Photo by Jake Stephens/TalkNats
The Washington Nationals will be donning their St. Patrick’s Day hats today and hoping for some good luck. With last night’s win, the 12-7 Nats (with three ties) are guaranteed to finish their Grapefruit League play with at least a .500 record. Throw in that 5-1 win against Venezuela’s WBC (World Baseball Classic) team, and they are 13-7. Does beating Venezuela make the Nats one of the best teams in the world? Tonight is the finals of the WBC with Venezuela vs. USA.
Manager Blake Butera has penciled up another interesting lineup. Mostly bench players plus Brady House and Keibert Ruiz to start this game. Drew Millas gets the start at catcher with Ruiz at DH. The catcher spot, right-handed DH, backup first baseman, and 4th outfielder seem to be up for grabs still.
If Jacob Young makes the Opening Day roster, one question is solved. But many people are wondering about the issues with Dylan Crews. His numbers are bad with a .125 batting average and no extra base hits which you can understand in a small sample size — but his process hasn’t improved in his three weeks of Spring Training with weak contact, chases, and swing and miss. Some think he is in jeopardy of not making the Opening Day roster. A week ago that seemed outlandish — today it seems a possibility.
Today’s starting pitcher is Jake Irvin. He should get the start on Sunday or Monday against the Orioles in an exhibition game as the Nats return to the DMV on Saturday night. Irvin could seed into the No. 2, No. 3 or No. 5 spot in the starting rotation unless the team decides to go with Josiah Gray. That seems to be the final battle for the starting rotation. Cade Cavalli is the only player officially named as the Opening Day starter a week from Thursday. Cavalli pitched on the backfields yesterday.
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
At this point, we only have 22 Spring Training games in the books and the one exhibition game, and no batter has more than 37 official plate appearances on the Washington Nationals. And for that matter, no pitcher has more than 9.2 innings in official games.
Also, 67 Nationals have had at least one plate appearance with another two entering games without plate appearances for a total of 69 position players. On top of that, 53 Nats’ pitchers have appeared in 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, but we also saw a lot of improvement just from yesterday’s game for some players.
Today’s game will be available on MLB Network in the Washington D.C. TV market live at 1 p.m. ET. Complete local channel listings can be found at www.FindMLBNetwork.com.
MLB Network’s complete Spring Training game schedule, which features more than 65 live Spring Training games, can be viewed here. Local channel listings can be found at www.FindMLBNetwork.com.
On Sunday, March 1, the Nationals were featured on MLB Network’s Spring Training series 30 Clubs, 30 Camps when Robert Flores and Cliff Floyd visited the West Palm Beach camp. The episode, featuring CJ Abrams and James Wood, is available here.
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach, FL
1st Pitch: 1:05PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV, MLB Network and the MLB app
Radio: Nationals Radio and the MLB app
