The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

There are plenty of gut punches when times are good, and when times are bad, it’s insult to injury. When you heard that your best pitching prospect, Cade Cavalli, needed “Tommy John” surgery to his damaged UCL in his pitching arm, that injury pushed some over the edge. It also does not help that the Washington Nationals are 5-13 in this early 2023 season with an offense that has less horsepower than mom’s minivan. Rebuilds aren’t for everybody, and especially the faint of heart who can’t stomach the process.

Yes, it is frustrating to lose winnable games. No doubt about it. Add to that any exasperation you might feel on the daily managerial decisions if you do the part-time armchair manager thing. But then remember, this team wasn’t going to compete for the NL East pennant this year, and every analyst had the Nats finishing in last place in the NL East.

During general manager Mike Rizzo’s annual Hot Stove event, he was very open about the current team and what he saw. He talked about the current MLB roster and how the rebuild was going along with the good news on the state of the farm system. With less than three weeks into the minor league schedule, the news is fairly good overall. Maybe you are more concerned about Elijah Green‘s K% or Robert Hassell III’s slow start on his rehab assignment, but the rest of the top prospects are doing good out of the gates. And maybe some are better than expected like Sammy Infante, Jake Bennett, and Jackson Rutledge.