Photo by Sol Tucker/TalkNats
The Washington Nationals complete their Grapefruit League schedule in five games after tonight. Opening Day is in the 10-day countdown. The Nats have two exhibition games on Sunday and Monday against the Orioles.
Manager Blake Butera has penciled up an interesting lineup. For some reason, they have Riley Adams at catcher over both Drew Millas and Harry Ford. And Daylen Lile is back in right field with Dylan Crews in left field which has not proven to be a good outfield configuration statistically unless you believe that Crews might not make the roster.
Yes, Jacob Young returns to the lineup from his deep wrist contusion suffered in early February when teammate Bryce Montes de Oca hit Young on the wrist with a fastball during “live” BP. Can Young ramp up fast enough to be ready for Opening Day?
You will also notice that Zach Penrod gets the start in this game. Remember, there are still 15 potential bullpen arms in camp plus six starting pitchers. Expect tonight’s game to be a bullpen game for the Nats.
For fans, the Nats announced two new activations. One is that the team will honor D.C. hockey star, Alex Ovechkin, in a bobblehead giveaway for 20,000 fans at the Nationals ‘Beltway Series’ game against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, May 16. The image commemorates Ovechkin’s ceremonial first pitch in moment on the mound will be commemorated from 2018. The other big announcement is that the Nats will have a team dog through a partnership with Canine Companions and Eukanuba. The Nationals are calling on fans and dog lovers alike to help select the sweet pup’s name from a list of four options, including Cherry, Monty, Natty and Tater. Fan voting is now open Nationals.com/TeamDog.
❝We are thrilled to partner with Canine Companions and Eukanuba to welcome the first-ever Team Dog to the Nationals roster this season. We are excited to be part of this puppy’s impactful journey to becoming a service dog, and we know our team, fans, community and ballpark will offer a wonderful training environment.❞
— said Nationals President of Business Operations Jason Sinnarajah
The Nationals are 11-7 with three ties so far through the first 21 games. Throw in the 5-1 win against Venezuela’s WBC team, and they are 12-7. That’s the same Venezuelan team in the WBC Final-4 after defeating Japan. If only Spring Training records were an indicator of what will happen in the regular season.
At this point, we only have 21 Spring Training games in the books and the one exhibition game, and no batter has more than 34 official plate appearances on the Washington Nationals. And for that matter, no pitcher has more than 9.2 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.
Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets
Stadium: Clover Park, Port St. Lucie, Florida
1st Pitch: 6:10 PM EDT
TV: SNY and the MLB app
Radio: Team 980 and the MLB app
