And away we go ...
Yes, there's a ballgame today in Florida. The Nationals are playing the Cardinals in Jupiter, the first of 24 games on the Grapefruit League schedule. And there are a whole lot of starters playing for both clubs.
Davey Martinez's lineup includes Victor Robles leading off and Trea Turner batting third (yep, they really are going to test this out this spring). It doesn't include Juan Soto, but it does feature a 4-5-6 of Josh Bell, Kyle Schwarber and Starlin Castro. If you...
It's been 154 days since the Nationals last played a baseball game. Exactly 22 weeks since they wrapped up the bizarre 2020 season with a 15-5 thumping of the Mets. As was the case for the entire 60-game campaign, there were zero fans in attendance.
So imagine the feeling everyone in uniform has as they wake up this morning, look at the calendar and realize they're not only going to play a ballgame today, but they're going to play it in front of fans.
Yep, the 2021 Grapefruit League opens...
Starlin Castro is one of the most accomplished hitters in baseball, a four-time All-Star who has received votes for Rookie of the Year and MVP. He's led the National League in hits. He was on every top prospects list when he first sped through the Cubs' farm system more than a decade ago. He's 19th among all active players with 1,633 hits, and everyone ahead of him on the list has played in at least 131 more big league games than he has.
Yet ask someone to name the most important members of...
The most important hit in Nationals history - well, until he produced an even more important hit three weeks later - came moments after the opponents intentionally walked Juan Soto.
Yep, it's easy to forget now what preceded Howie Kendrick's 10th-inning grand slam at Dodger Stadium in Game 5 of the 2019 National League Division Series, but it was indeed an intentional walk of Soto. The Dodgers weren't about to let the then-20-year-old sensation beat them in a winner-take-all game. They would...
Though a few things have changed since he last walked into the Nationals clubhouse - like the mandatory COVID-19 testing and temperature checks, the spaced-out lockers and the fact everyone must wear a mask indoors - Ryan Zimmerman feels far more a sense of familiarity right now at his home away from home.
"It's good to be back out here and kind of going through the day-to-day grind again," he said. "I missed that part, for sure."
It's been nearly a year since Zimmerman was last with his...
Carter Kieboom has heard all your theories. That he wasn't aggressive enough at the plate. That he was hampered by an injury. That he couldn't handle the pressure of replacing Anthony Rendon at third base.
And he heard all the chatter this winter about his future with the Nationals. That the club was going to trade for a new third baseman, either Kris Bryant or maybe Eugenio Suárez. Or sign a free agent who would bump him out of the lineup, like Justin Turner or DJ LeMahieu.
Here, though,...
For the first time this spring, all 72 players in the Nationals' big league camp were on the field and participating today.
On the second day of full-squad workouts, the only two pitchers who had yet to participate (Javy Guerra and Jeremy Jeffress) were cleared to join their teammates. Guerra, who had been in Arizona with his wife as she gave birth in recent days, arrived in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday and on Tuesday cleared his mandatory intake testing.
Jeffress, meanwhile, passed his...
The Nationals, like every franchise, have been through multiple eras over the years. Break down their 17 seasons in the District into smaller chunks, and you can rattle off each of those eras with only a handful of names.
The Frank Robinson Era. The Ryan Zimmerman Era. The Adam Dunn Era. The Stephen Strasburg-Jordan Zimmermann Era. The Bryce Harper-Jayson Werth Era. The Max Scherzer-Strasburg-Anthony Rendon Championship Club.
And now, the Trea Turner-Juan Soto Era.
Make no mistake, that's the...
The questions were inevitable. When a star homegrown player approaching free agency reports for spring training, he's going to be asked about contract discussions. And when it happens only days after one of baseball's brightest young stars signs a gargantuan extension with his club, it's a foregone conclusion.
So neither Trea Turner nor Juan Soto could've been surprised today when the subject came up in their respective first Zoom sessions with reporters of 2021. On the heels of Fernando...
Max Scherzer was back on a mound this morning in West Palm Beach, Fla., throwing pitches (albeit not many and not at full velocity) for the first time since a sprained left ankle sidetracked him two weeks ago.
Scherzer was cleared to resume throwing off the bullpen mound. He wound up throwing 10 pitches, "very light," according to manager Davey Martinez.
