Gonzalez and Taylor appreciate addition of Wieters

One clear strength of the Nationals this season has been the play of catcher Matt Wieters.

His guidance and work with starter Gio Gonzalez has been a major reason why the left-hander is off to his best start with the Nats since 2012. Gonzalez is 13-5 with a 2.40 ERA - the 13 wins the most he has earned since the 21-8 campaign in 2012.

Gonzalez has been able to re-employ his curveball with success this season - a pitch that batters were sometimes spitting on last year. Now, with Wieters behind the dish, Gonzalez is using all of his pitches.

"With his sinker, we call it peeling the plate," manager Dusty Baker said. "The sinker goes one way. Then the curveball can go right over the middle of the plate and depending on the speed, and then his fastball inside, so that opens up the plate. He peels the plate. You don't know if he's going to go outside or he's going to come inside, or if he's going to go with the curveball. And then add the changeup on there then you got all the weapons.

"This is where Wieters comes in to know how to use your weapons. He's always had the weapons. But before he was bouncing his curveball a lot and so the hitters starting eliminating a pitch. They said, 'OK, everytime he throws a breaking ball, it's in the dirt. Every time he throws a fastball, it's a ball up.' As a hitter, that's when you're in trouble, when you can't eliminate a pitch from a pitcher."

Another major step forward has been Wieters' ability to catch relay throws from the outfield. On Saturday, he made another outstanding catch of a relay from center fielder Michael A. Taylor and tagged out a runner at home plate. This is a play former Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos sometimes had difficulty completing.

Taylor says he practices these throws every single day, and gains confidence that the play will be completed because Wieters is waiting at home plate to make the catch and tag.

"I work on it quite a bit," Taylor said. "(Third base coach) Bobby Henley's out there with us every day in BP, hitting us ground balls, do a lot of throws to second base. In spring training, we're doing a lot of infield/outfield double cuts all the time. So we put in a good amount of work on it. Matt's a great guy to throw to. He catches everything. I've had balls bounce, flying everywhere. It makes it easier for me to know that if I get it close, he's going to handle it."

Taylor said that the defensive timing came back faster than his timing in the batter's box.

"I think shagging and things like that are good work to prepare you for the game and it doesn't take quite as long to get back in the swing of things out there," he said. "I was able to shag a little bit before I came back. I think with the nature of my injury, I was able to put more work in on defense than I was offensively, so I feel pretty good out there right now."