WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – With less than two weeks remaining in spring training, the two members of the Nationals’ projected lineup most in danger of losing their jobs got a muted vote of confidence from general manager Mike Rizzo, who nonetheless made it clear he needs to see more improvement from Luis García Jr. and Victor Robles.

García and Robles came to camp with an edict from club officials to show long-sought improvement, told they would be pushed by others in search of their starting jobs over the course of the spring. Each has enjoyed some success at the plate – García is 8-for-29 with two doubles and a homer, Robles is 6-for-18 with a homer and three walks – but each has come under some criticism following fundamental mistakes.

Asked about both García, 23, and Robles, 26, this afternoon, Rizzo expressed disappointment in those mistakes while also acknowledging their relative inexperience.

“I think they’re playing hard, they’re playing well,” Rizzo said. “We have to eliminate the mental lapses and the mental mistakes. But when you think about it, they’re both still young men chronologically. Although they seem like they’ve been here forever, they’re still young people. Luis is still 23 years old. If they didn’t have ability, obviously you wouldn’t be putting up with the mental mistakes that they make. But they have a lot of ability. They’ve shown it in the past at this level. We just have to get them over that, because that’s not helping the team.”

García in particular came under fire last week after committing errors on back-to-back plays, then getting picked off first base the following day.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – We tend to think of spring training as a daytime exercise, with players reporting to the ballpark at the crack of dawn for workouts, playing a few innings in the early afternoon and then heading out early enough to play nine holes before sunset. But this final stretch of Nationals camp includes a ton of night games: Seven of them over the next 12 days (including three of the next four) to be precise.

Tonight the Nats host the Mets under the lights in West Palm Beach, with MacKenzie Gore on the mound. The left-hander makes only his third official start of the spring, his first in 11 days. (In between, he threw on a back field.) Gore should be good for at least four innings tonight, and he’ll be facing a Mets lineup that includes Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso and Starling Marte.

Most of the Nationals’ regulars are in the lineup, many of them playing for the second straight day. That includes Eddie Rosario, who after debuting as DH on Monday will start in left field tonight. Joey Meneses gets the nod at first base, with Joey Gallo assuming DH duties. Riley Adams, remarkably, is catching his first home game of the spring. And Trey Lipscomb gets a chance to start at second base surrounded by veterans, an interesting twist.

We’ll also see Matt Barnes coming out of the bullpen to make his Nationals debut, two weeks after he agreed to a minor league deal with the team.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. NEW YORK METS
Where: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Gametime: 6:05 p.m. EST
TV: None
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 75 degrees, wind 10 mph in from right field

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – In his first at-bat as a member of the Nationals, Eddie Rosario didn’t drive the ball out of the park. He didn’t rip a line drive to center for a base hit. He hit a little dribbler toward short, one that left his bat at a not-so-scalding 49.9 mph. And then busted down the line.

By the time Cardinals shortstop Brandon Crawford charged in to field the ball and throw to first, Rosario had already crossed the bag, throwing his arms out in a “safe” motion as he looked to first base umpire Jen Pawol, who made the same (in her case, official) call.

The expected batting average on such a grounder? A measly .110. Rosario, suffice it to say, beat the odds with his hustle.

“That’s what I know about him,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He’s going to play the game the right way, play the game hard. It was good to see him come out in the first game and do what he did.”

That was the only time Rosario reached base in his Nats debut Monday afternoon. He finished 1-for-3 with the infield single, a popout to second and a well-struck fly out to left. It was a fairly nondescript performance, but not shabby given the fact the 32-year-old just signed a minor league contract five days prior.

JUPITER, Fla. – We’ve reached the point of spring training where it’s appropriate to start looking more at results, though perhaps not enough to start reading too much into them.

What, then, to make of Patrick Corbin’s start this afternoon during the Nationals’ 11-4 exhibition win over the Cardinals? The left-hander gave up three runs on six hits and two walks, all while throwing a whopping 74 pitches in only 3 2/3 innings. But he also notched six strikeouts, four of those coming on his newly developed cutter.

“Obviously, you want good results,” Corbin said. “The first inning, to throw – what, 30 pitches? – is not ideal. But it’s going to happen at some point in the season. It’s not what you’re trying to do, but sometimes just try to see how you bounce back from that.”

Corbin did bounce back from a ragged opening frame, retiring five of the last six batters he faced. And the fact six of his eight total outs came via strikeout has to be encouraging for someone who has seen his strikeout rate plummet over the last six years from 11.1 to 6.2 per nine innings.

