The 24 best players in Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals history

The Expos selected Gary Carter in the third round of the 1972 draft and in short order the kid from Culver City, Calif. would develop into the most prolific catcher in the organization's history. In a dozen seasons with Montreal, Carter slashed .269/.342/.454 with 220 homers, 823 RBI, 274 doubles, 24 triples, and 34 stolen bases. He was an All-Star seven times, earned three Gold Gloves, won three Silver Sluggers, and was the runner up in the NL MVP voting in 1980. Carter was traded to the Mets in 1984 and would go on to help New York win the World Series in '86. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Expos retired his number 8 in 1993. 

Switch-hitting outfielder Tim Raines was quietly one of the best two-way players in the National League for over a decade, and for the entirety of the 1980s the Expos were thrilled to have him wearing their colors. In 1,452 games with Montreal, Raines slashed .301/.391/.437 with 459 extra-base hits, 556 RBI, and most impressively, a franchise-record 635 stolen bases. He represented the Expos in seven straight Midsummer Classics from '81-'87, led the league in steals four straight times from ''81-'84, and swiped 70 or more bases in six consecutive seasons. Raines won the batting title in 1986 by hitting .334, led the Majors in runs twice, and finished in the top 10 of the NL MVP voting three times. He'd go on to play for five other teams after leaving Montreal, but Raines is emphatically remembered as an Expo, and the club retired his number 30 in 2004. He was ushered into Cooperstown in 2017. 

Right-handed slugger Andre Dawson was a teammate of both Carter and Raines for several seasons, and it's pretty surprising the Expos didn't enjoy more success in the '80s while they employed three future Hall of Famers. Dawson starred in Montreal for 11 seasons and managed to put together a really impressive resume. For starters, in his first full big-league campaign he hit .282 with 19 homers and 26 doubles and was named NL Rookie of the Year. In 1,443 total games with the Expos the Miami, Florida native slashed .280/.326/.476 with 225 long balls, 838 RBI, 295 doubles, 67 triples, and 253 stolen bases. He wore an Expos cap in three All-Star games, won six Gold Gloves and three Silver Sluggers while with Montreal, and led the league in hits and total bases in 1983. Dawson ultimately won an MVP award while with the Cubs, but twice with the Expos he finished 2nd in the voting. Montreal retired his number 10 in 1997 and he punched his ticket to Cooperstown in 2010. 

Montreal made Steve Rogers the fourth overall pick in the 1971 draft coming out of the University of Tulsa, and the righty ultimately developed into arguably the most distinguished hurler in the history of the franchise's Expos era. In 13 seasons with the club, he earned 158 victories and put up a strong 3.17 ERA in 2,837.2 innings. Rogers was an All-Star five times, won the ERA title with a dominant 2.40 mark in 1982, and finished in the top five of the NL Cy Young voting three times. Perhaps most importantly, he gave Montreal over 200 innings in nine out of ten seasons from 1974-1983, and his consistency and durability were a godsend on this pitching staff for well over a decade. 

Right-hander Max Scherzer has been a dynamic force for five different major league organizations, but I think it's an obvious assumption that when he's ultimately enshrined in Cooperstown it will be with a Nationals hat atop his head. The 38-year-old signed a lucrative high profile free-agent contract with Washington ahead of the 2015 season, and the seven years he spent in D.C. were beyond impressive. In 189 starts Scherzer won 92 games and posted a 2.80 ERA with an 0.96 WHIP. He struck out an eye opening 1,610 hitters in 1,229 innings, and fired 11 complete games — including a pair of no-hitters. Scherzer represented Washington in six All-Star games, won back-to-back Cy Young awards in '16 and '17, and led the league in strikeouts in three consecutive seasons. This organization's history book is a little staggered, and for whatever reason the Nationals tend to not recognize the accolades of former Expos players as much as they should. But Scherzer is certainly the greatest starting pitcher to ever wear a Nationals uniform, and he very well may be the most impactful pitcher in franchise history. 

Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman is commonly referred to as Mr. National because he was the first-ever Washington Nationals draft pick in 2005 coming out of the University of Virginia. To put it lightly, Washington nailed the selection. Zimmerman played all 1,799 of his major league games with D.C., slashing .277/.341/.475 with 284 home runs, 1,061 RBI, 417 doubles, 22 triples, and 43 stolen bases. He participated in two All-Star games, won two Silver Sluggers, earned a Gold Glove in 2009 and, most importantly, helped Washington win the World Series in 2019. Zimmerman became the first player to have his number retired by the Nationals in 2022 when they took his patented 11 out of circulation. 

