The Best Players in Washington Nationals History, Position by Position
An all-time Washington Nationals lineup and rotation built from club career leaders, awards and Hall of Fame careers, covering the Expos years too, with the criteria and the close calls.
The Washington Nationals have a problem that most all-time teams do not: the history is split across two countries and two names. The historical record treats the Montreal Expos (1969 to 2004) and the Washington Nationals (2005 to 2025) as one franchise, with one set of career records, and so does this article. The best catcher in the story, Gary Carter, never played a game in Washington. The best third baseman for years, Ryan Zimmerman, never played in Montreal. An all-time team has to hold both halves.
The resulting lineup is built around three Hall of Fame outfielders from the Expos years, an infield that mixes Montreal and Washington, a designated hitter who won a Most Valuable Player award in his early twenties and a rotation led by a pitcher who won two Cy Young Awards in Washington and another who won one in Montreal. That is a team with real strength at the top and some honest gaps behind it.
Before the picks, the method. A list like this is an argument, and the argument is only worth reading if the rules are clear.
How this team was chosen
The criteria are simple, and they are all things the historical record can measure.
- Stats with the franchise only. A player's totals count while he wore an Expos or Nationals uniform. Carter's Hall of Fame career includes years with the Mets, and Pedro Martinez's includes years with Boston; those are ignored.
- Primary position. The games-played-by-position table in the database decides where a player is listed. A player who spent most of his time at third base is a third baseman, even if he later moved.
- Peak and honors. Awards (Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year) and Hall of Fame membership are tiebreakers, not substitutes for production.
- Longevity. A long career with the club beats a short one when the quality is close. Seven good seasons are worth more than three great ones only if the three were not much greater.
What the criteria cannot do is adjust for era or ballpark, and they cannot measure defense. The database has no wins above replacement, no defensive runs and no Statcast numbers, so a player's glove comes in only through games played at a position and the occasional award. That limit is worth keeping in mind through the rest of the article.
The lineup at a glance
| Position | Player | With the franchise |
|---|---|---|
| Catcher | Gary Carter | 1974 to 1992, 220 HR, 823 RBI |
| First base | Ryan Zimmerman | 2005 to 2021, 284 HR, 1,846 H |
| Second base | Jose Vidro | 1997 to 2006, .301, 1,280 H |
| Third base | Tim Wallach | 1980 to 1992, 204 HR, 905 RBI |
| Shortstop | Trea Turner | 2015 to 2021, .300, 192 SB |
| Left field | Tim Raines | 1979 to 2001, 635 SB, 1,622 H |
| Center field | Andre Dawson | 1976 to 1986, 225 HR, 253 SB |
| Right field | Vladimir Guerrero | 1996 to 2003, .323, 234 HR |
| Designated hitter | Bryce Harper | 2012 to 2018, 184 HR, 2015 MVP |
Zimmerman is the one real judgment call, and it is worth explaining. He played 1,133 games at third base and 526 at first, so a case exists for putting him at the hot corner. Tim Wallach, though, played 1,624 games at third base for the club and has a strong case of his own (204 home runs, 905 runs batted in), while the club's other first basemen are well behind. Putting Zimmerman at first gets both of them in, and it matches the way the later part of his career went.
The infield: a catcher, three corners and a shortstop
Catcher: Gary Carter. Carter played 1,342 games at catcher for the franchise, and the totals in the leaders' tables are large: 1,427 hits, 220 home runs and 823 runs batted in, with 582 walks. He is in the Hall of Fame, with 12 seasons for the club. His career with the franchise runs from 1974 to 1992 because he left and came back. It is the easiest pick on the team.
First base: Ryan Zimmerman. The franchise leader in home runs (284), hits (1,846), runs batted in (1,061) and runs (963). Those totals came in 1,799 games from 2005 through 2021, the most games of anyone in this article. His batting average with the club was .277. The records are as much a statement about longevity as about greatness, but longevity at a high enough level is exactly what a franchise record rewards.
Second base: Jose Vidro. Vidro played 1,036 games at second base and hit .301 with 1,280 hits, 115 home runs and 550 runs batted in from 1997 through 2006, finishing among the top ten in several of the club's career lists. The position is thin in franchise history, and he gets the nod for a combination of average and games played.
