After the Nationals started 1-6, they have won four of their last five games. Winning cures all. Spirits are high.

But the Nats do find themselves with one problem. Don’t worry, it’s a good one to have.

There is a bit of an outfield conundrum forming in the Nats dugout, thanks to a scorching-hot start from Alex Call.

Call made the Opening Day roster as the fourth outfielder coming off the bench. Manager Davey Martinez announced early in spring training he was going to run out James Wood in left field, