The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

As an average college student in America, there are a few common things that we all look forward to when we go back to our hometown for winter break. Sleep, hang out with friends (and over the past year that has become pretty iffy), and play video games.

According to the 2019 Evolution Entertainment Study, 73% of Americans aged 2 and older play video games, up 6% from 2018, and according to a poll conducted by Pew Research Center in 2003, 70% of college students play video games, with 65% of college students saying they are occasional or regular video game players. This shows how remarkable the video game industry truly is. Personally, I am in the minority among most of my friends, as I leave my gaming console at my house during the school year. Half of the reason I do this is to focus on my schoolwork, my podcast, and fish tanks- yes my fish tanks- and the other half is that I have such little confidence in my technical ability that I am afraid if I unplug my Xbox and re-hook it up somewhere else, I will find some way to mess it up.

Most of the Major Leaguers play video games, and as TalkNats showed in photos throughout the summer, players would leave the stadium clutching there Gaems cases to play video games on the bus and plane rides. While many of them play Fortnite, they are also playing some of the games that we will show you below. MLB The Show had a tournament in March 2020 and Amir Garrett defeated Blake Snell and then in a May 2020 tournament it was Snell who beat Lucas Giolito to take the title. As Nats fans know, Giolito’s dad, Rick, works in gaming development. MLB even has their own gaming Twitter. It is big time.

Some more pics of @myGAEMS gaming systems. Some guys like Freddie Freeman and Tyler Flowers of the #Braves have the Gaems Vanguard system.

📸by Sol Tucker for TalkNats pic.twitter.com/AV01T3a0EO

— Talk Nats ⚾ (@TalkNats2) September 14, 2020

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Photo provided by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

Baseball equipment has become flashier over the years in the designs of colorful cleats and painted bats, and whimsical patterns on gloves and catcher’s chest protectors, but technology in baseball equipment gets lost in it all. Baseball bats that are machine lathed to exact specs to get it to .001 of an inch in detail by a Locatelli seems like cheating the art form of craftsmen hand lathing them like the old days, but the need for precision is best served by robotic blades guided by lasers and computers. Rawlings started supplying gloves to Major Leaguers back in 1906 and have patents to back up their glove technology that continues to innovations we see evolving 115 years later. Continue reading →

Trea Turner getting pointers from hitting coach Kevin Long (Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats)

Don: This tweet got me thinking about looking at how batters perform as they face a pitcher multiple times in the same game, specifically if their results at the plate are better as the game goes on. Baseball Reference has splits for first, second, third, etc. PA/AB, but not by pitcher. Their split for Times Facing Opponent in Game is similar, but it includes all the PAs even if the batter only faced the pitcher once. So I decided to look at that myself.

Juan Soto LOVES Seeing the Same Pitcher A Second Time

Stats That Exist But Do Not Matter brought to you by @hatflags pic.twitter.com/0JZZ3ZnOno

— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) December 24, 2020

Steve: I saw Jomboy’s tweet on Juan Soto as he saw a pitcher for a second time. Mid-game adjustments are so critical but it is also why some teams are pulling pitchers before a batter faces them for a 3rd time.

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https://www.rackandriddle.com/

Nationals New Years

Nats Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

And never brought to mind?

So replay Z-man’s walk-off hits

And have a glass of wine.

And don’t forget Zuk’s walk-off blast

That night in bottom nine.

We’ll raise a glass: “L-O-L Mets”

Can do that anytime.

Now raise a toast to Jayson Werth

‘Twas worth it after all:

That flying leap that gave us hope

One day, that long-past fall.

But most of all 2019

That team made history!

We’ll ne’er forget their skill and joy

And Series victory.

I’ll raise my glass and you’ll raise yours

We’re toasting via Zoom.

We hope and pray that by next year

We’ll be in the same room.

New Year’s Resolutions for the Nationals

Dave Martinez: To have such a good year that no one questions the contract extension.

Mike Rizzo: Arrive a season’s end with the reputation for good trades intact.

Bob Henley:  Send just enough runners home that the fans are only mad at you 10% of the time.

