2+2+2=6 The Nats had big two-hit nights from Michael Taylor, Jayson Werth and Danny Espinosa combining for 6 of the Nats 16 hit barrage on the night. Each of those struggling players showed what you hope is a beginning to better results.
Each of those players are still batting at .185 and below and need more games like Friday night to climb above “Mendoza” and become contributing parts of this line-up.
Ben Revere is traveling with the team on this road trip and could be off the DL in 5 days, and Trea Turner is swinging a hot bat in Triple-A .458/.567/.542/1.108. Rizzo said he is keeping an eye on what Turner and Lucas Giolito are doing in the Minors. We mention these 3 players as we know Revere will replace MAT and Turner and Giolito could be two key upgrades when the situation and timing is right.
Let us look at Michael Taylor’s season after last night. He is now at 6-35 with no walks and a .167 OBP. If Taylor can get to 9-44, which is 3 more hits in his next 9 at-bats, he will jump up to a .205 Batting Average. MAT still needs walks.
Espinosa had 2 big hits with RISP (runners in scoring position) last night, and was rewarded with 2 RBIs.
Werth has had a good week. He is flashing some power and raised his OPS to .683. Werth was at a .397 OPS just 3 games ago. A home run, doubles and taking walks will help and this is the path MAT and Espi must take.
Dusty was rewarded last night by sticking with Taylor and Espinosa, but at some point the sample sizes will be large enough where we will be able to assess where these players are at and whether they made their manager look like a genius. So far, not good, but 35 at-bats is not a fair representation to judge a player.
