Speedy outfield covers a lot of ground for Nats

JUPITER, Fla. – The Nationals are now known for their speed. They made a point to take advantage of their youth and the new rules that encourage basestealing to swipe a major league-best 223 bags last year.

But that young speed manifests itself defensively, too.

The Nats’ projected starting outfield of James Wood in left, Jacob Young in center and Dylan Crews in right boasts three of the fastest guys on the team. And with all three having extensive experience playing center field, manager Davey Martinez feels very confident they have the entire outfield covered.

“When I look at it, all three of them were center fielders. So you potentially have three center fielders playing together, which is pretty awesome,” the skipper said before today’s split-squad doubleheader against the Cardinals and Marlins. “Those guys, I told them I expect them to get to everything. I really do. And they do. They're really good out there when you watch them play together. Jacob does a great job of moving them around. They follow Jacob's suit. They understand that he is the center fielder. He takes control and takes command out there, which is awesome.”

Young’s first full season as a major league center fielder was one of the best defensive seasons the Nats have ever seen.

According to Baseball Savant, the 25-year-old finished last season with 20 Outs Above Average, which was tied with Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez for the most among all major league defenders, regardless of position. Young also led all big leaguers with 18 Runs Prevented, which was the highest number posted in that category since 2019.

According to FanGraphs, Young led all National League center fielders with a 13.4 Defensive Rating and tied for the lead with 11 Defensive Runs Saved. He also had a 2.8 Ultimate Zone Rating.

Despite those statistical advantages, Young lost the race for the NL Gold Glove award for center fielders to the Rockies' Brenton Doyle. He would have been only the third player (and first outfielder) in Nationals history to win a Gold Glove, with Ryan Zimmerman winning in 2009 at third base and Adam LaRoche winning in 2012 at first base.

The defensive metrics weren’t as flashy for Wood or Crews, but both were getting their first taste of the majors while playing in the corner spots full-time for the first time in their young careers.

Nevertheless, Martinez does see some commonalities between the three from their experiences playing center.

“Jacob is very, very smooth out in the outfield, as we all know,” Martinez explained. “Dylan, his first step is really good to get to balls. He's more (audibly grunts) kind of. And the other guy's more flamboyant, I guess we want to say. But his strides are unbelievable, so he gets to balls fairly quick, too.”

The Nationals had Wood play a little left field in the minor leagues leading up to his major league debut last summer, as that figured to be the place for him to play on the major league roster with Young in center and Lane Thomas in right. So he essentially had to learn a new position on the fly at the big league level.

“The biggest thing with Wood playing left field is he had never done it,” Martinez said. “He didn't know the angles. And as he played there every day, he started getting used to it. He understood, one, the positioning, where he needed to play, and two, how to cut the balls off, which is key in left field. It is a little different than the other two. So he started getting better, which is great. I think he's comfortable playing over there now.”

This was the Nationals’ development plan all along. Since they’ve added an influx of young outfielders to the minor league system – including Robert Hassell III, Daylen Lile and Andrew Pinckney – the organization has wanted them to get experience playing all three outfield positions. Their speed and athleticism play a huge role in that plan.

The Nats are now reaping the rewards of that philosophy with this trio at the major league level.

“Oh, absolutely,” Martinez said. “I talked to Dylan, Dylan is going to play some center field down here. I think he's playing in one of these games. I think it's actually tonight, in the game tonight. So he'll play center field because I want him to. Wood right now, because we're trying to keep him healthy, he's only going to play left. But I want Dylan to play some center field as well. And I even talked to Young about playing some left field as well, just to get him out there. But it's nice to have all three of them because I know they can do all three.”

The three haven’t played in the same outfield yet this spring, while Wood deals with right quad tendinitis. (Martinez said Wood could start playing the outfield in the back fields as early as Tuesday.) But when he gets back out there, the Nats are confident they’ll have the outfield covered, thanks to their speed and experience in center.

Which then begs the question: Who wins a race between the three of them?

“I think it all depends. It would be interesting,” Martinez said. “I think on a short burst, it's probably Jacob. I think on a longer, honest, I kid you not, man, you watch Wood run, like I watch him go home to first, it's amazing how fast he gets down there. … You watch him go home to second, same. All of a sudden, he's (there). But you watch Jacob run, it's like (whistles). A lot of times I watch him steal like, 'Oh God, he's gonna be out,' and he's safe. He gets that extra little (burst). And then Crewsy, he's that fast too, but it takes some time to get going.

“I love all three of them, though. It's nice to have them in the outfield. They're gonna be pretty good together. Cover a lot of ground.”