Right-handed swinging Tim Wallach manned the hot corner for Montreal for 13 seasons, and though he was often overshadowed by some of the other third basemen of his era, he provided the Expos with a steady and dependable presence in their everyday lineup for over a decade. In 1,767 games with the club Wallach slashed .259/.317/.418 with 204 home runs, 905 RBI, 360 doubles, 31 triples, and 50 stolen bases. He was an All-Star five times, won three Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers, and twice led the National League in doubles. 

Long before Vladimir Guerrero Jr. burst onto the scene as a power hitting sensation with the Blue Jays, his father, Vlad Sr, was the biggest star playing major league baseball north of the border. The elder Guerrero spent the first eight years of his career in Montreal with the Expos, and on a team that more often than not wasn't very good, he was the biggest draw. In just over 1,000 games with the team, Guerrero slashed a dominant .323/.390/.588 with 234 home runs, 702 RBI, 226 doubles, 34 triples,  and 123 stolen bases. He represented the Expos in four All-Star games, earned three Silver Sluggers, and consistently provided Montreal with one of the game's elite run producers. Guerrero drove in over 100 runs for the Expos in five consecutive seasons from '98-'02, and homered more than 34 times in each of those seasons as well. In 2002 he finished just one long ball shy of an elusive 40/40 season, something that's only been done four times in the sport's history. Following the 2003 season, Guerrero signed a free-agent contract with the Angels, and you'd have to assume the uncertainty surrounding the Expos (they'd move to Washington two years later) played an enormous role in his decision to leave. 

When the Nationals selected flame-throwing Stephen Strasburg first overall coming out of Arizona State in 2009, the right-hander was already being discussed as a generational talent. And fans in D.C. didn't have to wait long at all to see their prodigy on a big league mound. After just 11 minor league starts, Strasburg was in the majors, debuting in June 2010, and he instantly looked like the star everyone presumed he'd become. In 12 rookie starts he put up a 2.91 ERA in 68 frames and his career was off and running. The veteran has now made 247 career big-league starts, and is firmly on the Mount Rushmore of Nationals' hurlers. He's earned 113 wins, owns a lifetime 3.24 ERA with a 1.09 WHIP, and has punched out 1,723 hitters in 1,470 innings. Strasburg has represented Washington in three All-Star games, led the league in strikeouts and innings once each, but his Nationals legacy will always be tied to 2019. That year, he led the NL with 18 wins and was simply unstoppable in the postseason, helping Washington win the World Series and taking home WS MVP honors in the process. Unfortunately, myriad arm injuries have completely derailed and even threatened his career since that season, and he's made only eight ineffective major league appearances since.

Third baseman Anthony Rendon was also on the Nationals' World Series-winning squad in 2019, and for much of his tenure in D.C. the Rice University product was one of the elite offensive players in the game. Rendon spent his first seven seasons with Washington, slashing .290/.369/.490 with 136 homers, 546 RBI, 245 doubles, 15 triples, and 45 stolen bases. He drove in over 100 runs for the Nats twice (including an MLB-high 126 in 2019), led the league in doubles twice and runs once, was awarded a pair of Silver Sluggers, and wore a Washington hat in his only career All-Star appearance. Rendon finished in the top six of the NL MVP voting three times while he was in D.C., and while his career has stalled somewhat in Anaheim, he'll always be considered royalty in our nation's capital. 

Righty Dennis Martinez was a middling starting pitcher in Baltimore when the Expos acquired him in a deadline deal with the O's in 1986, but something changed in a big way once he got to Montreal. In seven and a half years north of the border, Martinez went 100-72 with a 3.06 ERA--over a full run better than the mark he'd pitched to in over 300 outings with the Orioles. He represented the Expos in three straight All-Star games from 1990-1992 and won the National League ERA title in '91 — the same season he also led the league in both complete games and shutouts. Martinez gave Montreal 200+ innings six straight times from '88-'93, and while he finished his career with stops in Cleveland, Seattle, and Atlanta, by a wide margin his best days came in an Expos uniform. 

