The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

The outfielders; Photo by Craig Nedrow

It is now the Yankees turn to make the Tampa to West Palm Beach trek for an early afternoon game. The Nationals and Yankees have already played one game in Tampa and as is customary, they will play again in the other team’s stadium. According to the FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches account on Twitter — this game is sold-out! There certainly could be empty seats due to the concerns over the Corona Virus and warnings to avoid “large gatherings” and this would be considered a large gathering. Continue reading →

Photo by Craig Nedrow for TalkNats

As Spring Training is more than halfway through, the Washington Nationals neighbors in the complex at the FITTEAM at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches have not played many starters in their head-to-head games. The only names you might recognize for 3 at-bats each was George Springer and Yuli Gurriel from their last game on February 27th. Sorry, you see more starters on long road trips. Fans who brought controversial signs had them confiscated as you saw in videos, and one fan told us they were warned for shouting cheaters at the Astros. The sign policy for the ballpark states that all signs must be pre-approved. Continue reading →

It is a head-scratcher on who the #5 starter will be; Photo by Craig Nedrow for Talknats

There are more unanswered questions today than there were when Spring Training camp opened in early February. With lingering injuries to setup man Will Harris and starting rightfielder Adam Eaton, those issues are just layered with all of the questions we had before camp opened like who the starting third baseman would be, who would fill-out the bullpen and bench, and who would be the fifth starter in the rotation. We are no closer on answering any of those questions definitively. Continue reading →

Photo by Craig Nedrow for TalkNats

Welcoming Jordan Zimmermann back to the Nats’ spring training camp brings back great memories of one of the greatest players in Washington Nationals history, but this visit by JZim is just a friendly visit. He will be on the mound for his Detroit Tigers today at the FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches as the opposing pitcher. The Nats will have Erick Fedde on the mound for a start against the Motown crushers who lead all of baseball in Spring Training home runs by a large margin with 30 team dingers in just fifteen games. Continue reading →

Eric Thames is back; Photo by Craig Nedrow for TalkNats

The Washington Nationals are in split-squad action today in a home game at the FITTEAM against the Marlins with Joe Ross on the mound as well as a road game at Clover Park versus the Mets with Austin Voth on the mound. These simultaneously played games will both begin shortly after 1 pm and will also feature the return of Eric Thames and Victor Robles as each had been nursing injuries. Each will bat as a designated hitter (DH) to start in each respective game. The road game starting infield will feature Carter Kieboom at third base, Trea Turner at shortstop, Starlin Castro at second base and Ryan Zimmerman at first base while the home game has an outfield of Juan Soto, Michael Taylor and JB Shuck with Asdrubal Cabrera at third base in that game, Wilmer Difo getting another start at shortstop, Howie Kendrick at first base, and the 19-year-old top prospect Luis Garcia at second base. It is Garcia who leads the starters with a .438 batting average so far this spring.  Continue reading →

Starlin Castro is hitless in Spring Training; Photo by Katie Moran for TalkNats

In today’s starting lineup for the Nats, there are zero home runs in Spring Training combined from this group. In total, the Nats have five home runs for the entire Spring. In comparison, the Cardinals feasted on the Nats last night and have twenty-two bombs so far this Spring. It isn’t the weather, stadium conditions, or geography, however, you cannot pinpoint what has happened to the Nats bats this spring. Fortunately these games do not count. Starlin Castro’s .000 batting average means nothing in regards to his regular season just like Emilio Bonifacio‘s .353. But if you want to hear the funniest part, the Nats are not the worst offensive team — the Atlanta Braves are with a team worst .654 OPS coming into today’s games.  Continue reading →