It was only a matter of time before James Wood made a big splash at Double-A Harrisburg.
After getting the promotion for High-A Wilmington on May 28, he only collected one hit over his first three Double-A games.
He’s been on a tear ever since.
Since the start of June, the Nats’ top prospect is 11-for-37 with four doubles, three home runs, eight RBIs and a walk with the Senators.
This past weekend proved to be Wood’s biggest yet.
ATLANTA – It was raining heavily here this morning. There was a point when the forecast didn’t look conducive to playing baseball.
But the rain cleared out, the tarp was removed from the infield and this afternoon’s finale between the Nationals and Braves went off without a hitch.
And as the clouds cleared out for sunny skies, so did the clouds that have been hovering over this Nationals team this last week.
The Nats snapped their six-game losing streak, and in the process also snapped the Braves’ seven-game winning streak, with a 6-2 victory in front of 36,744 fans at Truist Park.
Just as I wrote this morning that the Nats were in search of more power, they found it.
ATLANTA – The Nationals are going to use these couple of off-days over this week to give one of their young starters some extra rest.
Jake Irvin will have his next start skipped in the rotation, with the Nats listing Patrick Corbin, Josiah Gray and MacKenzie Gore as the probable starters for the upcoming three-game series against the Astros.
Thursday’s postponement due to poor air quality in D.C. and tomorrow’s scheduled off-day as the team travels to Houston mean the Nats have two off-days over a five-day span.
“We have an opportunity to do some different things, and to give him a break was nice,” manager Davey Martinez said of the decision to skip Irvin before today’s series finale against the Braves. “We're gonna eventually have to do that with all of our young guys here soon. We had these days off coming up, so we thought we'd give Jake a breather. But you know, he can be available out of the bullpen as well. We just want to not have him start and then he'll get back in the rotation next time around.”
Irvin, the Nats’ No. 19 prospect per MLB Pipeline, impressed over his first two major league starts. He allowed just one run in 4 ⅓ innings in his debut against the Cubs and then shut out the Giants over 6 ⅓ innings in his second outing.
ATLANTA – The Nationals need a stopper and they need one badly. Or do they need more offense and need that badly?
They could use both as they try to snap this six-game losing streak and escape Atlanta with at least one win today.
Trevor Williams will attempt to be the stopper. The right-hander is 2-4 with a 4.15 ERA and 1.335 WHIP in his first 12 starts. He has completed five innings in all but two of his outings, with one being cut short due the rain-prompted suspension of the Nats' May 13 game against the Mets.
This is his first time facing the Braves in 2023, but he is 1-1 with a 3.28 ERA and 1.150 WHIP in eight career appearances (four starts) against Atlanta.
The offense has a tough task in trying to get going against Bryce Elder. The 24-year-old right-hander leads the National League with a 2.26 ERA, while posting a 4-0 record and 1.144 WHIP over his first 12 starts.
ATLANTA – However close the first two games between the Nationals and Braves this weekend were, one thing has been abundantly clear: One team has power in full supply and one is seriously lacking.
You can probably guess which team is which.
The Nationals were doomed by this stark difference yesterday. The Braves hit two home runs, both two-run shots. The Nationals hit one, a leadoff homer by Stone Garrett in the top of the ninth in what ended up being a 6-4 loss.
Digging a little deeper shows the power difference is more than just home runs.
The Braves barreled four balls from Nationals pitching: Two doubles and the two homers. The Nationals barreled just one: Luis García’s deep fly ball in the first inning that was a sacrifice fly instead of a two-run homer.
ATLANTA – A major difference between the Nationals and Braves is power at the plate. The Braves have it. The Nationals do not.
The Nats have hit the second-fewest homers in the majors and fewest in the National League. Meanwhile, the Braves have hit the third-most in the majors and second-most in the NL.
That difference was pretty glaring in today’s 6-4 loss in front of 40,799 at Truist Park.
When the offense doesn’t have a lot of pop, you need pitching that also keeps the ball in the field of play and doesn’t give up a lot of free baserunners so that those one-run shots don’t turn into multiple runs.
MacKenzie Gore has done a much better job of limiting walks recently. After giving up multiple in nine of his first 10 starts, he had given up just one over his last two starts coming into today’s rematch with the Braves.
ATLANTA – After last night’s tough 3-2 loss in the series opener, the Nationals are making some significant changes to their lineup for this afternoon’s second game against the Braves.
Against rookie left-hander Jared Shuster, who the Nats knocked around for four runs on six hits and five walks in their first meeting on April 2, lefty bats Dominic Smith and CJ Abrams and switching-hitter Keibert Ruiz are all out of today’s starting lineup.
