MIAMI – Jacob Young wasn’t in the minor leagues for too long before finally getting the call to the major leagues.

The 2021 seventh-round pick out of the University of Florida played 26 games at Single-A Fredericksburg the year he was drafted by the Nationals. He spent all of last year with the FredNats, slashing .262/.360/.331 with a .691 OPS, 118 runs, 52 stolen bases in 59 attempts and 152 total bases on his way to being named the Nationals’ 2022 Minor League Base Runner of the Year.

Young was one of two players in all of Minor League Baseball to steal at least 50 bases and score at least 100 runs in 2022. His 118 runs scored were tied for the most in all of the minor leagues, while his 52 stolen bases were the most among Nationals minor leaguers.

The 24-year-old started this season at High-A Wilmington, where he hit .307 and stole 22 bags in 56 games. That earned him a promotion to Double-A Harrisburg, where he hit .304 with an .805 OPS and 17 stolen bases in 52 games.

Even with top prospects James Wood and Robert Hassell III patrolling the Senators outfield with him, Young was still the standout prospect in Harrisburg.

MIAMI – The Nationals have been playing great ball lately. After last night’s 7-4 win over the Marlins – their first of the season against the Fish and first in Miami since last season – they were in line to win their fifth straight series this afternoon.

A sign of their good play recently is the amount of close games they’ve been in. Four of their last five wins have been by just a one-run margin. These Nats are as scrappy as ever after making it five of their last six.

The Nationals won another tight game in front of 13,966 fans at loanDepot Park, this time thanks to a ninth-inning rally for a 3-2 win.

“That was a good one," said manager Davey Martinez. "That's a well-played game."

The Nats tied it in the ninth after Lane Thomas hit a leadoff triple to right-center and Joey Meneses was hit by a pitch, with Jacob Young making his major league debut as a pinch-runner at first. But Dominic Smith’s hard-hit ball was fielded by Luis Arraez, who then threw out Thomas at home. An infield popout by Carter Kieboom put two outs on the board.

MIAMI – It seemed like only a matter of time before the Nationals made another roster move. After Stone Garrett’s injury and subsequent successful surgery on his fractured left fibula, the Nats had a shortage of true outfielders and a surplus of infielders, whose versatility allows them to play the outfield in a pinch.

So to add an outfielder to their roster, the Nats brought up one of their fastest-rising prospects: Jacob Young.

“We wanted to get another outfielder up here and Jacob has done really well,” said manager Davey Martinez before the Nats’ second game against the Marlins. “He's one of our young, up-and-coming prospects that has developed really well down there in the minor leagues for us. So we're gonna give him an opportunity to play. He just got here today, so gonna ease him in. But I'm looking forward to watching him play up here and utilize everything he can do because he can do a lot of different things. He could play all three outfield positions. He's a leadoff-type guy. He gets on base, steals bases for us. He's got a lot of speed. But we're gonna ease his way in and hopefully he does well. As good as he's done in the minor leagues, he comes up here and can give us a little bit of a spark again.”

No, Young is not as highly touted as Dylan Crews, James Wood, Robert Hassell III, Elijah Green or Cristhian Vaquero, as he is the Nats’ No. 30 prospect per MLB Pipeline. But the 24-year-old has been one of the best hitters in the Nationals system, allowing him to quickly rise through the ranks.

A 2021 seventh-round pick out of the University of Florida, Young has hit wherever he’s been on the Nats farm. He is hitting .305 on the year with 21 doubles, five triples, six home runs, 58 RBIs, 42 walks, 39 stolen bases and 60 runs scored in 112 games between three levels of Washington’s minor league system.

MIAMI – The Nationals finally got the monkey that is the Marlins off their backs last night. The 7-4 victory was their first against the Fish this year, and first in Miami since last season.

Now they can focus on playing ball and winning a series.

Jake Irvin will look to make it three straight strong starts when he takes the hill this afternoon for the 20th outing of his rookie season. He’s allowed just two runs in 12 ⅔ innings over his last two starts against the Athletics and Phillies. At 3-5 with a 4.47 ERA and 1.397 WHIP on the year, the right-hander held the Marlins to one run in five innings during a home start on June 17.

