Limited spring schedule forces Nats to get creative

As much as they've tried to make this feel like a normal spring training, there are certain unavoidable differences from previous Nationals camps because of COVID-19 protocols.

Like the limited number of opponents. Because Major League Baseball decided to reduce travel across the state of Florida, the Nats are only playing the four other clubs that train within 45 minutes of West Palm Beach: the Astros, Cardinals, Marlins and Mets.

That leads to a whole lot of repeat matchups against teams that have become way too familiar to each other. The Nationals tonight play their 11th Grapefruit League game. It's already their third matchup with the Mets. And they've already faced the Cardinals and Marlins three times a piece, as well.

Making matters worse, the schedule timing has been such that the Nationals often face the same opponent every fifth day, which lines up with everyone's rotation. So they've already faced the Cardinals' Jack Flaherty twice, and St. Louis has gone up against Max Scherzer twice.

There's already been two Patrick Corbin versus Sandy Alcantara games when the Nats and Marlins square off. Tonight provides the second meeting between Joe Ross and the Mets' Jordan Yamamoto. And Sunday will see Stephen Strasburg versus the Astros' Lance McCullers Jr. for the second time in five days.

"You want to play other teams, yeah, absolutely," manager Davey Martinez said during this afternoon's Zoom session with reporters. "But under the circumstances, the fact that we're playing games (at all), I think it's pretty good. ... It's the same teams, but we're getting to face (opposing) teams.

"The annoying thing is, it seems like every five days we're playing the Cardinals, every five days we're playing the Mets. So we kind of get the same pitchers over and over again, so that's kind of weird."

The other drawback to this modified schedule: With an odd number of teams confined to a mini-league, somebody always has a day off. The Nationals have had three of them so far, and they're scheduled to have three more.

With up to 75 players allowed in big league camp - and no minor league camp until April - it's near-impossible to provide ample work for everyone. So the teams have scheduled a good number of B games on the mornings of regularly scheduled games.

The Nats and Astros held one this morning inside The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, and Martinez used it as an opportunity to give three veteran relievers (Daniel Hudson, Will Harris, Javy Guerra) an inning apiece in a more controlled setting than an official Grapefruit League game.

This morning's game also saw Josh Harrison make his first start of the spring in center field, a spot the Nationals don't necessarily envision him playing regularly but one they'd like him to be comfortable with in case of emergency.

And for the second time in the last week, Gerardo Parra played in a B game, testing out his surgically repaired knee. The veteran outfielder, attempting to make the opening night roster after spending last season in Japan, remains behind the rest of his teammates but is expected to make his official game debut within the week.

"He's got to catch up a little bit with his bat; he hasn't had very many ABs," Martinez said. "But overall I thought he looked good. So he's coming along. He's got that brace on his knee. I think it's going to look a little weird at first. I know he's getting used to it, but he looks good. The good thing is, right now he's about 85 percent and he feels no pain, so that's good."