WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Spring training night games are usually pretty rare, but this spring is different. The Nationals have eight of them scheduled, including a stretch of three in a row that continues tonight against the Marlins.

Patrick Corbin gets the ball for his third start of the spring. The lefty gave up runs in each of his first two outings, serving up two homers to the Cardinals in his debut and then two more runs to the Astros five days ago. Obviously, stats aren’t important this time of year. But it would be nice to see Corbin offer up three clean innings for a change, right?

With most regulars having played Thursday night and likely scheduled to play again Saturday night, there aren’t as many in Davey Martinez’s lineup for this one. Keibert Ruiz does, however, get a chance to get some at-bats as the designated hitter without having to squat behind the plate. We’ll also get a look at several of the remaining candidates for bench spots, including Alex Call, Stone Garrett, Michael Chavis and Jeter Downs.

A couple of big league relievers are on the pitching docket as well, with Kyle Finnegan and Carl Edwards Jr. slated for one inning a piece.

Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler are back in town, so you can hear their call of the game on 106.7 FM.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – In his perfect world, Davey Martinez would have a left-hander in his Opening Day bullpen. Two of them, actually.

By now, though, the Nationals manager probably realizes there’s no such thing as a perfect world. Certainly not when it comes to this specific area.

It’s been a near-annual struggle since Martinez joined the organization to find consistently effective left-handed relievers. He’s had 10 lefties make at least 10 appearances since 2018. Only two have produced an ERA under 4.00: Sean Doolittle and Brad Hand.

Hand, of course, was only here for four months during the 2021 season before he was traded to the Blue Jays. And Doolittle, while dominant at times, has dealt with multiple injuries and is currently attempting to return from elbow surgery that limited him to five games last season.

The Nats, ideally, would love to develop guys from within their own farm system. And they believe they have two such candidates in big league camp this spring in Jose Ferrer and Matt Cronin. Each has shown promise through the first two weeks of exhibition play. Then each struggled mightily Thursday night during a 9-0 loss to Team Israel.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Ask Cade Cavalli what he liked about his start tonight against an Israel club prepping for the World Baseball Classic and the young Nationals right-hander sighs and has to think about it for a moment.

“I got some outs,” he said. “Kept it to just one run. Just tried to minimize damage whenever I put myself into that little jam.”

That little jam came in the top of the second, when the Israelis strung together three singles to bring home their lone run in three innings against Cavalli. His start, headlined by six strikeouts, was otherwise quite solid. But he couldn’t deem it a full-blown success because of that one sequence in the second that led to the run.

Cavalli at times overwhelmed a lineup composed mostly of minor leaguers. But he got into trouble when he allowed back-to-back, one-out singles in the second. He proceeded to strike out Ty Kelly with a 97-mph fastball, then had Noah Mendlinger down 0-2 with a chance to get out of the inning unscathed, only to surrender a two-out, RBI single to the No. 9 hitter to give Israel its first run en route to a 9-0 shutout victory.

“I wanted to elevate it, and I just left it middle,” Cavalli said of the fastball Mendlinger hit to right for the RBI knock. “I made the mistake and paid for it. Gotta get it up.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Nationals continue to believe Victor Robles will miss only a few days after bruising his left knee making a difficult catch Wednesday afternoon, but they were concerned enough to send the center fielder for a follow-up ultrasound today.

Robles wasn’t seen at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches while reporters were in the clubhouse prior to tonight’s exhibition against Israel, but he was walking with a slight limp after the game Wednesday against the Tigers in Lakeland.

“He’s going to be day-to-day,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’s going to be checked out. I want to make sure that everything’s OK with him. So he’s going to get an ultrasound today, because we want to be cautious.”

Robles was chasing down Spencer Torkelson’s second-inning drive to deep center field when he crashed into the fence at Joker Marchant Stadium, his left knee striking the wall. He made the catch but immediately fell to the ground in pain. After attempting to get up and walk it off, he went back down to the ground, prompting Martinez and head athletic trainer Paul Lessard to jog out of the visitors’ dugout to tend to him.

Martinez said Robles’ kneecap struck a pipe that sits directly behind that portion of the wall, causing the injury.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Shalom … er, hello from The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, where tonight the Nationals take a break from official Grapefruit League play to face Team Israel in a tune-up for the upcoming World Baseball Classic!

