Photo by Andrew Lang/TalkNats
The Washington Nationals get their first game looks at their newly acquired pitcher, Zack Littell. Who knows what to expect in his first start which is less than two weeks from Opening Day. He will only get two more starts before Opening Day. Can he even get his stamina built up to get to a 70-80 pitch count for his first regular season start? As they say in the predictions business, we will see.
By the way, there is no radio or TV coverage on this one. We will follow by the MLB Gameday App as our only guide unless the Nats put up a pressbox video camera and supply the feed.
“I’m a starter. I came here to start. I had some other offers that were going to let me start. … I think over the last 2 1/2 years, I’ve kind of proven that I can start and belong in the rotation. So the opportunity was presented here, and it’s definitely what I wanted to do.”
— Littell said a few days ago
After watching Rule-5 pickup Griff McGarry last night, he walked the lead-off man but then got three outs to follow to notch the save. But facing lower-level minor league kids who wear the jerseys with “no names” on the back, is that challenging enough to assess what you have? The bullpen has plenty of competition. Isn’t he competing with Julian Fernandez, Andre Granillo, Orlando Ribalta, Paxton Schultz, Gus Varland, and Ken Waldichuk for the final spots? You figure that PJ Poulin, Clayton Beeter and Cole Henry are locks for the back of the bullpen, and Jackson Rutledge in the middle. Then you have Brad Lord and Mitchell Parker. That is 13 names for eight spots. Add the possibility that Zach Penrod, Cionel Perez or Drew Smith make it as a non-roster invitees (NRI) and that is 16 names. What eight names are you not sending to Wrigley Field on March 26?
The Nationals are 11-4 with three ties so far through the first 18 games. Throw in the 5-1 win against Venezuela’s WBC team, and they are 12-4. If only Spring Training records were an indicator of what will happen in the regular season.
At this point, we only have 18 Spring Training games in the books and the one exhibition game, and no batter has more than 28 official plate appearances on the Washington Nationals. And for that matter, no pitcher has more than 9.0 innings in official games. As the starters play deeper into games, there will be more plate appearances and more innings going forward.
Some of the offensive numbers are really really bad on those stat sheets. Should we be concerned by the poor stats and pleased with the good stats? Yes and no to both. There are cautionary tales on both. But some of the “process” we have seen has been bad and yes, that is concerning.
New York Mets vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach, Florida
1st Pitch: 6:05 PM EDT
TV: N/A
Radio: N/A