Corbin now has 16 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings this spring, which equates to 11.7 per nine. And many of those are coming on the pitch he is currently adding to his repertoire and producing positive results to date.

JUPITER, Fla. – It took nearly four weeks, but the Nationals finally made their first round of cuts this morning, removing seven players from their spring training roster, the majority of them young starting pitchers who weren’t going to get the innings they needed had they remained in big league camp.

Right-handers Joan Adon, Cole Henry and Amos Willingham, left-handers DJ Herz and Mitchell Parker and infielder Jake Alu all were optioned to Triple-A Rochester. Outfielder Travis Blankenhorn, who isn’t on the 40-man roster, was reassigned to minor league camp.

Adon, Henry, Herz and Parker all could figure into the Nationals’ rotation plans over the course of the season, the latter three hoping to make their major league debuts. Adon has spent parts of the last three years in the majors as a fill-in starter.

“I really wanted to see some of these young guys pitch up here, and for the most part I saw some really good things,” manager Davey Martinez said. “But it’s time to get these guys stretched out and get them on a regular routine.”

Herz joined the organization last summer, acquired from the Cubs along with infielder Kevin Made for Jeimer Candelario in the Nats’ lone trade deadline deal. The 23-year-old lefty impressed in eight starts at Double-A Harrisburg down the stretch, then pitched in the Arizona Fall League and was added to the 40-man roster over the winter.

JUPITER, Fla. – And we’re back! Yes, after a nice little break at home, I’ve returned to Florida for the remainder of spring training. My thanks to Bobby Blanco (who, inexplicably, is still at the airport in Fort Myers waiting to fly home) for a great week of coverage in my absence.

We’ve got some news on this Monday morning at Nationals camp. The team finally made its first round of cuts, optioning Joan Adon, Jake Alu, Cole Henry, DJ Herz, Mitchell Parker and Amos Willingham to Triple-A Rochester and reassigning Travis Blankenhorn to minor league camp. More on all that in a little while.

Today’s lineup, meanwhile, features Eddie Rosario making his Nats debut, though only as designated hitter for now. Joey Gallo returns to play the field for the first time since Feb. 28, when he hurt his left quadriceps muscle. The only projected regular not in there is Joey Meneses, so this may be the closest thing we’ve seen to an Opening Day lineup yet this spring.

Patrick Corbin gets the start, the left-hander’s fourth start of the spring, his third at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, his second against the Cardinals. He’ll be opposed by veteran right-hander Miles Mikolas.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Where: Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, Jupiter
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EST
TV: MLB.tv (Cardinals feed)
Radio: nationals.com
Weather: Sunny, 75 degrees, wind 12 mph in from center field

FORT MYERS, Fla. – As the top of the seventh ended and the crowd at JetBlue Park rose to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” the kids came jogging out of the Nationals dugout. A host of top prospects, including several called up for the day from minor league camp, made the long bus ride over from West Palm Beach for a chance to play a few innings in a Grapefruit League game.

Brady House, the club’s 2021 first-round pick, was at third base. Elijah Green, the club’s 2022 first-round pick, was in center field, having just replaced Dylan Crews, the club’s 2023 first-round pick.

And in right field was Daylen Lile, the club’s 2021 second-round pick who may not draw the same attention as the others but is touted by some evaluators both inside and outside the organization as just as good – if not better – than the rest.

This should have been a moment for the Nationals to cherish. Instead, eternal optimism morphed into fear and concern instantaneously as Lile flipped over the short wall in deep right-center trying to rob a home run and landed on his back in the Red Sox bullpen.

Everything else that happened during the Nats’ 4-2 loss to Boston – most notably Josiah Gray’s second straight strong start – felt secondary in that moment. Still stunned after the game ended, manager Davey Martinez did offer up a relatively optimistic update on Lile, who was taken to a local hospital for a CAT scan of his lower back.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – When camp opened, manager Davey Martinez was adamant Stone Garrett had a realistic chance of making the Nationals’ Opening Day roster and completing his comeback from the gruesome leg and ankle injury he suffered in August. As the calendar turns to March and Garrett has yet to make his game debut this spring, has that outlook changed?

Not at all, Martinez insisted today.

“I’m still optimistic that he can do it,” the manager said prior to today’s exhibition game against the Red Sox. “He’s working really hard. Probably the next 10-12 days are going to really determine where he’s at. They’re pushing him, and he wants to be pushed.”