It won’t just be the opponent that looks different tonight. The rules will be different as well. As in, the old rules. No pitch clock. Shifting allowed. Smaller bases. And yet, none of the stats actually count for official MLB purposes. Oh, also there may be a Nationals pitcher or two actually pitching for the opponents later in the game because the Israelis are trying to save some arms for the WBC. You’ve been warned.

The Nats will have an intriguing combination of regulars and top-end prospects taking the field tonight. Cade Cavalli makes his first actual start of the spring after two relief appearances. While there’s only so much to glean from how he performs against this particular lineup, it’s still important to see the young right-hander complete three solid innings with no real issues.

Cavalli will have mostly big leaguers behind him in the field, but he’ll also have the organization’s No. 1 prospect: James Wood, who gets his first start in center field (perhaps a ramification of the knee injury Victor Robles sustained yesterday against the Tigers. Stay tuned, as we hope to have an update on him. Other prospects expected to play the second half of this game include Brady House and Elijah Green.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ISRAEL
Where: The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches
Gametime: 6:05 p.m. EST
TV: None
Radio: None
Weather: Clear, 74 degrees, wind 10 mph in from right field

TAMPA – James Wood boarded the Nationals’ team bus in West Palm Beach at 6:15 a.m., before the sun rose. He sat through a 3 1/2-hour bus ride across the state of Florida, watching the driver deal with heavy fog, construction and on-and-off traffic before arriving at Steinbrenner Field for the first Grapefruit League game of his career.

Wood, the Nats’ newly anointed top-rated prospect, had all morning to think about it. And he figured he’d have at least five innings to anticipate his insertion into the nationally televised game against the Yankees.

He did not anticipate his time would come during the top of the third, with no advance notice, after a teammate was injured.

When Derek Hill pulled up lame beating out an infield single, Wood suddenly found himself taking over as a pinch-runner and eventually as the Nationals’ center fielder for the final seven innings of this game, which ended a 4-2 Yankees win on Carlos Narvaez’s walk-off homer off Gerardo Carrillo.

“Hey, the best way to do it is just put him in, right?” manager Davey Martinez said. “He looked good. He took some good pitches, worked some good counts, and he moves well. … He’s going to be really good.”

TAMPA – Davey Martinez has another four weeks before he has to decide who he wants to keep as his fourth outfielder to begin the season, but the evaluation process is already underway. And this afternoon, the Nationals manager has the opportunity to watch all three candidates for that job at the same time.

Alex Call, Derek Hill and Stone Garrett are all in the lineup for today’s game against the Yankees, manning the three outfield positions from left to right. All have some, but not extensive, big league experience. All bring a specific skill or two to the table. In all likelihood, only one will make the Opening Day roster.

If anyone has a leg up from the outset, it might be Call, strictly because he already played for the Nationals last season. The 28-year-old became a semi-regular in left field down the stretch, producing a .772 OPS with five homers in 115 plate appearances and playing the outfield with energy.

Garrett was claimed off waivers from the Diamondbacks, for whom he delivered an .848 OPS and four homers in 84 plate appearances. A physical specimen at 6-foot-2, 224 pounds, he’s got an all-or-nothing swing that led to 27 strikeouts and only three walks in Arizona.

“I’ve seen Alex play last year,” Martinez said. “This is our first year of Stone. I know he’s got a lot of power. I hope that comes out this spring and we see some of that. But they’re very different. They both can do things really well.”

TAMPA – The Nationals’ spring relocation from remote Viera to centrally located West Palm Beach six years ago cut their travel down to a fraction of what it used to be. Most of their road games now are played on site against the Astros or 15 minutes away in Jupiter, with a few 45-minute trips to Port St. Lucie thrown in.

There are, however, still two long trips on the Grapefruit League schedule this year. And the longest of them has come today, with the Nats making the 3 1/2-hour trek to the opposite side of the state to face the Yankees.

Given that, you can imagine Davey Martinez wasn’t going to make most of his regulars ride the bus for a seven-hour round trip. So today’s lineup features only a handful of regulars (most of them young and/or inexperienced). It also doesn’t include a member of the projected Opening Day rotation. Instead, it’s Cory Abbott (whose best chance of making the team is as a long reliever) taking the mound to face the Bronx Bombers.

There are some kids from minor league camp who were promoted for the day and given the opportunity make this trip, though, headlined by the organization’s new No. 1 prospect: Outfielder James Wood. Stay tuned for the later innings to see if he gets an at-bat.

