The Washington Nationals are going for a series win against the Giants and former Nats’ draftee, LHP Robbie Ray. The lefty was drafted by the Nationals in the 12th round in 2010 out of high school. After the 2013 season, general manager Mike Rizzo traded Ray along with Ian Krol and Steve Lombardozzi to the Detroit Tigers for Doug Fister. In 2021, Ray won the Cy Young award after several years of ace seasons.
The Nationals have RHP Michael Soroka going in this game. What we have seen with Soroka is that he will throw you scoreless baseball. The key is when to pull Soroka before he hits the wall. The Nats are now 7-2 in their last nine games, and are hoping for their best 10-game span of the season. After today’s game, the Nats will fly to Seattle and will have a day-off on Memorial Day before their road trip starts on Tuesday.
“Nats Park was freaking packed. Fans came out. You can feel that energy, and we fed off of it.”
— Jake Irvin said after yesterday’s game
You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders James Wood at +1.9 with MacKenzie Gore at +1.8 followed by CJ Abrams, and Mitchell Parker. Those are impressive numbers that you can multiply by a factor of 3.12 to extrapolate to a full-season of results.
On defense, the stats are starting to give you an idea of what this defense is all about. Paul DeJong is your OAA leader and he hasn’t played in over a month dating back to April 15. Luis Garcia Jr. has slumped this season defensively to a -6.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -9.0 OAA. Another issue that we have discussed is the positioning of Nathaniel Lowe at first base as he is too often out of position to make a play — and OAA has his chance at success at only 62 percent which must improve. With as little as Amed Rosario has played on defense, he is at -7.0 OAA this season and the worst on the team. Per Statcast, his defense has cost the Nationals 5-runs. Is his offense good enough to make up that deficit if he plays the field? Keibert Ruiz, per Statcast, has a -6.0 OAA also. The Nationals were supposed to be better on defense. What has happened?
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good — but the gap is widening.
“[Irvin] was a heck of a lawyer, I can tell you that. He tried to go back out in the ninth [inning]. I’m a better judge.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.41 and 6th worst in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 6.23 and no longer the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 6.39
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 5.95
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.39
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.42
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.67
San Francisco Giants vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:35 pm EDT
TV: MASN2
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app; In Spanish on DC 87.7 FM and La Pantera 100.7 FM/1220 AM. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 178 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