Garrett, who broke his left fibula and injured his ankle making a leaping catch at the wall Aug. 23 at Yankee Stadium, has been participating in most morning drills this spring but has not appeared in a Grapefruit League contest yet.

The 28-year-old outfielder did recently start taking at-bats and running the bases in minor league intrasquad scrimmages, which have started up on the back fields behind CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Hello from JetBlue Park, aka “Fenway South.” The Nationals are making one of two cross-state trips today, this time to face the Red Sox. They’ll return to the area in eight days to face the Twins. And they brought some very intriguing names with them on the 2 1/2-hour bus ride.

James Wood and Dylan Crews are both in today’s lineup, Crews in center field while Wood serves as DH. Robert Hassell III, Brady House and Trey Lipscomb are all here and scheduled to come off the bench. And then there are three call-ups from minor league camp who came along as well: Elijah Green, Yohandy Morales and Daylen Lile. Hopefully, we get to see them at some point.

Josiah Gray is the starter on the mound, making his second start of the spring. The right-hander was really sharp in his debut against the Mets, striking out five across two scoreless innings. He’ll try to build up to three innings this afternoon against a Boston lineup that includes Rafael Devers, Trevor Story and Masataka Yoshida.

A quick programming note: I’m heading home after today’s game for a short break. Bobby Blanco is down here and will have you covered all week, so be sure to read his work (including a feature story this morning about Jacob Young) on the site.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. BOSTON RED SOX
Where: JetBlue Park, Fort Myers
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EST
TV: MLB.tv (Red Sox feed)
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 81 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left field

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – MacKenzie Gore isn’t quite established enough to ignore spring training results, but neither is he devoid of any track record and thus feels the need to make a statement when he takes the mound this time of year in Florida.

Gore is unquestionably part of the Nationals’ Opening Day rotation, perhaps someday in the near future the guy leading that rotation into a season. So these spring training outings are about two things: building his arm up and emerging healthy.

“I feel good, that’s the biggest thing,” the 25-year-old left-hander said this afternoon. “Not as sharp today, but it was good. We got into some situations and could see what we wanted to use. But I feel good, that’s really the most important thing.”

Oh, by the way, Gore was also successful in the results department, tossing three scoreless innings on 43 pitches during what became a 10-8 loss to the Astros.

Only two Houston batters reached base against Gore: Jake Meyers via a leadoff walk in the second, Grae Kessinger via a leadoff bloop single in the third. Neither advanced beyond first base, with Kessinger wiped out by an inning-ending double play in the third.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Joey Gallo was adamant: The wrap around his left quadriceps is nothing to get worked up about.

“Just a little soreness, a little tightness,” the Nationals slugger said. “If it’s the season, we’re not even talking about it. But obviously in spring training, you’re always just cautionary. I’m not worried at all.”

Gallo hasn’t played either of the last two days because of the tight quad muscle. He didn’t participate in team defensive drills this morning, though he did take batting practice and showed no ill effects, launching balls into the stratosphere as usual.

The 30-year-old first baseman/outfielder said he didn’t get hurt on any one particular play. He just felt the tightness develop over several days and decided not to push it further.

“I’ve been playing with it fine,” he said. “It’s just more getting a couple days off it. It’s still so early in spring, you don’t want to do anything stupid. It’s very precautionary. Obviously, I’m out practicing, I’m doing everything. It’s about getting off it for a couple games and then getting back out there. It’s not a worry at all.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – It’s been an encouraging start to the spring season for the Nationals, who have won four of their first six games, gotten some pretty good pitching and seen their top young prospects deliver in their first big league camp. At some point, though, you’d also like to see their projected regulars start producing a little more at the plate.

It might be a tough challenge for that to happen today, with two-time All-Star Framber Valdez on the mound for the Astros. Let’s see how CJ Abrams, Lane Thomas and Keibert Ruiz in particular handle that assignment in the bottom of the first.

