Sources: Yankees acquire Luis Garcia Jr. in trade with Nationals

The New York Yankees are acquiring infielder Luis Garcia Jr. from the Washington Nationalsin exchange for four right-handed pitchers, sources told ESPN's Jeff Passan on Sunday.

The Nationals will receive Yovanny Cruz, Jake Bird, Ben Grable and Jack Cebert in the deal, sources told ESPN.

Garcia, who is under club control through next season, gives the Yankees' scuffling offense a much-needed jolt as it navigates August without Aaron Judge, Cody Bellingerand Giancarlo Stanton. The 26-year-old from the Dominican Republic leads the National League in slugging percentage (.560) and is batting .283 with a career-high 23 home runs, an .873 OPS and 134 wRC+ in 104 games this season. Ben Rice, an MVP candidate, is the only active player on the Yankees' roster with better outputs in those categories.

"He rakes," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Garcia upon hearing of the trade. "He can really hit."

Added pitcher Gerrit Cole:"It's one of the blessings about playing for the Yankees. The organization is always pushing forward and doing their best to improve the team whenever they get the opportunity to. As a Yankee player, it's a beautiful position to be in. You can just trust what the organization has done over the years."

Garcia, who also has a career-high 76 RBIs, is not a seamless fit on the Yankees' roster as it is currently constructed, however.

While the Yankees have sought a right-handed hitter on the trade market, Garcia bats left-handed. Defensively, he primarily played second base over his first six major league seasons before moving to first base this year. The Yankees have Rice and Paul Goldschmidt, a potential future Hall of Famer, splitting time between first base and designated hitter; Jazz Chisholm Jr., a two-time All-Star, is entrenched at second base.

The Yankees could have Garcia start against right-handed pitchers either at first base or designated hitter, with Rice occupying the other spot, until Stanton returns from the injured list.

Though unlikely, New York could also have Garcia start at second base and move Chisholm, an impending free agent, to third base, where he started 78 games for the Yankees during the 2024 and 2025 seasons. But Garcia was one of the worst second basemen in the majors last season -- his minus-17 defensive runs saved ranked last among qualified second basemen -- and Chisholm has said he strongly prefers to play second.

Garcia's breakout -- his 18 home runs since June 1 is second in the majors behindHunter Goodman-- helped a Washington offense that has scored the most runs in baseball, fueling a significant step forward in the standings after a 96-loss season in 2025. But the Nationals, whose staff ERA is 27th in baseball, signaled a willingness to flip major league position players for pitching help last week when they traded third baseman Curtis Mead, whom they acquired from the Chicago White Sox in March after he was designated for assignment, to the Boston Red Sox for left-hander Connelly Early.

On Sunday, the Nationals added multiple arms to the mix.

Cruz, 26, made his major-league debut with the Yankees this season and allowed one earned run in 5 innings across four appearances. The 30-year-old Bird, acquired at the trade deadline last season, struggled in his stints with New York, finishing his time there with a 7.24 ERA in 39 outings.

The 24-year-old Grable is a reliever with a 2.45 ERA in 32 appearances between High-A and Double-A this season. He represented the Yankees in the Futures Game last month. Cebert, 24, has a 4.68 ERA in 16 outings (14 starts) between High-A and Double-A.

ESPN's Jesse Rogers contributed to this report.br/]