"We just wanted to see him land on that foot," Martinez said during his daily Zoom session with reporters. "He said he felt good. We'll...
If you wanted to try to distill the story of the Nationals bullpen over the last several seasons into one simplified narrative, it would be this: Davey Martinez didn't trust enough guys to pitch in high-leverage situations, forcing the manager to overuse his one or two best relievers, which sometimes led to ineffectiveness or injury.
It's a pattern that has often repeated itself around here, and it's one Martinez and general manager Mike Rizzo appear determined to avoid in 2021.
And how...
The Nationals aren't about to let Max Scherzer rush his way back from a sprained ankle, but as their ace continues to shows signs of progress, they will let him progressively ramp himself back up to the point where he's caught up to everyone else in camp.
Scherzer took an important step in that process over the last two days when he was able to throw on flat ground and work out without reporting any significant issues with his left ankle.
Scherzer threw from 60 feet Sunday and "felt...
A Nationals bullpen that already looked deep on paper could be getting a boost from another experienced arm: right-hander Jeremy Jeffress, who has agreed to a minor league deal with an invitation to big league camp, manager Davey Martinez confirmed this afternoon.
"He's got to come in, take his intake test, take a physical and then we'll know more after that," Martinez said from West Palm Beach, Fla., during his daily Zoom session with reporters. "But if everything goes well, I'm excited...
Trea Turner already had established himself as one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball. Then over the course of 60 dominant games in 2020, the Nationals shortstop established himself as one of the best offensive players in baseball, period.
Don't believe it? Look at the numbers. Last season Turner ranked fifth in the majors in batting average (.335), fifth in runs scored (46), first in hits (78), third in total bases (137), sixth in extra base hits (31), 12th in slugging percentage (.588),...
The numbness started in his right thumb, in early July just after the Nationals gathered in D.C. to begin an abbreviated summer training camp. As he continued to build himself up for the shortened 2020 regular season, the numbness began to spread to his hand.
When it came time to make his scheduled season debut July 25 against the Yankees, Stephen Strasburg realized he couldn't effectively pitch like this. So the Nats medical staff tried to treat the injury with cortisone shots and...
As he evaluated his club's catching corps during the offseason, and then examined the likeliest outside candidates to be added, Davey Martinez quickly came to one conclusion: Yan Gomes was going to be the Nationals' No. 1 catcher in 2021.
And that wasn't a bad thing in the manager's mind.
"I talked to him a lot this winter and told him that he would get the bulk of the catching this year," Martinez said from West Palm Beach, Fla., during a Zoom session with reporters. "I want him to...
Davey Martinez has made no secret about his desire to use Joe Ross as his No. 5 starter. While acknowledging the open competition that also includes Erick Fedde, Austin Voth and perhaps even Rogelio Armenteros taking place this spring, the Nationals manager has openly stated he wants Ross to prove he's earned the job.
But in their evaluation, Martinez and new pitching coach Jim Hickey need to consider not only Ross' performance but the state of his arm after he opted out of the 2020 season....
Spring training is too long. Find a ballplayer who disagrees with that assessment. You won't.
Six weeks in Florida and Arizona is a long time, and it gets awfully repetitive awfully quick. You can only run pickoff drills and practice fielding bunts so many times before your brain goes numb.
But as everyone gathers in the warm sunshine this week, you might find more than a few ballplayers who are actually looking forward to the long slog of spring training this time. They may not have realized...
Spring training injuries are nothing new for Max Scherzer. Remember the fractured knuckle that forced him to temporarily throw his fastball with a three-finger grip in 2017? Or the sore right side that cropped up last spring as a result of mechanical changes he made?
So Scherzer's newest spring ailment - a sprained left ankle suffered two weeks ago - is merely the latest on the list. And if the 36-year-old ace is to be believed, this one won't have any long-lasting negative effects, just as...
Sure, there were obvious signs of the difference between this camp and all previous ones. Staffers wore masks. Players tried to keep their distance from each other whenever possible. And, of course, there were no fans or reporters in attendance.
All the same, there was an undeniable sense of normalcy Thursday morning when the Nationals opened spring training with their first official pitchers and catchers workout of 2021.
Everyone involved knows things still aren't normal. But after getting a...