Third base: Tim Wallach. The team's third baseman played more games at that position for the franchise than anyone else on this list. He had 1,694 hits, 204 home runs, 905 runs batted in and a .259 average, an unspectacular rate that his power and durability carry. Anthony Rendon, with a .290 average in 759 games at third base, is the leading alternative.
Shortstop: Trea Turner. Turner hit .300 with 769 hits, 93 home runs and 192 stolen bases in 637 games, 538 of them at shortstop. Ian Desmond played far more games at the position (913) and has bigger counting totals, with 917 hits, 110 home runs and 122 steals, but Turner's rates are better and his speed is among the best in franchise history. The choice reflects a preference for peak over longevity, and a reader who prefers the opposite can reasonably pick Desmond.
The outfield: three Hall of Famers
Left field: Tim Raines. Raines holds the club's career stolen base record by a margin that does not look like a record at all: 635, against 266 for the next man, Marquis Grissom. He also leads the club in walks (793), is second in runs (947) and third in hits (1,622), and he hit .301 over a career with the franchise that began in 1979 and, with a break, ended in 2001. He is in the Hall of Fame, with 13 seasons for the club.
Center field: Andre Dawson. Dawson played 11 seasons for the franchise and hit 225 home runs, drove in 838 and stole 253 bases between 1976 and 1986. He won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1977 and is a Hall of Famer. Few players with that much power also run, and his name appears near the top of the club's lists for both home runs and steals.
Right field: Vladimir Guerrero. In eight seasons Guerrero hit .323, the best batting average among the club's regulars, with 234 home runs, 702 runs batted in and 123 stolen bases in 1,004 games. He ranks first in the franchise in average and second in home runs. He is in the Hall of Fame.
The three outfielders are not adjusted for their parks. The Expos played their home games at Stade Olympique from 1977 through 2004, on artificial turf, and the historical park table also lists Jarry Park (1969 to 1976) and a Puerto Rico stadium for part of 2003 and 2004. Speed and doubles hitters tend to thrive on turf, and the Montreal stolen base totals should be read with that in mind.
Designated hitter, bench and the 2019 core
Designated hitter: Bryce Harper. Harper's seven seasons with the club produced 184 home runs, 521 runs batted in and a .279 average, with 585 walks, the third-most in franchise history. He was the National League's Rookie of the Year in 2012 and its Most Valuable Player in 2015. He played the outfield for Washington, so designated hitter is a way to get him into a lineup that already has three outfielders.
Bench. Juan Soto hit .291 with 119 home runs and 464 walks in 565 games, a remarkable rate for a player who left the club in 2022. Anthony Rendon has the .290 average and 136 home runs. Andres Galarraga played 922 games at first base for the Expos and hit 115 home runs, and Larry Walker, a Hall of Famer, spent six seasons in Montreal and hit .281 with 99 home runs and 98 steals.
The title team of 2019, the only pennant and World Series winner in franchise history, drew on several of these names. The club won a one-game wild-card playoff against Milwaukee, took the division series 3-2 from the Dodgers, swept St. Louis 4-0 in the pennant series and beat Houston 4-3 in the World Series. For that story, see the best Washington Nationals seasons and every October run.
The rotation
| Slot | Pitcher | Record with the franchise | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Scherzer | 92-47, 2.80 ERA, 1,610 SO | Cy Young Award 2016 and 2017 |
| 2 | Steve Rogers | 158-152, 3.17 ERA, 1,621 SO | 37 shutouts, 399 games |
| 3 | Stephen Strasburg | 113-62, 3.24 ERA, 1,723 SO | Club record for strikeouts |
| 4 | Pedro Martinez | 55-33, 3.06 ERA, 843 SO | Cy Young Award 1997, Hall of Fame |
| 5 | Dennis Martinez | 100-72, 3.06 ERA, 973 SO | 13 shutouts |
Max Scherzer has the best earned run average of any pitcher with at least 1,000 innings for the franchise, 2.80, and he won two Cy Young Awards in Washington. He pitched 1,229 innings for the club, so his case is peak and rates, not volume. Steve Rogers is the opposite: the franchise record for wins (158) and shutouts (37), and about 2,838 innings, with a record only a few games over .500 because of the clubs behind him. Stephen Strasburg has the most strikeouts in club history, 1,723, and 113 wins, and he was the Most Valuable Player of the 2019 World Series.