In their places: Michael Chavis is starting at first base and batting seventh, Ildemaro Vargas is playing shortstop and batting eighth and Riley Adams is catching and batting ninth. And as has been typical against a lefty starter, Stone Garrett is starting in left field instead of Corey Dickerson, batting fifth.
“It was just the plan coming into the series,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame meeting with the media. “I'm trying to keep everybody involved. Get some guys days off. We're getting to a point where it's starting to warm out there. It's tough to play 162 games, so I want to keep these guys fresh and get these other guys in and get them some at-bats. So we'll see how they do. Riley has been playing well. I wanted to get Chavy in there and Vargas has been playing well as well. And Garrett, he platoons with Corey in the outfield, so he gets a chance to play today.”
It’s Smith’s first day off since April 27 against the Mets in New York, when Joey Meneses started at first and Garrett was the designated hitter. The veteran first baseman has struggled to the tune of a .265/.347/.301 slash line, .648 OPS, five doubles, one home run and 14 RBIs in 59 games. And while he has played strong defense for the majority of the season, he was unable to make a run-saving play on a chopper last night, which allowed the tying run to score in the eighth inning.
ATLANTA – Sixty-two games down, 100 to go.
The Nationals will try to bounce back from last night’s tough loss and end a couple of streaks today: Their own five-game losing streak and the Braves’ six-game winning streak.
For the third time in his young career, MacKenzie Gore will face the Braves, the team he made both his major league and Nationals debuts against. He delivered the Nats their first win of the season back on April 2, striking out six over 5 ⅓ innings of one-run ball in a 4-1 victory.
Gore has done a good job of getting deep into games and limiting walks in his last two starts. Against the Royals and Phillies, the young lefty completed 13 innings with 17 strikeouts to just one walk. He’ll aim to continue that trend against a tough Braves lineup.
In a repeat of that April 2 pitching matchup, lefty Jared Shuster will make his seventh major league start for the Braves. The 24-year-old is 2-2 with a 4.99 ERA and 1.337 WHIP to start the season. He gave up four runs on six hits and five walks while taking the loss his first time against the Nats.
ATLANTA – The Nationals have worked diligently with Josiah Gray on his mechanics since the end of last year.
In 2022, the right-hander’s first full season in the bigs, he gave up a major league-worst 38 home runs and a National League-worst 66 walks en route to a 5.02 ERA and 1.359 WHIP.
The team wanted their young starter to finish his pitches straighter toward the plate instead of flying open toward the first base line. And for the most part this year, he’s much improved.
After his rough season debut against the Braves, in which he gave up five runs on three home runs, Gray went through an eight-start stretch of giving up just 11 earned runs and two homers over 47 ⅔ innings for a 2.08 ERA and struck out more than double the amount of batters he walked.
But over his last six starts, including the five innings he completed in last night’s 3-2 loss to the Braves, some old habits are starting to creep back. Gray walked four Friday night, the fifth time in his last six starts he’s surrendered three or more free passes. He now has a 1.470 WHIP over that stretch.
ATLANTA – The Nats are in the middle of a brutal stretch. Tonight began the fifth of six straight series in which they are facing division leaders, defending pennant winners and reigning world champions.
No one is going to feel sorry for them. But this 3-2 loss to the Braves in front of 40,297 at Truist Park felt pretty painful, with a one-run lead turning into a one-run deficit in the bottom of the eighth.
“Tough loss," manager Davey Martinez said after the game. "We played well 'til the bottom of the eighth. As I always say, when you give good teams extra outs, they're gonna get you. And that's what we did in the bottom of the eighth.”
With the Nationals six outs away from a series-opening victory, Kyle Finnegan ran into some tough luck in the bottom of the eighth as the Braves scored two runs (one earned) to take the lead and extend Atlanta’s streak of five straight come-from-behind victories and six straight wins overall.
Finnegan took a liner from Sean Murphy off the lower half of his body for a leadoff infield single. Then another single by Eddie Rosario just got past Luis García and the batter advanced to second on an error by Lane Thomas in right field to put two in scoring position.
ATLANTA – Before their finale against the Diamondbacks was postponed due to poor air quality yesterday, the Nationals announced they were sending Victor Robles to Triple-A Rochester on a rehab assignment.
Robles has been sidelined since he hurt his back by sliding into second base in Arizona on May 6. Up until recently, he had been very limited in what rehab work he could actually do. But has he started to improve, he was able to do more and more physical activity and is now ready to play in games.
“Victor will play tonight in Rochester and we'll see how he gets through it,” manager Davey Martinez said during his media session before tonight’s series opener against the Braves. “He'll probably get maybe four, maybe five innings. So we'll see how he gets through it.”
Robles is hitting third and playing center field for the Red Wings tonight in Worcester.
