The Washington Nationals have Jake Irvin on the mound and going up against the Brewers’ Brandon Woodruff who was excellent when the Nats faced him in July. Today is Jacob Young bobblehead day, and he will sit against Woodruff.
In today’s lineup, interim-manager Miguel Cairo has Robert Hassell III manning center field. As bad as the defense was yesterday, one of the bright spots and throughout the season is Jacob Young making highlight reel catches in center field and is a +10.0 OAA to lead the team. While Hassell is closer to league average, the corner outfielders of James Wood and Daylen Lile will have to cover more ground — and Lile is a -7 on runs that he has cost the team and Wood is -2.
“That team is a pain-in-the-butt team. They make contact. They put the ball in play. They find a way to create runs.”
— Miguel Cairo said after yesterday’s game
The bullpen usage looks like this:
Here are your Nats’ WAR leaders with CJ Abrams at +3.2, James Wood at +3.2, MacKenzie Gore at +2.6. Add those up, and you get a total of +9.0 WAR. The issue is the large gap between those players and the next tier.
On defense, the OAA stats give you a good picture of the team’s overall defense which is the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good news is that besides Nathaniel Lowe, the defense under interim-manager Miguel Cairo has drastically improved. All of a sudden, Luis Garcia Jr. looked Gold Glove in the month of July.
These are your stats leaders on BBRef. There are certainly some surprises on there — good and not so good. The issue is the consistency on this team.
“Sometimes, like I’ve said before, I want to use everyone in the bullpen. I can’t be using the same guys every day. I don’t want to break their arms, either. Sometimes when they come into those situations, they’ve got a job to do.”
— Cairo said mid-week
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.88 and that places the starters at 3rd from last in MLB. The reliever’s ERA sits at a 5.72 and now the worst in baseball in ERA.
Here is how the starters rank by ERA:
No. 5 Starter: TBD
No. 4 Starter: Mitchell Parker 5.35
No. 3 Starter: Brad Lord 3.27 (starting/relieving)
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.69
No. 1 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.80
Milwaukee Brewers vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 4:05 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):