Today’s game is being broadcast nationally on ESPN. It’s Kevin Brown, Jessica Mendoza and the great Tim Kurkjian on the call. It’s also the last game of my first stint down here this spring. Bobby Blanco has arrived in West Palm Beach and will take the beat writer reins for the next week, so be sure to follow him and read his work until I return on March 9.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – What should be the biggest takeaway from Patrick Corbin’s 2023 spring debut? The home runs he surrendered on back-to-back pitches to Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado in the top of the first of what wound up a 5-3 loss to the Cardinals? The two strikeouts he recorded after that? The fact he threw 16 of his 22 pitches for strikes before departing with two outs in the second?

This is the dilemma with all spring training outings, finding the right balance between process and results.

So, go to the source. What did Corbin think about it?

“I mean, it’s tough giving up those two homers, but I think overall I felt really good,” the Nationals left-hander said. “I thought the ball was coming out pretty good for my first start. Got swing and miss on all of my pitches. … First step, and I feel pretty good.”

You’re excused if you want to roll your eyes at that response, because you’ve heard it before from Corbin, after any number of poor starts over the last several years. Coming off a disastrous 2022, couldn’t he even put forth one clean inning to open his spring before raising doubts about his ability to turn things around?

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Sean Doolittle reported for spring training at full strength, and he joined his Nationals teammates as a full participant through the first week-plus of camp. He started thinking about making the Opening Day roster, completing his recovery from surgery to repair a torn elbow ligament in near-record time.

That’s when the team’s medical staff stepped in and questioned if the veteran left-hander should be pushing himself to that extent. And after some consultation, they came to the conclusion it wasn’t worth it.

That’s why Doolittle has been ramped down for the moment. He’s not throwing a ball this week, focusing instead on strengthening exercises. He doesn’t know exactly when he’ll start ramping up again, but he insists none of this was precipitated by any kind of setback.

“Nothing specifically happened,” he said. “I think when we started to look at what it was going to take to ramp up, and where I was at, I was ahead of schedule probably by almost a month. I did have some days when I was a little more sore than I had been throwing in the offseason. Nothing bad, but we started thinking about it. We’re so far ahead, let’s slow it down a little bit.”

The upshot of all that: Doolittle probably won’t be ready for Opening Day, a goal he initially set for himself when he underwent an internal brace procedure to repair his torn elbow ligament last summer. In the end, hitting that particular milestone wasn’t as important as making sure his arm is ready to handle the rigors of daily usage that comes during a long season.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s another warm, windy day here in South Florida, where a refreshed Nationals club returns from one of only two days off this spring to face the Cardinals at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.

Patrick Corbin makes his first start of 2023, the last pitcher from the projected Opening Day rotation to take the mound. Obviously, there are things Corbin needs to improve upon after an abysmal 2022 season. There’s only so much you can take away from the one inning he’s likely to throw today, but he will be facing some big-name St. Louis hitters, so it could be a good gauge of where the left-hander stands right now.

Davey Martinez has a good number of regulars in his lineup to face Cardinals lefty Matthew Liberatore. That includes the new trio of experienced position players added this winter, batting in order from the No. 2 through the No. 4 spots: Corey Dickerson, Jeimer Candelario and Dominic Smith.

We will also see a few key relievers make their spring debuts this afternoon, with Kyle Finnegan and Carl Edwards Jr. scheduled to appear.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Where: The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EST
TV: None
Radio: MLB.com (Cardinals broadcast)
Weather: Sunny, 86 degrees, wind 10 mph out to right field

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Matt Adams never thought he’d have to look for a job, not at this stage of his career.

Sure, the 34-year-old slugger hadn’t been a full-time big leaguer since 2019 with the Nationals, but he still managed to play in major league games for the Braves in 2020 and the Rockies in 2021, seasons that weren’t normal for reasons both personal (injuries) and on a broader scale (the pandemic).

But when the calls weren’t coming prior to the 2022 season, the small-town kid affectionately known as “Big City” decided to take the pride-swallowing step of sending out letters. He wrote to every general manager in the league, seeking a job. He got no takers.

And that’s when Adams finally came to grips with a harsh reality: His career was on the brink.

“It’s so easy to take things for granted in this game,” he said. “And I’ll be the first one to call myself out: The last couple years, I took things for granted. I thought I was always going to have a job. It was a real kick in the mouth when the phone didn’t ring, and I had to go that route.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It would be easy for Brady House to look back at his 2022 season, which lasted only 45 games and included zero games played after June 11, and consider it a lost year.

