After 20 seasons, Nationals all-time leaders

Not much has changed in the list of all-time team leaders since I compiled similar figures after 15 seasons (through 2019), other than Juan Soto making an appearance in several categories.

If you rely on MLB.com or BaseballReference.com for an all-time list, you get one that includes the Expos. The Montreal team existed for 36 seasons, so several all-time franchise marks are still held by Expos greats such as Tim Raines, Vladimir Guerrero and Steve Rogers.

Still, thanks in no small part to his long career with the Nats, Ryan Zimmerman tops the all-time franchise-leader board in games played, at bats, run scored, hits, doubles, home runs and RBIs. And he continues to lead all Nationals by a large margin in the same categories, as he did after 15 seasons.

Likewise, Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer are all-time franchise leaders in several major pitching categories. Stras is tops in games starts, innings pitched and strikeouts. Max has the lowest WHIP and batting-average against by a wide margin over all other Expos/Nationals who pitched a significant number of innings.

Here are the Nationals’ all-time leaders through 2024 (bold=also franchise leader):

HITTING

Game played

Ryan Zimmerman 1,799

Bryce Harper 927

Ian Desmond 927

Anthony Rendon 916

Jayson Werth 808

At Bats

Zimmerman 6,654

Desmond 3,480

Rendon 3,424

Harper 3,306

Werth 2,965

Runs scored

Zimmerman 963

Harper 610

Rendon 571

Werth 450

Trea Turner 444

Batting Average (3-season min.)

Daniel Murphy .329 (1,380 plate appearances)

Turner .300 (2,802 PAs)

Michael Morse .294 (1,353 PAs)

Denard Span .292 (1,605 PAs)

Juan Soto .291 (2,439 PAs)

Rendon .290 (3,927 PAs)

Base Hits

Zimmerman 1,846

Rendon 994

Harper 922

Desmond 917

Doubles

Zimmerman 417

Rendon 245

Desmond 185

Harper 183

Werth 162

Triples

Turner 32

Cristian Guzman 28

Zimmerman 22

Desmond 21

Span 19

Home Runs

Zimmerman 284

Harper 184

Rendon 136

Juan Soto 119

Desmond 110

Runs Batted In

Zimmerman 1,061

Rendon 546

Harper 521

Desmond 432

Werth 393

Base on Balls

Zimmerman 646

Harper 585

Soto 464

Rendon 409

Werth 403

Stolen Bases

Turner 192

Desmond 122

CJ Abrams 84

Michael A. Taylor 77

Harper 75

On-Base Percentage

Juan Soto .427

Nick Johnson .418 (in D.C.

Harper .388

Rendon .368

Turner .356

Slugging Average

Soto .538

Harper .512

Rendon .490

Turner .486

Zimmerman .475

On-Base+Slugging

Soto .966

Harper .900

Rendon .859

Turner .842

Zimmerman .816

PITCHING

Victories (W)

Stephen Strasburg 113

Max Scherzer 92

Gio Gonzalez 86

Jordan Zimmermann 70

Tanner Roark 64

Innings Pitched

Strasburg 1,479

Gonzalez 1,253.1

Scherzer 1,229

Zimmermann 1,094

Patrick Corbin 946.2

Strikeouts

Strasburg 1,723

Scherzer 1,610

Gonzalez 1,215

Zimmermann 903

Corbin 832

Walks+Hits per Innings Pitched

Scherzer 0.96

Strasburg 1.10

Zimmermann 1.16

Roark 1.21

Gonzalez 1.28

Batting-Average Against

Scherzer .201

Strasburg .223

Gonzalez .239

Roark .247

Zimmermann .252

Saves/Save Opportunities/Successful

Chad Cordero 113/133 (84.9%)

Drew Storen 95/116 (81.8%)

Kyle Finnegan 88/110 (80%)

Sean Doolittle 75/83 (90.3%)

Rafael Soriano 75/88 (80.6%)

On the negative side for hitters, Zimmerman is the Montreal/Washington franchise leader in striking out (1,384 times). Among pitchers, Corbin gave up the most home runs (156) of any pitcher in franchise history. Strasburg hit the most batters (53).

With a young roster going into 2025 and no player with five-years tenure with Washington, these all-time standings are likely to remain in place at least for several more seasons.

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