Electric right-hander Eury Pérez makes his 15th start of his rookie season, where he has gone 5-4 with a 2.91 ERA and 1.074 WHIP. He pitched six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts his last time out against the Dodgers, and held the Nationals to one run over five innings with six strikeouts in his second career start in May.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot Park
Gametime: 4:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

MIAMI – Last night’s 7-4 victory over the Marlins was a payback win for the Nationals. It was their first win over their National League East rivals this season in their seventh attempt. It was just their fifth win against the Fish and just their third at loanDepot Park since the start of last year. And it helped catapult them out of the division basement with a one-game lead over the Mets.

But it was also a revenge game for two Nationals pitchers, both of whom had past demons to conquer in Miami.

The first was Joan Adon, the 25-year-old right-hander making his fourth start since rejoining the Nats rotation at the beginning of the month.

Adon entered last night’s start with an 0-2 record, 10.57 ERA and 1.826 WHIP in two career starts against the Marlins, both coming in that very ballpark. Those numbers are inflated by the eight runs on seven hits and two walks he allowed in three innings during a June 7 start last year.

He was optioned to Triple-A Rochester after that rough outing and only made two more major league starts the rest of the 2022 season, both in emergency situations.

MIAMI – It has been 11 months to the day since the Nationals last won at loanDepot Park. It’s also been that long since the Nationals last beat the Marlins after starting this season 0-6 against their division rivals.

Those streaks came to an end tonight as the Nats finally beat the Fish 7-4 in front of 12,409 fans.

It has been 20 days since Joan Adon took a perfect game into the sixth inning against the Reds in Cincinnati, a two-out single breaking up the perfecto bid and leading to three runs against the young right-hander in an otherwise incredible return to the rotation.

After allowing eight runs in seven innings over his last two starts, Adon recaptured that Cincy magic in South Beach, this time by taking a no-hit bid into the sixth inning.

“Man, his fastball was good," manager Davey Martinez said of Adon after the game. "His breaking ball was good. His changeup. His changeup was really, really good today and made all the other pitches that much better. He attacked the zone and when he does that, he's really effective. He pitched really well for us and we were able to get a win.”

MIAMI – Stone Garrett had his surgery to repair his fractured left fibula this afternoon, per manager Davey Martinez. The skipper didn’t have a full update on his outfielder’s condition before tonight’s opener against the Marlins but hopes to have one postgame.

“He had his surgery today. We have no update yet,” Martinez said during his pregame meeting with the media. “I should know more after the game today.”

Garrett was placed on the 10-day injured list yesterday after suffering the injury Wednesday in New York while trying to make a leaping catch of DJ LeMahieu’s seventh-inning homer to right field. He was helped to a cart to take him off the field with an air cast placed around his left leg. As the Nationals finished their series against the Yankees and made their way to Miami, Garrett made his way back to D.C. to meet lead team physician Robert Najarian and eventually have surgery.

“Nothing that I know,” Martinez responded when asked if Garrett’s MRI revealed any further damage to his leg. “Like I said, he had surgery today. So I don't know what happened after the surgery. I knew it was this afternoon. So we'll know more after recovery.”

Although Garrett’s diagnosis was devastating, it’s not all bad news on the Nats’ injury report.

MIAMI – Hello from outside downtown Miami, where the Nationals continue their inconvenient road trip up and down the North American East Coast. After starting north to Williamsport and New York, they headed to South Beach before going back north of the border to Toronto.

Rack up those miles.

The Nats have been playing great ball lately, winning nine of their last 12 games. But now they return to a place where they haven’t won a whole lot to face a team they have yet to beat this season. The Nats are 0-6 against the Marlins this year, including going 0-3 here in May. They are 4-21 against the Fish dating back to last year and are 2-10 at loanDepot Park since the beginning of last season.

Joan Adon will make his fourth start since rejoining the Nats rotation. He’s 1-0 with a 7.62 ERA and 1.154 WHIP over his last three. Amazingly though, the Nationals have won all three of those starts despite some rough performances over his last two. Adon is 0-2 with a 10.57 ERA and 1.826 WHIP in two career starts against the Marlins, both of which have come in Miami.