Needing a bounceback season, the 26-year-old was off to a solid start to the season before his injury. In 31 games, he was hitting .292 with a .388 on-base percentage and .748 OPS. He scored 13 runs, hit four doubles, one triple and eight RBIs and stole a team-high eight bases while walking at the highest rate of his career (9.4 percent).
ATLANTA – The Nationals have escaped the haze that engulfed the Washington, D.C. area and forced a postponement of yesterday’s series finale against the Diamondbacks. Now they find themselves outside downtown Atlanta to take on the Braves for three games, their first against the division leaders since the opening series of the season.
The Nationals enter this weekend having lost seven out of their last nine. For what it’s worth, the Braves also struggled to end May, going through a stretch of losing seven of 11, before turning it around to win six of their last seven, including a three-game sweep of the Mets here this week.
With yesterday’s postponement, Davey Martinez gave his starters an extra day of rest, with Josiah Gray now starting tonight’s opener. The right-hander’s 3.09 ERA is the lowest in the rotation, but he has struggled as of late. He did not complete six innings in any of his last three starts, giving up seven runs over 14 ⅓ innings (4.40 ERA) in the process.
Gray’s worst outing of the year came against these very Braves in his first start, in the Nats’ second game of the season. He gave up five runs and three home runs – including one each to the first two batters he faced – over seven innings while taking a 7-1 loss. In his career, he is 1-2 with a 3.33 ERA and 1.037 WHIP over five starts against Atlanta. He has, though, pitched well here at Truist Park, going 1-0 and allowing just one earned run in 10 innings over two starts.
The Braves are sending 20-year-old right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver to the mound for his first major league start. The Braves' No. 4 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, Smith-Shawver impressed in his big league debut, pitching 2 ⅓ scoreless innings with three strikeouts Sunday against the Diamondbacks. He had a 1.09 ERA, 0.939 WHIP, 12.3 strikeout-per-nine rate and 3.75 strikeout-per-walk rate over seven starts between High-A and Triple-A to begin this season on the Braves farm.
The Nationals’ lack of a left-hander in their bullpen finally came back to bite them over the weekend while dropping two of three to the Phillies.
Andrés Machado, who gave up the decisive blow in the form of a three-run home run to Kyle Schwarber in Sunday’s 11-3 loss, appears to have been designated for assignment and right-hander Jordan Weems seems to be the reliever replacing him from Triple-A Rochester.
So when will they finally have a southpaw in the ‘pen?
Sean Doolittle, while close to returning from his minor league rehab assignment, still seems like he needs more time on the farm before being selected back to the major league club. Jose Ferrer and Alberto Baldonado have less than impressive numbers at Rochester, and Matt Cronin is on the injured list with a 5.04 ERA in 14 appearances, the last one on May 20.
What about further down the system?
MacKenzie Gore is working on a lot of things in his first season with the Nationals. He’s only 24 years old and now only has 28 games of major league experience under his belt.
One thing the left-hander really wants to improve on is getting left-handed batters out.
“I should get left-handers out,” Gore said after yesterday’s 4-2 loss to the Phillies. “Left-handers don't like hitting left-handed pitching.”
So far in his young career, Gore is a reverse-splits pitcher. Coming into yesterday’s start, he had surrendered a .293/.429/.453 slash line with a .881 OPS and 1.23 strikeout-per-walk rate against left-handed batters. He had given up a slash line of .235/.312/.370 with a .683 OPS and 2.92 K/BB rate to righties.
Is he surprised that he had reverse splits?
The Nationals were in position today to be somewhere they haven’t been since April 3: Anywhere but last place in the National League East.
Last night’s dramatic 8-7 victory gave them the same record as the defending National League champion Phillies, who also happen to be in town this weekend. A win today would have put them ahead of them in the division standings.
With an electric young pitcher in MacKenzie Gore on the mound and a lineup that’s been heating up facing a group of relievers, the Nats had a good chance to vault out of the basement. But after scoring 18 runs over their last two games, the offense cooled down and wasn’t able to produce enough in a 4-2 loss in front of an announced crowd of 30,959.
“We just couldn't get the offense going today," manager Davey Martinez said after the game. "I thought MacKenzie threw the ball well. Made a couple of mistakes, but other than that he was around the zone all day and gave us a good six innings. Just the bats were stale today.”
After one of the best outings of his young career, Gore was able to turn in back-to-back quality starts for the first time since late April.
Last night’s wild 8-7 win was significant for the Nationals in that it brought them into a tie with the defending National League champion Phillies in the division standings.
Davey Martinez, always focused on going 1-0 every single day, managed in a way to give the Nats the best opportunity to come away with a series-opening victory. Put your best stuff out there today and worry about tomorrow later.