The year after the Nationals selected right-hander Stephen Strasburg with the top overall pick in the draft, in 2010 they landed another blue-chip prospect first overall in left-handed slugger Bryce Harper. The Las Vegas, Nev. native was in the big leagues less than two years later as a 19-year-old, and instantly tantalized D.C. fans with his immense potential. Harper crushed 22 homers and added 35 other extra-base hits en route to winning NL Rookie of the Year honors, and it was only up from there. In the 927 games he ended up playing with Washington, Harper slashed .279/.388/.512 with 184 home runs, 521 RBI, 183 doubles, 18 triples, and 75 stolen bases. He was a member of the National League All-Star team in all but one of his seven seasons in D.C., won a Silver Slugger, and was named NL MVP in 2015 when he led the league in homers, OBP, SLG %, OPS, and runs. If you were to walk around Washington today you'd undoubtedly find Nationals fans who still don't forgive the club for letting Harper walk as a free agent in 2019, particularly after he landed in the waiting arms of the Nats' fierce division rival in Philly. 

As if watching one of their former franchise players star with the Phillies wasn't enough, Nationals fans are now forced to watch Trea Turner do it as well, after Washington's longtime shortstop inked a free-agent pact to join Harper in Philly this past off-season. The speedy Turner spent his first seven big-league seasons in D.C., and by the time the Nationals traded him to the Dodgers midway through the 2021 campaign he'd blossomed into one of the most complete players in the game. In 637 games with the Nats, Turner slashed .300/.356/.486 with 93 homers, 306 RBI, 135 doubles, 32 triples, and 192 stolen bases. He stunningly only qualified for one All-Star game during that timeframe — in 2021 — the same season he'd ultimately win the National League batting title. The Boynton Beach, Fla. native led the senior circuit in hits and steals twice and triples once, and is a heady player with very few flaws in his overall game. The highlight of his Washington tenure was undoubtedly the role he played in bringing a World Series title to D.C. in 2019. 

A large contingent of Nationals fans — and honestly baseball fans as a whole — are still completely flabbergasted that outfielder Juan Soto is no longer calling D.C. home. The young left-handed swinging superstar was in the prime of his career and just 23 years old when Washington made him available via trade last summer, and seeing him in a Padres uniform is still taking some getting used to. In the 565 games he did play with the Nationals, Soto was simply special. He slashed an eye popping .291/.427/.538 with 119 home runs, 358 RBI, 108 doubles, and 38 steals. The Dominican Republic-born slugger qualified for a pair of All-Star teams, won the 2020 batting title, led the NL in walks and OBP twice, earned three Silver Sluggers, and won the 2022 Home Run Derby just before he was traded. He played a starring role in Washington's 2019 World Series championship run, and fans in D.C. have to dream about an alternate reality where he, Turner, and Harper all still call Washington home. 

Canadian-born Larry Walker debuted with the Expos as a 22-year-old in 1989, and while he'd eventually go on to become one of the biggest stars in the game as a member of the Rockies, the left-handed slugger first cut his teeth in Montreal. In six seasons with the Expos, Walker slashed an impressive .281/.357/.483 with 99 homers, 384 RBI, 147 doubles, and 98 stolen bases. He wore a Montreal cap in the 1992 All-Star Game, won his first two Gold Gloves and his first Silver Slugger north of the border, and led the National League with 44 doubles in the strike-shortened 1994 campaign. He signed in Colorado as a free agent the following spring and the rest is history. Walker was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2020. 

Jordan Zimmermann spent the first seven seasons of his career with Washington before heading to Detroit as a free agent prior to the 2016 campaign, and with hindsight being 20/20, it's become evident the Nationals cut bait at just the right time. In the 178 outings Zimmermann made for Washington, he was consistently a reliable and durable middle-of-the-rotation starter for the club. He earned 70 victories, pitched to a respectable 3.32 ERA with a 1.16 WHIP, and struck out 903 hitters in 1,094 innings. The righty earned trips to two All-Star games, and in 2013 even led the National League with 19 wins. Once he left, though, it became clear rather quickly that the Tigers were not getting the pitcher they thought they were. In 99 games with Detroit, Zimmermann put up an ERA over two full runs higher than his Washington mark. 

Center fielder Marquis Grissom played for six different MLB teams during his career, but a strong argument can be made that his best days came in a Montreal Expos uniform. In the six seasons he played with the Expos the Atlanta, Ga. native slashed .279/.331/.405 with 207 extra-base hits, 276 RBI, and an eye-opening 266 stolen bases. He was selected to represent the Expos in a pair of All-Star games, won the first two of what would become four consecutive Gold Glove awards while wearing a Montreal uniform, and led the majors in stolen bases in both '91 and '92. 