Left-hander Braxton Garrett starts for the home squad. He’s 7-4 with a 3.94 ERA and 1.172 in 25 games (24 starts) this season. The 26-year-old has been pitching well lately to the tune of a 2.57 ERA over his last five starts. Garrett gave up just one and four hits over six innings while striking out eight in a win over the Nats in D.C. back in June.

It was a race against time. We knew last week was the perfect opportunity to go see Dylan Crews.

The No. 2 overall pick was either going to be playing about an hour south of D.C. at Virginia Credit Union Stadium with Single-A Fredericksburg or about an hour and half north at Ripken Stadium, where High-A Wilmington was facing the Aberdeen IronBirds (Orioles).

Either way, last week was probably going to be our best chance to see the Nationals’ newest top prospect play locally before he possibly moved two-plus hours away to Double-A Harrisburg, who don’t come back to the area to play the Bowie Baysox (Orioles) anymore this year, or even 6 ½ hours away to Triple-A Rochester before the end of the minor league season.

So Amy Jennings and I considered ourselves lucky when “MASN All Access” arrived in Fredericksburg last week and Crews was still there wearing FredNats gear.

“It's all kind of happening so fast, honestly,” Crews said of the weeks leading up to his first taste of professional baseball. “From the national championship to getting drafted and having to go to Florida for training for a little bit and then getting promoted here. It's an awesome feeling. But it's been hard to kind of soak everything in. It's just been one just fun ride for these past few weeks.”

The Nationals will board a flight this morning and head to Williamsport, Pa., for a full day of festivities ahead of tonight’s Little League Classic against the Phillies.

The sixth edition of this special major league game will be the first time the Nationals will get to experience the pomp and circumstance surrounding the event. And the team is looking forward to the opportunity to spend the day with the young ballplayers competing for the Little League World Series.

“It's gonna be a lot of fun,” manager Davey Martinez said. “We still got to go out there and compete. But the fun part of it is going to hang out with the kids. I want to go try to watch a couple of games, some international games. Who knows, I might get on cardboard and slide down the hill. That looks fun to me every time I see it. I'd rather do it than players do it. It's gonna be a lot of fun. And for me, it's about the kids. It's about where our roots came from, why we're here. We all started in Little League, right? So it's gonna be a lot of fun.”

“The dream always starts somewhere,” said CJ Abrams. “To be able to go out there and have fun with the kids, it's gonna be a lot of fun.”

The Nats got a jumpstart of the weekend’s festivities by hosting the Little League team from Northwest D.C., on Friday. The team representing the District was so close to earning a trip to Williamsport, but fell to a Pennsylvania team in extra innings in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Final.

The Nationals’ bullpen usage was going to catch up to them eventually. After using six relievers to secure last night’s win over the Phillies, manager Davey Martinez needed either an extended outing from his starter or a big lead in the late innings.

He got one of those two in the form of Jake Irvin’s impressive six shutout innings. But with only a three-run lead going into the seventh, Martinez had to use either relievers running on fumes or arms he wouldn’t normally call upon late in close games. In this instance, it was Cory Abbott.

“We used every pitcher we had," Martinez said of the state of his bullpen after the game. "Cory was gonna pitch. It just didn't work out for him today.”

Although the day started out well for the Nats, the end result was a tough 12-3 loss in front of a sellout crowd of 38,853 who soaked in today’s beautiful weather in the District.

Handed a 3-0 lead after Irvin’s strong performance and RBIs from Joey Meneses and Riley Adams off lefty Cristopher Sánchez, the Nats bullpen faltered against this tough Phillies lineup. Jose A. Ferrer, pitching for the fourth time in five days, gave up a walk and single with one out in the seventh. After a forceout at second put runners on the corners, Andrés Machado, pitching for the third straight day, served up a three-run home run to Nick Castellanos, leaving this game suddenly tied.

Davey Martinez always lives in the present. He has the mantras to prove it.

Go 1-0 today. Be where your feet are. One pitch, one at-bat, one inning, one game at a time.

And even as the Nationals organization builds toward a bigger picture of success in the future, that’s how the skipper has managed his team to an already higher win total than last year.

That’s how he used his strong, yet exhausted bullpen in last night’s 8-7 win over the Phillies. After the Nats rallied to take a 7-6 lead in the fourth, Martinez used six relievers to close out the last five innings en route to victory. That included his top bullpen guys Jordan Weems, Andrés Machado, Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan, who was pitching for the third straight day.

