The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

Today starts the third time through the starting rotation for the Washington Nationals with Patrick Corbin on the mound. News broke this morning that the Nationals and free agent outfielder Eddie Rosario were in agreement on a minor league contract. That deal can pay the veteran a $2 million contract and up to $4 million after incentives, with a promotion to the Majors, reports Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base.

Yesterday, Zach Davies was supposed to start against the Marlins, but the weather got in the way of that. Today was supposed to be Trevor Williams. 2024 Spring Training debut against the Cardinals. The Spring Training schedule and everything about it is unpredictable. Pitchers have to build up arm strength, and Williams was already given permission for a delayed arrival in camp due to the birth of his child.

We are at the midway point today in Spring Training camp, and only at the ninth game. In exactly three weeks, the Grapefruit League portion of Spring Training will wrap up, and the Washington Nationals will fly to Washington, D.C. after their game with the Mets that day in Port St. Lucie. Today, the Nats welcome in a road crew from the Marlins. Zach Davies makes his second start for the Nationals in a game broadcasted on MASN.

The bus trip, for the Washington Nationals, to Ft. Myers to face the Red Sox in a Grapefruit League game is the longest of the road trips this year. This one is 120+ miles from the Atlantic Ocean coast to the Gulf Coast via US-98 to FL-80 going east to west. Teams are required to send at least four starters on these road trips, and manager Dave Martinez loosely satisfied that rule with Josiah Gray starting along with Joey Meneses, Luis Garcia Jr., and Alex Call. But the star power in this game is the top prospects.

The Nats’ manager has penciled in James Wood at DH and Dylan Crews CF into the starting lineup plus Jacob Young RF and Nasim Nunez SS. The speed in this lineup is like the heats in a qualifying race. Traveling with the team are Brady House, Robert Hassell III, Yohandy Morales, Daylen Lile, Trey Lipscomb and Elijah Green. The only positional prospect in the Top-10 that seems to be missing is Cristhian Vaquero. Maybe he was on the bus also.

Relying on Spring Training stats they say holds a trap in statistical reliance. Process is more important than the stats. Was the wind blowing out-or-in? Was the pitcher working on mechanics and a certain pitch? Let’s face it, Forrest Wall is killing it, and so is James Wood of the Washington Nationals. Wall is 28 years old, and Wood is just 21. They are tied for the MLB lead in Spring Training homers at three each. That is more home runs than five teams have hit this Spring, and three of those teams play in Palm Beach County. The wind has been blowing in which makes the Nats home run production more impressive.

The Cardinals have zero home runs in Spring Training, the Astros have one, and the Marlins have two. That is total team production, but then you look at the teams that play on the Gulf Coast of Florida — and the ball is flying there. That will also skew the pitching stats too. We saw Brady House lose a home run to the wind pushing it back, and it didn’t help Dylan Crews going oppo on a ball that just got caught on the warning track. More important is the exit velo, and the Nats’ top prospects are excelling on that stat also.

The Washington Nationals top prospects continue to impress with Robert Hassell III taking the lead in batting average and OPS at .556 and 1.767 respectively plus he has two stolen bases and got dinged on his OPS for that Sac Fly the other day. Nipping on his heels is James Wood at .455 and 1.751. Wood turned an 0-2 game yesterday into a 1-2 when he legged out an infield single on pure hustle. The sample sizes are still miniscule — but fun to watch these youngsters. Brady House and Dylan Crews have good OPS numbers themselves at 1.125 and .830. There are others too, that are not getting the pub of that quartet.