Pedro Martinez pitched four seasons for the Expos (1994 to 1997) and won the 1997 Cy Young Award, one of the three won by a franchise pitcher. His 3.06 earned run average for the club is the same as Dennis Martinez's. Dennis Martinez won 100 games for the club from 1986 through 1993, and his 13 shutouts are third in club history. The name similarity is a coincidence; they are not related.
The next three starters in line are Gio Gonzalez (86 wins, 3.62 earned run average, 1,215 strikeouts), Bryn Smith (81 wins, 3.28) and Jordan Zimmermann (70 wins, 3.32). Smith's and Zimmermann's earned run averages are both lower than Gonzalez's, so a purist could build a different fifth slot.
The bullpen and the manager
The closer is Jeff Reardon, who saved 152 games for the club from 1981 through 1986 with a 2.84 earned run average, the franchise record. Chad Cordero is second with 128 saves and a 2.78 earned run average over 305 games. Tyler Clippard, who made 418 appearances over his years with the club, is the workhorse of the late-inning group, and Kyle Finnegan (108 saves through 2025) is the most recent closer on the career list.
For a manager, the longest-serving is Felipe Alou with 1,408 games (691-717) from 1992 through 2001, and the most successful by championships is Dave Martinez, who managed from 2018 through 2025 (500-622 over 1,122 games) and led the club to its only title in 2019. A manager's record is dominated by the quality of the roster, and the Nationals have often lacked depth. Dusty Baker's 189-132 mark in 2016 and 2017 is the best winning percentage among the ten longest-serving managers, with Davey Johnson's 224-183 from 2011 to 2013 close behind.
Who was left out
| Player | Case for | Case against |
|---|---|---|
| Anthony Rendon | .290 average, 136 HR, 546 RBI | Fewer games than Wallach |
| Juan Soto | .291, 119 HR, 464 BB in 565 games | Only five seasons |
| Larry Walker | Hall of Famer, 98 steals | Six seasons with the club |
| Ian Desmond | 913 games at shortstop | Lower average than Turner |
| Andres Galarraga | 922 games at first base | Zimmerman's records |
| Marquis Grissom | 266 steals in six seasons | Raines holds the record |
The close calls are not close because of weak players; they are close because the franchise has had many good ones. The team has more depth than the usual narrative about a franchise with a .481 winning percentage (4,331 wins and 4,665 losses across 57 seasons) would suggest.
What the historical record cannot tell you
The biggest limit is that the database has no wins above replacement. A figure like that would settle some of the close calls by combining offense, defense and position into one number, and without it the article has to lean on counting totals and rates. Counting totals reward longevity, which is why Zimmerman leads so many lists, and rates reward short careers, which is why Guerrero's .323 stands out.
The second limit is defense. A shortstop's range and a catcher's arm do not appear in the historical tables, only games, errors and an assist count. For Carter, Dawson and Raines the glove was part of the reputation, and the article treats it as a reason to be comfortable with their selection, not as a number.
The third is the period. A career that straddles 1970s Montreal and 2010s Washington cannot be compared directly. Run scoring, strikeout rates and the use of relief pitchers have all changed, and so has the way a lineup is built. An all-time team is a fantasy of players who never shared a clubhouse, and the best reading of it is as a ranking within each era.
Common questions
Why does a Washington team list so many Montreal players? Because the historical record, like the record books, keeps one franchise history. Players such as Carter, Raines and Dawson are the club's career leaders in many categories, and their numbers belong to the Nationals.
Why is Max Scherzer the number one starter when Steve Rogers has the records? Because rates and peak count here. Scherzer's 2.80 earned run average is the best in the club's history for pitchers with at least 1,000 innings, and he won two Cy Young Awards. Rogers pitched far more innings.
Is Bryce Harper the best Nationals player? Harper has the franchise's lone Most Valuable Player award, but Zimmerman, Raines and Carter have far larger career totals, and a reasonable ranking by total value puts Harper behind them.
Who is the most underrated player on the list? By the numbers, Jose Vidro: a .301 average and 1,280 hits in a decade at second base, numbers that rarely get quoted beside the Hall of Famers' totals.
What about the stats before 1969? There are none for this franchise; the Expos' first season was 1969.
Where to go next
The full story of the franchise is in the history of the Washington Nationals, and the ballpark is covered in the Nationals Park guide. For division rivals, read about the Atlanta Braves, the Miami Marlins and the New York Mets, and for the sport's championship story, the history of the World Series. The club's live page is the Nationals team page, and the Nationals Park page has the reference data; the topic page tracks the news.