“Losing's not fun. I don't like losing,” Martinez said during his pregame media session. “So when you feel like you have an opportunity to really win a game, then you take that opportunity. Yesterday was one of those games where we knocked the starter out and we got into the bullpen. I felt like some of our guys were still fresh enough to be able to pitch yesterday. So we went for it and it worked out well. Today might be a different story, but we'll see. We'll play today, Jake Irvin's gonna start for us. I hope he gives us what he's been giving us. And if he does that, then we have another opportunity to go 1-0 today.”

Good afternoon from a beautiful day on South Capitol Street, where the Nationals and Phillies will play their final game of this three-game series before heading to Williamsport, Pennsylvania for the Little League Classic.

After last night’s fireworks, the Nationals will send Jake Irvin to the mound for his 19th start of his rookie season. The right-hander is 3-5 with a 4.76 ERA and 1.412 WHIP so far this year. He was really strong in his last start, completing 6 ⅔ innings of two-run ball with six strikeouts. He has a tough task this afternoon facing a dangerous Phillies lineup for the first time.

Left-hander Cristopher Sánchez makes his 12th start for the Phillies. He’s 1-3 with a 3.39 ERA and 1.011 WHIP this year. He took a tough 2-1 loss here on June 30 when he gave up two runs (one earned) over six innings in his only start against the Nats in 2023.

Davey Martinez has been getting both of his catchers in the lineup against southpaws recently, but he decided to give Keibert Ruiz the day off today. 

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Sunny, 82 degrees, wind 7 mph in from left field

MLB Pipeline released its midseason rankings of the top 100 prospects in baseball and the top 30 for each major league team, adding the 2023 draft class and trade deadline moves, and there’s no surprise who tops the Nationals’ list.

Dylan Crews, the No. 2 overall pick out of LSU, is the Nationals’ new top prospect, coming in at No. 1 on the team’s top 30 and No. 4 overall in the sport.

The outfielder was MLB Pipeline’s top-rated position player in this year’s draft, so it’s no wonder they hold him in high regard. But it was going to be a close call between him and fellow outfielder James Wood, who has been the Nats’ top prospect since the end of last season.

Wood is now the Nats No. 2 prospect (such a big drop) and the No. 7 overall prospect in baseball per MLB Pipeline. Both he and Crews have a major league ETA of 2024.

Third baseman Brady House is now the Nats’ No. 3 prospect while also becoming one of the highest-ranking newcomers in the top 100, landing at No. 43 after his promotion to Double-A Harrisburg earlier this summer. He rounds out the Nationals prospects in the top 100.

So far, it’s been a weekend of firsts for members of this Nationals squad.

Jake Alu recorded his first major league home run on Friday. And on Saturday, after seven minor league seasons and a week in the majors, Blake Rutherford recorded his elusive first hit.

“I don't even know if it's really sunk in. It was a surreal moment,” Rutherford said of his first hit after the Nationals’ 3-2 walk-off win over the Athletics. “I can't really thank all these players, all the coaches for having my back and for telling me to keep going, to keep pushing. Every single one of them is picking me up every single day and I couldn't be more thankful for that. To have my brother fly in and my girlfriend here to be able to see it, not as many people as the debut, but to still have people here who are part of the journey is special and I'm extremely grateful for them and for all my family back home watching. It's just a special moment for all of us, not just me.”

The 26-year-old wasted no time in last night’s game. In his first at-bat in a 1-2 count, the left-handed hitter slapped a 100-mph outside sinker from righty Luis Medina the other way for a single to load the bases.

He had a huge smile on his face as he stood on the bag with his teammates giving him a standing ovation from the dugout and first base coach Eric Young Jr. giving him a big hug.

The Nationals have been playing well at home over the last month, a stark difference from the first half of the season. It took until the ninth inning, but that trend continued tonight against the Athletics.

With the game tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Keibert Ruiz stepped to the plate and delivered a first-pitch walk-off home run to right field for a 3-2 win in front of 28,635 screaming fans.

“I was looking for a good pitch to hit," Ruiz said after the victory celebrations. "I got it and I put a good swing on it. Just grateful to god for this opportunity. I've been dreaming for this moment for a long time.”

