The Washington Nationals got a rare road day-off before this road trip as they flew on Sunday to Seattle, Washington. That gave the team a full day on Monday to get used to the west coast time change. With this game, the Nats will have reached the 33 percent completion mark in the season.
The Nationals have LHP Mitchell Parker going in this game. In Parker’s 10-games this season, the team has an impressive 7-3 record. In the bullpen, almost everyone is fresh after yesterday’s day-off. Manager Dave Martinez did not have a status on Kyle Finnegan‘s fatigued arm and whether he would be available to pitch today. On Jacob Young, he was set to take swings today, and we should hear if that happened — and how Young felt afterwards as he recovers from a shoulder injury on a collision with the outfield wall over a week ago.
“I’m not going to assume anything until he goes out there and actually throws. Right now, I have high expectations that he will be able to pitch for us today. But if he doesn’t, we’ll see where he’s at. If he’s better than he was a few days ago, that’s a good sign. If he’s not, then we’ll have to sit down and talk to him and maybe do something else.”
— manager Dave Martinez said in the pregame about Finnegan
“We’re going to look, as far as when he throws, his extension, if he’s not cutting the ball off. If he’s getting extended and the ball’s coming out, that’s a good sign.”
“Hopefully with a couple days’ rest, he is able to bounce back and go out there and pitch the ninth for us.”
You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders James Wood at +2.0 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 3.06 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 -10.0 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 -6.0 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.
“We’ll see where he’s at, but he’s been doing everything else. As soon as we can get him ready, we’ll activate him. But it’s all about his hitting, really. He couldn’t finish his swing. I want to make sure he’s 100 percent when he comes back.”
— manager Dave Martinez said about Young in the pregame
“For me, I always like to send guys out to play a couple games [in the Minor Leagues], just to make sure. I want to get him in game situations where he’s not thinking about things. But we’ll see where he’s at, and we’ll see how the rest of the guys are doing. If everybody’s healthy, then it allows us to do different things.”
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.42 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 5.61
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.39
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.42
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.67
Washington Nationals vs. Seattle Mariners
Stadium: T-Mobile Park, Seattle, Washington
1st Pitch: 9:40 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):