MacKenzie Gore makes his second start of the spring, and his first one was a good one. The left-hander was sharp over two innings against the Marlins, striking out four. Jake Irvin is also scheduled to pitch out of the bullpen, going two or three innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. HOUSTON ASTROS
Where: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EST
TV: None
Radio: nationals.com
Weather: Mostly cloudy, 78 degrees, wind 15 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
C Keibert Ruiz
3B Nick Senzel
LF Jesse Winker
1B Juan Yepez
2B Trey Lipscomb
DH Travis Blankenhorn
CF Victor Robles

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Four years into his big league career, Kyle Finnegan has established himself as good late-inning reliever. And he’s done so with a fairly simple repertoire of pitches. He throws a high-90s fastball most of the time (70 percent on average). And he mixes in a slider to right-handed batters and a splitter to hitters from both sides of the plate, both of those pitches registering around 90 mph with movement in opposite directions.

It’s a formula that has worked well for the Nationals closer. But as he thought about things this winter, he couldn’t help but come back to a certain conclusion.

“I think I’ve performed well, but I’ve always felt like I left something on the table and felt like I could do better than I’ve done,” he said. “And I think something I’ve been missing is a slower breaking ball.”

Indeed, with almost every pitch Finnegan throws clearing the 90-mph mark, there isn’t much reason for hitters to worry about anything throwing off their timing when they dig in against him.

So Finnegan went about trying to address that winter by developing a new pitch. And on Wednesday afternoon, he tried it out for the first time in a game: Say hello to the latest major leaguer to add a sweeper to his repertoire.

JUPITER, Fla. – This wasn’t Tanner Rainey’s return from Tommy John surgery. That came late last September, when he tossed a scoreless inning in Atlanta as a reward for all the time and effort he put in over the previous year-plus.

What was the significance of Rainey’s 1-2-3 inning today at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium? Consider it his return to a normal pitching routine, the specter of his 2022 elbow ligament replacement surgery now well in the rear-view mirror.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve pitched consistently,” the Nationals reliever said following his team’s 3-1 exhibition victory over the Cardinals.

Yes, it has. After working vigilantly to complete his rehab program last fall and make at least one big league appearance before season’s end, Rainey went into the winter a healthy pitcher who could prepare for 2024 just like everyone else.

The Nationals, though, did still want to take it a little slow with Rainey. He threw a couple extra bullpen sessions than his teammates in the early days of camp, then threw an extra round of live batting practice to make sure everything felt right before being thrown into a real game situation.

JUPITER, Fla. – It’s not unusual for former players to speak to the Nationals and offer advice to the organization’s younger up-and-comers. Certainly not this spring, which has seen Ryan Zimmerman spend a week at camp and Sean Doolittle and Gerardo Parra take on full-time coaching positions.

But those are all former Nationals, guys with distinct connections to recent franchise history. The guy who spoke to the team this morning has none of that. Though he does have a plaque in Cooperstown.

Scott Rolen, the former star third baseman of the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Reds, was a surprise visitor in the clubhouse today. Invited by manager Davey Martinez and bench coach Miguel Cairo, he’ll be around for several days in an unofficial capacity.

“I wanted him to come to camp and just talk to some of the younger players and everybody,” Martinez said. “I said to the boys he exemplifies the way we want to play the game. This guy showed his heart. He was one of the best. I think they were in awe, because he’s a big fella.”

The 6-foot-4 Rolen indeed was an immediate physical presence when he walked into the clubhouse, top prospects Dylan Crews, James Wood and Robert Hassell III all sitting together by the door and excited to see him. Rolen, a 2023 Hall of Fame inductee, spoke to the entire team during their morning “Circle of Trust” meeting, then was on the field for pregame workouts, offering advice to anyone interested in listening.

JUPITER, Fla. – The temperature has slowly been rising each day this week, to the point where it’s starting to become a little bit steamy down here. It could crack 80 degrees this afternoon, with some humidity, when the Nationals face the Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.

This is the Nats’ sixth exhibition game, and for the sixth straight day, James Wood is playing. This time in the starting lineup, batting second and playing center field, quite the assignment for the young prospect. Wood and his Nationals teammates (including Trey Lipscomb at second base) will be facing Cardinals right-hander Kyle Gibson, so it’s another opportunity to see how the kids stack up against a veteran major leaguer.