He got a perfect pitch to hit from Oakland reliever Lucas Erceg. The right-hander left a 97-mph fastball right down the middle of the plate for Ruiz to crush 391 feet into the Nationals bullpen and then trot the bases to his awaiting teammates for a cold Gatorade bath at home plate.

“I can't describe that moment," Ruiz said. "Like I said, I've been dreaming for that moment for a long time and really grateful to god.”

There was a lot of injury news from Friday, both from before the 8-2 victory over the Athletics and from afterward. Let’s take a look at some of the updates on those included parties.

First of all, the concern coming out of the win was Joan Adon’s early departure after only three innings. The young right-hander was dealing with command issues, which led to two runs in the first inning, and then walked off the field with manager Davey Martinez and head athletic trainer Paul Lessard after throwing some warm-up pitches before the fourth.

The good news after the game was that the ailment was only leg cramps. The bad news was that this was the second straight game he had experienced them and third time since July.

“He said he feels better,” Martinez said ahead of Saturday’s game during his meeting with the media. “We're gonna run some tests on him though and see why this is happening to him. Whether he's not getting enough fluids or (what). I talked to him today. He said he drinks a lot before the game. So we're going to figure it out before his next start. And hopefully, it's something that we can control. But today, he said he felt fine. I told him to just take it easy today and we'll get you going again tomorrow. Because he's definitely got to get on this routine.”

Adon expressed concern last night that the cramps came up so early in the game, whereas they didn’t happen until the sixth inning last week against the Reds. But Martinez said it could happen at any time with the amount Adon sweats during a start.

The Nationals have won seven of their last 11 games after last night’s 8-2 win over the Athletics while continuing to play well at home. They have won 10 of their last 12 games on South Capitol Street and have a chance today to clinch their fifth straight home series.

Jake Irvin will look to provide some length after Joan Adon only lasted three innings Friday night due to leg cramps. The right-handed rookie is 3-5 with a 4.93 ERA and 1.440 WHIP over his first 17 major league starts. He has pitched into the sixth in three of his last four outings but only made it to the fifth last weekend in Cincinnati.

The A’s will send out their own right-handed rookie Luis Medina for tonight’s game. The 24-year-old is 3-8 with a 5.47 ERA and 1.532 WHIP over 16 big league appearances, 12 starts. He, too, has been able to provide solid length in his recent starts, but only made it to the fourth in his last outing against the Giants.

Update: Lane Thomas has been scratched from tonight's lineup. He was hit by a pitch in the right wrist last night. Stone Garrett is now in right and batting sixth.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. OAKLAND ATHLETICS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 88 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

Jake Alu made his major league debut on May 9 in San Francisco. He recorded his first hit on May 12 in D.C. against the Mets. He drove in his first run here on Aug. 1 against the Brewers and got his first extra-base hit three days later in Cincinnati.

But he hadn’t yet hit one over the fence. Until last night.

The 26-year-old rookie, who was a 24th-round pick in 2019 out of Boston College, finally hit his first home run in last night’s 8-2 win over the Athletics.

Facing left-handed reliever Sam Long, the left bat hit a first-pitch 92-mph fastball 104 mph off the bat and 419 feet over the right-center field wall and trotted the bases for the first time on a major league diamond.

“Kind of was trying to get a swing off on a fastball, and I got it first pitch kind of up in the zone,” Alu said. “And I was able to barrel it up and finally get one out of there. “

Tonight was supposed to be the first turn of the Nationals’ new six-man rotation, with Joan Adon making his second start since being inserted last week.

But the thing about a six-man rotation is that they need six men to pitch in it.

Adon’s availability moving forward is now in question after he was pulled from tonight’s 8-2 win over the Athletics with cramps in his legs while warming up for the fourth inning.

“I just started on my warmups and I felt it right away in my calf and in my groin a little bit," Adon said after the game, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. "One was my calf on one side and my groin on the other.”

The 26-year-old right-hander, who threw an impressive quality start Saturday in Cincinnati, threw a couple of warmup pitches to backup catcher Riley Adams in between the third and fourth innings. But before Keibert Ruiz could even get his catching gear on, manager Davey Martinez and head athletic trainer Paul Lessard were out of the dugout checking on the starting pitcher and then departed with him.