 RBIs while also finishing second among shortstop in putouts and fielding percentage. His playing time decreased, and he was traded twice in 1984, first to the Cardinals and then the Twins. Speier finished his eight-year run with the Expos (1977-84) with 710 hits, 123 doubles and 255 RBIs in 895 games. Following two seasons with the Cubs, he returned to the Giants for his final three campaigns. Speier spent nearly two decades on major league coaching staffs, including two years as Nationals bench coach in 2016-17.

3. Orlando Cabrera – The native of Columbia signed with the Expos in 1993 and made his major league debut four years later. After working to improve his hitting in the early part of his career, Cabrera had arguably his best season in 2001, batting .276 with 173 hits, 41 doubles, 14 home runs, 19 steals and a career-best 96 RBIs while winning his first gold glove. He followed that with two more seasons smacking at least 40 doubles, including 47 in 2003, which is tied for third in team history. Cabrera’s numbers dropped as did the rest of the team’s play in the final two seasons split between Montreal and Puerto Rico, and the shortstop was traded to Boston as part of a four-team deal. He finished his eight-year run with the Expos (1997-2004) ranked tenth in franchise history with 214 doubles to go with a .267 average, 407 runs, 877 hits, 66 homers, 381 RBIs and 1,333 total bases in 904 games.

After the trade, Cabrera bounced around and played for eight clubs in eight years. He was a star during the Boston’s run to the title in 2004, amassing five runs, 11 hits and five RBIs in the comeback win over the Yankees in the ALCS. With the Expos, Cabrera won the fielding title and led the league in assists in 2001 and topped the N. L. in putouts twice, and he won a gold glove with the Angels in 2007. He also made the final out of David Cone‘s perfect game for the Yankees in July 1999. Since his career ended in 2011, Cabrera has provided instruction and financial support for baseball in his homeland, and he was on the staff of his brother, Jolbert, who was the manager for Columbia in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

2. Ian Desmond – The Florida native was taken in the third round in 2004, the final draft conducted when the team was known as the Expos. Desmond made his debut with the Nationals in 2009 and became know as a solid run producer who was also prone to the strikeout. After some growing pains, he was an All-Star and won the first of three straight silver sluggers in 2012 after driving in 73 runs, stealing 21 bases and setting career highs with a .292 average and 25 home runs. The next two seasons, Desmond posted similar outputs, including two more 20-20 seasons. After turning down a big extension, he struggled both at the plate and in the field, batting .233, striking out 187 times and making a league leading 27 errors.

Desmond finished his seven-year tenure in Washington (2009-15) ranked fourth in franchise history in strikeouts (890) and ninth in stolen bases (122), and he also had 424 runs, 917 hits, 185 doubles, 110 homers, 432 RBIs and 1,474 total bases in 927 games. He returned to All-Star form with the Rangers in 2016, then signed with the Rockies and continued his solid offensive production. Desmond opted out of the COVID-shortened 2020 season, then did the same the following year before retiring in 2022. The fan favorite works with several non-profit organizations in Florida and the Nation’s Capital, and he serves on the board of the Nationals’ Youth Baseball Academy.

1. Trea Turner – A first round pick of the Padres in 2014, he was sent to the Nationals the following year as the player to be named in a three-team deal that also involved the Rays. Turner played in the MLB All-Star Futures Game representing his new club then made his big-league debut later in the season. He broke onto the scene in 2016, batting .342 with 13 home runs and 33 stolen bases in 73 games to finish second in the Rookie of the Year voting. Turner continued to improve, topping 30 steals in each of the next three seasons. He stole 46 bases in 98 games before a broken wrist ended his season in 2017, then followed that by posting a league leading 43 steals.

“Triple T” continued to improve as a hitter, and he was an integral part of the team’s championship run in 2019 (despite a disputed interference call in Game 6 of the World Series against the Astros), totaling 10 runs, 17 hits, four doubles, one home run and three RBIs in 17 games. He was in the MVP conversation during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, batting .335 and topping the N. L. with 78 hits and four triples. Turner was well on his way to another stellar season the following year as well. He was an All-Star, batted .322 for the Nationals and tied a record by hitting for his third career cycle in late June (on his birthday). At the trade deadline, Turner was sent to the Dodgers along with Nationals ace Max Scherzer. He finished the season as the league leader with a .328 average, 195 hits and 32 stolen bases.

Turner ended his seven-year run in Washington (2015-21) ranked fourth in franchise history in average (.300), triples (32) and steals (192) and seventh in slugging percentage (.486) to go with 444 runs, 769 hits, 135 doubles, 93 homers, 306 RBIs and 1,247 total bases in 637 games. He had another All-Star season with Los Angeles, won his first silver slugger and was named to the All-MLB Team in 2022. Turner signed with Philadelphia the following year. He made the All-Tournament Team at the World Baseball Classic in 2023 and earned his third All-Star selection with the Phillies the following year.