Randy Knorr: Be good enough that no one considers sending you back to AAA.

Jim Hickey: To be good enough that no one wants Lilliquist back.

Kevin Long: See Josh Bell.

Josh Bell: See Kevin Long.

Stephen Strasburg: If I’m going to get ejected, it’ll be for something more worthwhile than a comment from the stands!

Tim Bogar: No other resolution than to be ready to take over at any time. Because if Strasburg gets ejected again, he’s probably not going out alone.

Max Scherzer: Resolve to reinvent himself when and as needed.

Patrick Corbin: To only get publicity for pitching.

Joe Ross: To do anything necessary (yoga, Pilates, acupuncture, etc.) to stay healthy and effective.

Juan Soto: Keep doing Juan Soto things.

Yan Gomes: Pilates. And stretching. Lots of stretching. 2021’s season is going to be a lot longer than 2020’s.

Tres Barrera: A clean year.

Daniel Hudson: End the season with a YEET!

Tanner Rainey, Will Harris, Aaron Barrett, Wander Suero, Kyle Finnegan, Ryne Harper, Dakota Bacus, Sam Clay, and the other members of the bullpen: Leave Spring Training with an awesome group nickname (and performance to go with it!)

Erick Fedde, Austin Voth, Kyle McGowin, and all the “starters to be named later:” Listen when Jim Hickey is teaching.

Ryan Zimmerman: Not do anything to damage “Mr. National’s” reputation.

Starlin Castro: Most baseball players’ careers peak around age 30. Let’s just say 2020 didn’t count (for a whole lot of reasons) and make this your peak year.

Victor Robles: Body armor. Always.

Andrew Stevenson: Hitting slump? Take lessons from Juan Soto (and Kevin Long, of course!)

Carter Kieboom: Perform well enough that people say “Hmm, I guess the third time is the charm.”

Trea Turner: NO BUNTING. Ever.

Yadiel Hernandez: If the opportunity presents itself in the form of another callup, be ready to seize it.

Luis Garcia: Aim to be two-thirds as good as you’ve been hyped to be.

Josh Harrison: Wrangle, wheedle, or bribe someone to check off catcher and center field to complete the “played every position” bingo card.

Jake Noll: Play well enough when called up that a walk-off walk isn’t your highlight reel.

Bang, zoom, go the fireworks!

Graphic from Terps Baseball

As we discuss top prospects, there is something good brewing over in College Park, Maryland other than the java at Vigilante Coffee and the suds at the iconic watering hole at RJ Bentley’s. The Terps baseball team over at the University of Maryland is now ranked as one of the best in the nation, and we saw that on the big stage in the World Series this year when Terp’s alums Brandon Lowe and Adam Kolarek were key players for the Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Dodgers respectively in the Fall Classic. Continue reading →

This was an annual column written by Laura so I am filling some big stockings here. There is so much unknown with the world today that the baseball world was almost frozen in time until Mike Rizzo got Josh Bell in a trade on Christmas Eve. Last year there was Cole in the Yankees stocking in the form of Gerrit Cole and as Steve wrote yesterday the Nats got Clay in their stockings (Sam Clay), but now they have a Bell ringing some Christmas tunes.  Continue reading →

Soto pitching BP in Spring Training; Photo by Craig Nedrow for TalkNats

The Washington Nationals have clear priorities for next year, and we took a deep dive into a Top-10 at the end of September. Sure, things changed quickly when manager Dave Martinez opted to make changes on his coaching staff. If we re-did the original list we would have more names to add and different priorities today as things changed, but the original list has been close to Rizzo’s blueprint. Sure, we didn’t have Sam Clay as an acquisition target for a lefty in the bullpen, but the early moves match up well to what we saw as priorities.

Today as you know, the Nationals traded Will Crowe and one of their top pitching prospects, Eddie Yean, for Josh Bell who we have had as a top priority from the start.

Not originally a Top-10 priority, but it is up there on the list, the Nats must add a new hitting coach to replace Kevin Long unless the team comes to terms with KLong which seems like a long-shot at this point. ✓

So here is the updated original Top-10 priorites:

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