“I always liked defense. That was the first thing I was naturally good at. When you’re younger and you’re naturally good at something, you tend to do that a little bit more. I would always have a glove and that was just something I could do by myself as well. I couldn’t really hit by myself. But I had my glove and maybe two, three baseballs that I’d pick up from a field. And I would go in my front yard and it was like these concrete stairs and then I had my porch and I would try to throw the ball at the concrete stairs and then sometimes I would miss and I tore up my porch.”

Behold the top five position players in Wins Above Replacement on the Washington Nationals.

Nationals bWAR Leaders – Position Players

Never mind the fact that two of them were just dealt to other teams around the trade deadline. My interest here is not in potential superstars James Wood and C.J. Abrams, but rather on second baseman Nasim Nuñez.

Nuñez is roughly my height and weight, 5-foot-8, 165 pounds and quite frankly he hits like I’d think someone my height and weight would hit (Jose Altuve notwithstanding). Here are the slugging percentages of those five 2-WAR players while with the Nationals.

Slugging Percentages

If you look at the two tables in tandem you’ll note that a player with a .560 slugging percentage and a player with a .272 slugging percentage have roughly equal value.

Nuñez has skills that none of the other players on that list have and skills that a lot of other major leaguers don’t have. He is a valuable defensive player. He ranks second among second basemen in Defensive Runs Saved this season. He wouldn’t be in the major leagues if he couldn’t make plays like these.

There’s this one from last night.

I think this one is my favorite of his highlight reel this season.

I interviewed Nuñez in September 2023 in a season in which he was a minor league standout in Defensive Runs Saved. There are few players that I’ve talked to that are more students of defense than he is. He’d be an ideal fit to be on the cover of one of our The Fielding Bible books if we were still publishing them.

In the interview Nuñez talked about watching Andrelton Simmons and Ozzie Smith highlights on YouTube. He rattled off descriptions of multiple great plays he made before he got to high school. And he knew the name of every hitter he’d robbed of a hit that season.

“(I’m working on) slowing down the game. Understanding my body, understanding how athletic I am, and some plays, I don’t have to be like, 110 percent or 100%. Some plays I can understand my runners, understand my arms, understand the ball and the direction of the ball, and go according to that.”

I haven’t even mentioned Nuñez’s basestealing (a league-leading 40 steals in 46 attempts), which is also helping to drive Nuñez’s value. Nuñez was also able to play so much because the Nationals had such a potent lineup for much of the season. It’s going to be hard for him to stick if he can’t even slug .300. But for now, I appreciate his game because he’s showing that you can make it in the major leagues by being a glove-first player.

Most Defensive Runs Saved – Second Basemen in 2026