Law, Williams face live hitters; Baker to be promoted Sunday

Derek Law appears ready to return from his brief stint on the injured list. Trevor Williams needs some more time but took a big step in his return from the IL today.

Law and Williams each faced live hitters this afternoon prior to the Nationals’ game against the Cubs, the first time each right-hander had done that since going on the 15-day IL with flexor strains in their elbows.

Law, out since Aug. 17, threw 20 pitches over one simulated inning against teammates Ildemaro Vargas and Nasim Nuñez. He said everything felt strong and that he believes his two-week layoff helped give his arm and body a rare chance to rest after a workhorse season. (His 75 2/3 innings pitched lead all major league relievers.)

“Think about it. This is like the first time your body’s getting a full amount of time off,” Law said, citing advice he got from pitching strategist Sean Doolittle. “It’s almost like you’re in spring training again, instead of the grind of the season, where you’re trying to manipulate your body to throw how it should be throwing.

“I was definitely throwing different ways to try to get around the elbow (before going on the IL). So it’s nice to feel free, I guess.”

Law is eligible to come off the IL on Sunday, but he appears to be targeting Tuesday’s series opener in Miami to make his return. Regardless of the specific date, he believes today’s session sufficed as a final step for him, with no need to pitch in a minor league game first.

“For sure,” Law said. “I thought about maybe doing a rehab game; today would’ve been the day. But I think I’d get more out of facing these guys and just getting their feedback after 20 pitches they saw. … It’s nice to hear from your teammates: ‘Oh, your stuff was really good today.’”

Williams, meanwhile, threw 43 pitches over two simulated innings, also facing Vargas and Nuñez. It was the veteran’s first time facing hitters since his May 30 start in Atlanta, after which he reported elbow pain and landed on the 15-day IL with a flexor strain.

Three months later, Williams was encouraged by today’s results, with his velocity back up to 88-89 mph. Because he’s been out much longer, and because he’s a starter, he’ll need more time to build up his arm and increase his workload before the Nationals can think about activating him.

Given this late juncture in the season, and given how well the rest of the rotation has performed in the interim, the Nats could decide to bring Williams back as a reliever. They haven’t made that decision yet, though, and could ultimately need Williams to make starts as they monitor the workload of several young starters in September.

“Before we make any decisions on what we’re going to do with him, the thing is to make sure he’s feeling good tomorrow after he threw,” manager Davey Martinez said. “Then see what his next outing will be. And then we’ll go from there. Because there might come a point where he has to start, so we can give someone else a day (to rest). But when we get there, we’ll figure that out.”

* Major league clubs can expand their active rosters to 28 beginning Sunday, and the Nationals plan to call up infielder Darren Baker from Triple-A Rochester to fill one of those slots, a source familiar with the decision confirmed.

Baker, the well known son of former manager Dusty Baker, will make his much anticipated debut at 25, three years after the Nats used their 10th-round pick on the former Cal-Berkeley star. As he was a familiar face around the clubhouse from his father’s time as manager in 2016-17, then again in recent spring trainings as an occasional daily call-up from minor league camp, Baker's promotion (which was first reported by the TalkNats blog) will be celebrated by the organization and baseball fans around the country who first became aware of him when he was a 3-year-old batboy for the Giants in the 2002 World Series.

A solid contact hitter, Baker is batting .285 with 20 doubles, two triples and a .348 on-base percentage in 112 games at Rochester this season. Primarily a second baseman, he also has seen some time in the outfield as the Nationals tried to prepare him for a potential career as a utility player.

With the current lineup mostly set with young building blocks, playing time could be hard to come by for Baker, a left-handed batter. Regardless, his arrival will be a special moment for many longtime supporters, and Dusty Baker (who won his long-coveted World Series ring with the Astros in 2022, then retired after the 2023 season) is expected to be in attendance Sunday to see his son’s debut.