The Washington Nationals are 13-8 (.619) since May 14. This series wraps up today with a split in the first two games. A win for the Nats today would make this another series win for the Nationals before their scheduled day-off tomorrow.
In Nationals’ history, on this day 15-years ago, Stephen Strasburg made his MLB debut and had 14 strikeouts. The World Series MVP in 2019 was as good as the hype on that day. And 20 years ago from today, the Washington Nationals wrapped up their first draft with the following key picks: Ryan Zimmerman 1st round, Justin Maxwell 4th round, Marco Estrada 6th round, John Lannan 11th round, Craig Stammen 12th round, and Ryan Buchter 33rd round.
The Texas Rangers will put a lefty opener on the mound to start the game as they plan to use their rested bullpen to pitch today as it appears right now. On the mound for the Nationals is Trevor Williams who has the task of keeping up the starting pitcher’s momentum that we have seen recently. The real problem here is that the Nats are in a offensive drought. In the past six games, Washington has only been able to score nine runs combined for an average of just 1½ runs per game in this span. The team batting average in that span is .181 with a pathetic .219 OBP, .258 SLG, and a .477 OPS.
You might be surprised at who has been slumping in this span. Clearly you know Keibert Ruiz (.133 OPS) and Josh Bell (.458 OPS) are in there, but unfortunately this team goes as James Wood goes, and he is batting .105 with a .340 OPS in those six games. CJ Abrams is batting .167 with a .375 OPS in the span, and Nathaniel Lowe is batting .143 with a .286 OPS.
Who is excelling in the span? Alex Call, Luis Garcia Jr. and Nasim Nunez. This is a rough time for the Nationals to have Wood in a funk along with so many others. The only homers hit in those six games were one apiece by Call and Amed Rosario.
When times were good for the four games that the Nationals scored 9+ runs consecutively, everyone was crediting hitting coach Darnell Coles. If he received the credit, who takes the blame now?
“Forget about the whole week. … Hitting is not easy. Hitting comes and goes. You’re not going to freaking hit every day. I say it every day — it’s tough. But you’ve got to be able to work, and in a game like [Saturday], try to scratch and claw to get a couple runs and stay in it.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
You can see the recent bullpen usage here:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders James Wood at +2.4 with MacKenzie Gore at +2.4 followed by CJ Abrams.
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 nearly two months dating back to April 15. Luis Garcia Jr. has slumped this season defensively to a -7.0 already — and with CJ Abrams, they combine for -13.0 OAA. Clearly, that is an issue.
Another defensive 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 -7.0 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.
“The idea right there is to try to keep it in front of me at the last second, but it’s hard enough to try to catch it on the short-bounce anyway. If I can make that play, it helps us a lot right there. I’ve just got to go get that ball.”
— Robert Hassell III said after yesterday’s game about the error in the 1st inning
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.32 and 22nd best in MLB. You might be surprised at the team just in front of the Nationals in the rankings. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 5.89 and now only the second worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: Trevor Williams 5.69
No. 4 Starter: Michael Soroka 4.86
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.44
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.02
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 2.87
Texas Rangers vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:35 pm EDT
TV: MASN
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 179 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
- Alex Call RF
- James Wood LF
- Amed Rosario 3B
- Nathaniel Lowe 1B
- Josh Bell DH
- Riley Adams C
- Luis Garcia Jr. 2B
- Jacob Young CF
- Nasim Nunez SS