Patrick Corbin makes his second start of the spring, hoping for better results and efficiency than he had in his debut Saturday night, when he needed 50 pitches to complete just two innings. Among the relievers scheduled to pitch today are two guys making the spring game debuts: Tanner Rainey and Derek Law. Rainey, who made his return from Tommy John surgery during the final weekend of the 2023 season, has purposely been ramped up a bit slower than his teammates, but he’s good to go now. Law, the veteran righty who signed a minor league deal after camp opened, is ready to go as well and try to start making his case to make the club.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Where: Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, Jupiter
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EST
TV: MLB.tv (Cardinals feed)
Radio: MLB.com (Cardinals feed)
Weather: Partly cloudy, 79 degrees, wind 9 mph in from center field

NATIONALS
RF Lane Thomas
CF James Wood
1B Joey Meneses
DH Travis Blankenhorn
3B Nick Senzel
C Riley Adams
LF Jacob Young
2B Trey Lipscomb
SS Nasim Nuñez

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Matt Barnes, born and raised in New England, spent the first nine years of his big league career pitching for the Red Sox. So why not continue to make his home in Connecticut, even during the offseason?

Winters in the Northeast, of course, require some creativity for ballplayers who want to stay in shape. So it was that Barnes, still unemployed, found himself last week pitching off a synthetic mound at an indoor facility, facing the UConn Huskies baseball team in an attempt to keep his arm ready in case a major league organization finally came calling.

The Nationals did call, signing Barnes on Tuesday to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. And on Wednesday, the 33-year-old reliever reported for duty in a much warmer location, excited to start getting himself ready for the upcoming season.

Just as soon as he can practice pitching outdoors again.

“As much as I love living up north from time to time, we can’t really get on dirt mounds right now,” he said. “So I haven’t had spikes on in eight months. I would like to get some spikes on and get off of a dirt mound before I start facing some big league hitters again.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Neither of Jackson Rutledge’s two innings today was particularly strong. He walked three batters in the top of the first. Then he surrendered four hits in the second, two of those Red Sox batters eventually coming around to score.

As poor as the results were, Davey Martinez much preferred Rutledge’s second inning to his first one.

“I’d rather see him throw strikes like he did,” the Nationals manager said following a 4-3 exhibition victory. “He just fell behind a little more than he did the last time. Last time, he was strike one. The key for him is to work ahead. The secondary pitches just weren’t effective today.”

Getting a chance to start four days after he tossed two crisp innings of relief, Rutledge looked like a wholly different pitcher. He walked three of the game’s first five batters, and though he escaped that inning with no runs across the plate, he was already behind the eight-ball with a pitch count of 27.

The rookie right-hander was much more around the strike zone in the second inning, throwing 17 of his 23 pitches for strikes. That did contribute to four singles, but he also managed to close out his afternoon with back-to-back strikeouts, something of a silver lining for him.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – From the moment he felt something in his elbow while throwing to live hitters back home in Texas earlier this month, Mason Thompson feared the worst. Today, the Nationals reliever had those fears confirmed: He needs Tommy John surgery.

Thompson will undergo a full elbow ligament replacement surgery Friday, manager Davey Martinez revealed today, and will miss the entire 2024 season.

The 26-year-old reliever has been through this before, having had Tommy John surgery as a junior at Round Rock High School. Given his history, he had a sinking feeling about the severity of this injury when his elbow hurt after throwing a pitch during his pre-spring training workouts.

The Nationals decided to shut down Thompson for two weeks to let swelling decrease, then had him re-examined this week, hoping he might be able to avoid the surgery and get by with a less-invasive rehab program. But an MRI revealed a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament, so surgery was scheduled.

Thompson now faces 12 to 18 months of recovery, not to mention the stigma that comes with a second Tommy John surgery.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – If everything goes as planned, Jackson Rutledge probably isn’t going to make the Nationals’ Opening Day rotation. But if everything goes as the team hopes, Rutledge could join the rotation at some point this season and, ideally, pitch well enough to stay.

The 2019 first-round pick made his long-awaited debut last September, his path to the majors having been slowed by injuries and struggles on the mound. The tall right-hander had a rocky first start but then acquitted himself well after that and came to camp this spring feeling better about his long-term prospects.

Rutledge already showed well in a two-inning relief appearance here Saturday. Today, he’ll get a chance to start a Grapefruit League game for the first time, facing a lineup full of guys wearing Red Sox jerseys. Technically, these are the Boston Red Sox, but if you glance at that lineup, you’re not going to see a lot of guys who are going to open the season in Boston.

The Nationals’ lineup is a mixture of regulars, bench players and kids. Dylan Crews and Drew Millas are the two prospects starting today, though James Wood and Robert Hassell III are scheduled to come off the bench. Also scheduled to pitch in relief are Kyle Finnegan, Hunter Harvey and DJ Herz.

And the best news of all: You can watch today’s game live on MASN at 1 p.m.!