This was supposed to be the Nationals’ 2021 first-round pick’s first full pro season, an opportunity to really show what he could do at low Single-A and establish himself as one of the best prospects in baseball. Instead, the unfortunate combination of a COVID-19 bout and a lower back injury derailed those plans and left House watching from the dugout for months.

Now, as he starts over again this spring, House could feel the weight of that missed opportunity and put more pressure on himself to make up for lost time in 2023. The 19-year-old, though, has chosen a completely different approach to the situation.

“It is frustrating, but everything happens for a reason,” he said. “I believe this is only going to make me better. And I’m looking forward to seeing what happens this year.”

One year ago, the Nationals and the baseball world were as high on House as they could get. The 11th overall pick out of Winder-Barrow High School in Georgia, he tore up the rookie Florida Complex League to the tune of a .322/.394/.576 slash line and earned a top-50 prospect rating in the sport.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – If Davey Martinez and Jim Hickey had only one message for pitchers entering spring training, it was as simple a message as they get: Throw strikes.

The Nationals issued 558 walks last season, fifth-most in the majors. They simply can’t afford to keep issuing free passes at that rate.

Three games into Grapefruit League play this spring, the trend has been reversed in dramatic fashion. Yes, it’s only three games, two of them played today alone. But the Nats have walked a total of only five batters in 26 innings, and none of them came during this afternoon’s 3-2 victory over the Astros at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.

“These guys are coming in with 9-, 10-, 13-pitch innings,” Martinez said. “We’re pounding the strike zone. That’s something we want to instill in their heads. We told our catchers we’ve got to get strikes. They’ve been good. They’re throwing the ball well.”

Nine different pitchers took the mound here today, and all nine retreated to the dugout having forced Houston’s hitters to earn their way on base. The trendsetter was Trevor Williams, who tossed a scoreless first, escaping a jam thanks to a 6-4-3 double play but allowing just two singles (one of them a little dribbler between the mound and third base).

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Thaddeus Ward will remember his Nationals spring training debut for the scoreless inning he posted, for the changeup he misfired to the backstop and for the news he got afterward: He might need to change his delivery, because his current one might qualify as a balk.

Ward, the top pick in December’s Rule 5 draft, pitched a scoreless bottom of the fifth against the Cardinals, though it included a walk and a wild pitch that came nowhere close to the plate. But the most notable development of his appearance might have been the news he got after he returned to the dugout about his delivery.

When pitching from the stretch, Ward brings his hands together at the waist for a split-second, then does it again before coming to a complete stop. It was no problem for him last year in the minor leagues with the Red Sox, but Major League Baseball is cracking down on those kinds of moves this year.

“They came up to me after the inning ended and told me about it, that the umpires were discussing it,” the right-hander said.

Ward said he began incorporating that double move when he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. It helped remind him to use his legs more, pushing off the rubber. It’s become a subconscious part of his mechanics.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s day two of Grapefruit League play, and already the Nationals are pulling double duty. Yes, it’s the one and only split-squad day of the spring for the boys, with half the team staying here in West Palm Beach to face the Astros while the other half heads to Port St. Lucie to face Max Scherzer and the Mets.

Davey Martinez decided to keep most of his veterans here, but there are still a good number of big leaguers playing in the road game. And there are actually three members of the projected Opening Day rotation pitching today between the two sites.

Trevor Williams gets the start here against the Astros, scheduled for one inning. He’ll actually be followed by Cade Cavalli, who was on schedule to pitch either today or tomorrow. Since the team is off tomorrow, Cavalli gets to piggyback Williams today. (He’ll start his next turn through the rotation.) Josiah Gray, meanwhile, starts the road game against the Mets, also slated for one inning.

The lineups are pretty much split up, as well. Lane Thomas, Corey Dickerson, Jeimer Candelario, Dominic Smith, Keibert Ruiz and Victor Robles are starting against the Astros. CJ Abrams, Luis García and Joey Meneses will bat 1-2-3 on the road for the second straight day. Also of note: 2021 first-round pick Brady House is on the travel roster for the game in Port St. Lucie and could come off the bench late in the game.

You can watch both games with an MLB.tv subscription, and you can listen to the home game online at nationals.com, with Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler behind the mic.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Nationals’ exhibition opener – a 3-2 victory over the Cardinals in Jupiter – was headlined by the debut of MacKenzie Gore and the debut of the pitch clock.