Puerto Rican-born right-hander Javier Vazquez spent the first six seasons of his career in Montreal, and for most of that time was the top starting pitcher in the Expos rotation. Vazquez took the mound 192 times for Montreal and earned 64 wins while posting a 4.16 ERA with a 1.27 WHIP in 1,229.1 innings. He fired more than 200 innings for the Expos in four straight years from 2000-2003 before being traded to the Yankees at the winter meetings in December of '03. 

Right-hander Livan Hernandez was a bit of a journeyman, pitching for nine big-league teams during his 17-year career, but that's not to say he was a middling starting pitcher. For a lot of his career Hernandez was a legitimate top-of-the-rotation starter, and he delivered some good seasons for this franchise both in Montreal and D.C. In 197 total starts for the team split between two different stints, Hernandez earned 70 victories and put up a respectable 3.98 ERA in 1,317 innings. He was an All-Star for this organization twice (once in Montreal and once in Washington), led the NL in innings pitched three times, and tossed over 200 frames for the club four different times. Hernandez delivered 23 complete games — including a major league-high nine in 2004, and was consistently a durable and reliable starting pitcher for this franchise. 

The Expos selected outfielder Rondell White in the first round of the 1990 draft coming out of Jones County High School in Gray, Ga., and while it took some time for him to reach the sport's highest level, he did develop into a productive regular for this team. In 742 games with Montreal, White slashed a strong .293/.348/.480 with 289 extra-base hits, 384 RBI, and 88 stolen bases. He never qualified for the All-Star team while with the Expos, but White was a consistent force in the Montreal lineup, racking up 20 or more doubles five times and always finishing in double digits in both homers and steals combined.

Southpaw Gio Gonzalez had already established himself as a solid major league starting pitcher in Oakland before a trade landed him in D.C. in 2012, and he really took his game to the next level as a member of the Nationals. In seven seasons with Washington the Hialeah, Fla. native delivered a 3.62 ERA with a 1.28 WHIP and 1,215 strikeouts in 1,253.1 innings. He was chosen to represent the Nats in the '12 All-Star Game — the same year he'd eventually finish with a MLB-leading 21 victories — and he made over 27 starts for Washington in every year he was with the team. That level of consistency and durability is hard to find in today's starting pitchers, and the Nationals were certainly happy to have Gonzalez in the middle of their rotation for as long as they did. 

Probably the best trade the Montreal Expos ever made was pulling the trigger on a deal with the Dodgers that sent second baseman Delino DeShields to L.A. and landed righty Pedro Martinez in Canada. The Dodgers loved Martinez' arm but believed his slender frame would prevent him from holding up over the course of a full six-month season. The Expos did not share those concerns and were the ones that reaped the benefits of his immense talent. In four seasons in Montreal, Martinez won 55 games and delivered a 3.06 ERA with a 1.09 WHIP. He blew away 843 hitters in 797.1 innings, fired 20 complete games — including eight shutouts — and even earned a save in his only appearance for Montreal that didn't come as a starter. The Dominican Republic-born hurler represented the Expos in two All-Star games, won an ERA title and the NL Cy Young award in 1997, and gave Montreal over 200 innings in two of his four years with the team. Prior to the '98 season, the Expos traded Martinez to Boston, where he would only further cement his status as the premier starter in baseball. 

Left-handed swinging Rusty Staub was not in Montreal for very long, but across two short stints with the Expos he sure left his mark. In 518 games with the team Staub slashed .295/.402/.497 with 81 homers, 284 RBI, 86 doubles, 18 triples, and 24 stolen bases. He represented Montreal in three All-Star games, drove in over 90 runs for the Expos twice, and was billed as Montreal's first star after joining the expansion Expos for their inaugural season. He instantly became a fan favorite after going to great lengths to learn to speak French, and was renowned for his dedication to making a positive impact in the community. Despite his relatively short stay with the team, the Expos chose to retire Staub's number 10 in 1993 — though they did so retroactively, as the number is also retired in honor of Andre Dawson. 

Right-handed swinging Bob Bailey spent seven years with the Expos in the middle of his career, and provided the club with a productive middle-of-the-lineup threat. In 951 games with Montreal, Bailey slashed .264/.368/.437 with 118 home runs, 466 RBI, 116 doubles, 23 triples, and 40 stolen bases. He belted over 20 homers for the Expos in three separate seasons, drove in 80 or more runs three times, and was a capable defender at both third base and left field.