Schedule finally eases up; newly acquired prospects assigned to affiliates

Everybody in the majors plays roughly the same schedule by season’s end: 81 home games, 81 road games, 52 division games, 64 more intraleague games, 46 interleague games. But the path to get to those eventual totals differs from team to team.

And in the Nationals’ case, there’s been a distinct difference to the 2024 schedule to date: Way more road games than most others.

Wednesday’s series finale in Arizona was the Nats’ 109th game of the season but their 59th road game. No other National League team has played so many games on the road, and only the Yankees (60) have played more in the American League.

The Nationals have been on three separate three-city road trips (San Francisco-Oakland-Los Angeles in April, Boston-Chicago-Philadelphia in May, Colorado-San Diego-Tampa Bay in June). They’ve yet to be rewarded with a homestand of more than two series.

It’s made for an at-times grueling schedule, including the 17-days-in-a-row stretch they had to endure prior to the All-Star break. The good news: It’s finally about to get better.

Beginning tonight, the Nationals open their longest homestand of the season: 10 games against three opponents (Brewers, Giants, Angels). That will be followed by a relatively simple, five-game trip to Baltimore and Philadelphia (simple in terms of travel, not opponent) before they get to come home again. They won’t board a plane again for three weeks, when they make a quick trip to Atlanta before coming right back home again.

All told, 31 of the Nats’ final 53 games come at home. And though they began the season playing much better away from D.C., that’s no longer the case. The Nationals now have a better winning percentage at home (.460) than on the road (.441).

* Now that the dust has settled from this week’s trade deadline, it’s worth noting where the various prospects the Nationals acquired are going to play within their farm system.

Two players have joined the roster at Triple-A Rochester: infielders Andres Chaparro and Jose Tena.

Chaparro, acquired from the Diamondbacks for Dylan Floro, is a 25-year-old corner infielder who has posted big numbers the last two seasons at Triple-A for both the Yankees and D-backs, totaling 50 doubles, 44 homers, 164 RBIs and an .854 OPS in 235 games.

Tena, acquired from the Guardians in the Lane Thomas deal, is a 23-year-old middle infielder with 21 games of big league experience who has played at Triple-A over parts of the last three seasons, batting a collective .304 with 22 homers, 77 RBIs and an .872 OPS in 112 games.

Two players have been assigned to Double-A Harrisburg, but only pitcher Tyler Stuart is currently active when third baseman Cayden Wallace is on the injured list recovering from a fractured rib.

Stuart, acquired from the Mets for Jesse Winker, is a 24-year-old starter who in his Harrisburg debut gave up three runs on four hits over five innings, striking out five while walking two. In 25 Double-A starts across parts of two seasons, he has a 3.92 ERA and 1.242 WHIP.

Wallace was acquired from the Royals in the Hunter Harvey trade, along with the No. 39 pick in the draft that was used on Cal catcher Caleb Lomavita.

None of the recently acquired prospects were assigned to high Single-A Wilmington, but two of the players acquired in the Thomas trade have reported to low Single-A Fredericksburg: Alex Clemmey and Rafael Ramirez Jr.

Clemmey, a 19-year-old left-hander taken in the second round of the 2023 Draft, made 19 starts this season for Single-A Lynchburg and posted a 4.67 ERA with 97 strikeouts and 47 walks over 69 1/3 innings.

Ramirez, a 19-year-old shortstop, was hitting .187 with a .301 on-base percentage, 10 doubles, four homers and 23 RBIs in 54 games with Lynchburg prior to the trade.