There was a lot more going on over the course of 2 hours, 26 minutes of fast-paced baseball, though. Here’s a look at some other notable developments from the game …

* CJ Abrams had a strong opening performance. The young shortstop got a chance to lead off and proceeded to go 2-for-3 with a single, a double, a stolen base and a strikeout that should’ve been a walk.

Abrams got things going right off the bat in the top of the first, fighting off a 2-1 cutter from Adam Wainwright for an opposite-field single. He then promptly stole second base, putting himself in position to score later on Stone Garrett’s two-out RBI single.

Abrams would add a double down the right field line in the fifth off a 1-2 curveball from left-hander Génesis Cabrera (another good sign). And he seemed to show a keen eye in the top of the second when he took a 3-2 sinker above the letters from Wainwright and started to trot toward first only to be rung up by plate umpire Carlos Torres.

JUPITER, Fla. – The sun was shining, the pitch clock was ticking and MacKenzie Gore was pumping strikes against the meat of the Cardinals’ A lineup en route to a scoreless inning in his Nationals debut.

“Not much more I can ask for after an outing like that,” catcher Riley Adams said. “I thought he was really dialed in.”

The Nats’ 2023 exhibition opener – a come-from-behind, 3-2 victory over St. Louis played in a brisk 2 hours, 26 minutes – featured some nice late-inning rallies, quality pitching throughout and a couple of violations of Major League Baseball’s brand-new pitch clock. But the most important development on an 84-degree Saturday afternoon at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in the big picture was Gore’s long-awaited debut for the team that acquired him last summer.

Sidelined with an elbow injury at the time of the blockbuster trade with the Padres, Gore couldn’t make it back in time to start a game before season’s end. So his debut in a curly W cap was delayed until this afternoon in the Grapefruit League opener. It wasn’t nearly as big a deal as his official regular season debut in five weeks will be, but the 24-year-old lefty teased everyone just enough in one inning to heighten the anticipation for his starts that actually count.

“I thought it was good,” the understated Gore said. “I thought we were building off what we did in the (live batting practice sessions earlier this week). There are just some things that need to get better, but yeah, I thought it was pretty solid overall.”

JUPITER, Fla. – The handful of competitions in Nationals camp this spring involve the bullpen and bench. General manager Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez have a multitude of ways they could go about deciding who makes the Opening Day roster and who doesn’t, and today they’ll get their first look at several of the competitors.

The Nats bullpen can probably be divided into two categories: Late-inning specialists and multi-inning arms. The former group is mostly set, with Kyle Finnegan, Carl Edwards Jr., Hunter Harvey and Sean Doolittle (if healthy) all but assured of making the club. The latter group is more wide-open.

Only Erasmo Ramirez has a guaranteed contract. Paolo Espino, Cory Abbott, Mason Thompson, Jordan Weems and Victor Arano all have minor league options. Thaddeus Ward, a Rule 5 draftee, must remain on the big league roster or be offered back to the Red Sox. Alex Colomé and Andres Machado are trying to make the team off minor league deals.

The big question, ultimately, may be this: How many multi-inning relievers do the Nationals want to keep?

“It’s going to be a competition, because we have so many of those guys,” Martinez said. “But I like them all.”

JUPITER, Fla. – Anyone interested in playing ball today? Because there’s a ballgame on the schedule this afternoon.

The Nationals open Grapefruit League play with a road game against the Cardinals, and though they aren’t bringing that many regulars on the short trip from West Palm Beach, there are some key names to watch. The top three of Davey Martinez’s lineup, as promised, features CJ Abrams, Luis García and Joey Meneses.

As mentioned earlier, don’t take that as evidence he plans to bat Abrams and García in the top two spots come Opening Day. This is more about getting them two or three at-bats today and getting them out of there. Meneses, of course, probably will be the team’s No. 3 hitter once the season begins.

We’ll also get our first look at Stone Garrett, a hulking outfielder acquired from the Diamondbacks who is trying to make the club coming off the bench. Garrett can produce some big-time power when he makes contact. The trick is actually making contact. We’ll also get a look today at young Jeremy De La Rosa, the 21-year-old prospect who isn’t in the mix for an Opening Day job – he hasn’t even reached Double-A yet – but remains highly touted within the organization.

The most significant person playing today for the Nationals, though, has to be MacKenzie Gore. The left-hander finally makes his team debut after spending the last three months of the 2022 season rehabbing from an elbow injury suffered in San Diego. Gore may only go one inning, but he’ll be facing some big-time St. Louis hitters.