Well, tomorrow is today, and there are some possible ramifications from last night’s game.
Martinez deployed his “A” bullpen last night after starter Josiah Gray couldn’t get out of the sixth inning. Carl Edwards Jr. (20 pitches), Hunter Harvey (16), Mason Thompson (11) and Kyle Finnegan (34) all threw a decent amount and in high-leverage situations.
Finnegan, whose pitch count set a new career high, is probably unavailable today, as the Nats try to jump the Phillies in the National League East. But the rest of the bullpen may be available to pitch in some capacity if needed, assuming their pregame work goes well.
For the first time since mid-April, the Nationals will have a chance to stand alone outside the basement of the National League East. And for the second straight game, the Nationals’ future will be on display against its past.
MacKenzie Gore gets his first shot at former Nats Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber as a National. He did face each of them over his 16 appearances with the Padres last year: Harper went 0-for-3 with a strikeout; Turner went 2-for-2 with an RBI double and was hit by a pitch; and Schwarber went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk.
Gore is coming off a career-high 11 strikeouts in seven innings of one-run ball on Sunday against the Royals. On the year, the lefty is 3-3 with a 3.57 ERA, 1.414 WHIP and 11.5 strikeout-per-nine-innings rate.
Left-hander Matt Strahm is starting a bullpen game for the Phillies this afternoon. He’s 4-3 with a 3.20 ERA and 1.042 WHIP in 15 appearances (seven starts) this season. Strahm is expected to go at least two innings for manager Rob Thomson, who had to use four relievers last night after Zack Wheeler couldn’t get out of the fourth.
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, MLB.com
Weather: Cloudy with chance of storms, 81 degrees, wind 11 mph in from right field
BOWIE, Md. – One small step for a single prospect became a giant leap for the Nationals organization last weekend.
When James Wood was promoted from High-A Wilmington to Double-A Harrisburg on Sunday, on the surface level it could be seen as just a fast-rising prospect moving up another minor league level. But for the Nationals, it signified what the franchise is hoping to accomplish when it decided to undergo this rebuild in 2021 and fast track it by trading a major league superstar in Juan Soto last summer.
Wood was one of the five prospects the Nats received in the Soto trade with the Padres. Since joining the organization, he has risen as its top prospect and as one of the highest rated prospects in all of baseball.
Though he played well enough at the end of last season, Wood didn’t get a promotion to Wilmington, instead helping Single-A Fredericksburg on their postseason run. He started this season with the Blue Rocks, but only lasted 42 games, earning an early promotion on Memorial Day weekend.
The 20-year-old outfielder hit .293 with nine doubles, five triples, eight homers, 26 walks, 36 RBIs, eight stolen bases, a .392 on-base percentage and a .972 OPS with Wilmington.
Lane Thomas is on a heater this month. In 23 games so far in May, he's slashing .326/.367/.620 with a .987 OPS, four doubles, a triple, all seven of his season’s home runs, 15 RBIs and 19 runs scored.
That’s a complete 180-degree turnaround from April, when he hit slashed .260/.327/.302 with a .629 OPS and just four extra-base hits.
Thomas is hoping he can take his production this month and stay consistent throughout the season. One correlation to his strong May is his consistent place atop the Nationals lineup. It may not be the exact reason, but there are definitely parallels.
“I don't know if it has to do with just leadoff or not leadoff,” Thomas said. “I think I've said this before just trying to be a little more consistent at the plate was just my focus this offseason and spring training and now. Just being more consistent with getting swings off in good counts and just get a little confidence in doing that.”
The 27-year-old only hit leadoff eight times over his 25 games in April, with Alex Call getting most of the at-bats in the top spot. But starting May 6, Thomas been put in the leadoff spot in every game he’s played since. Over those 18 games, he’s slashing .325/.374/.571 with a .945 OPS, four doubles, five homers, 11 RBIs and 16 runs scored.
The Nationals’ clutch hits have come in bunches. Either they get a lot or none at all.
And their bullpen hasn’t always been clutch. Either its lockdown or shaky.
For the first half of today’s finale against the Padres, it looked like it was going to be one of those games where they would get neither. But then the script flipped in the seventh inning, as the Nats put up five runs to take a 6-5 lead and the relievers kept that way for Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey in the eighth and ninth.
Finnegan made it through his inning clean. But Harvey, seeking his third save of the season, couldn’t close out the victory.
Facing the Padres’ 2-3-4 hitters, Harvey gave up back-to-back singles to Jake Cronenworth and Juan Soto (who finished the day 1-for-1 with four walks). Harvey was able to then strike out the next two batters, but then served up a three-run home run to Rougned Odor on a 99 mph fastball that ended up just inside the right field foul pole.
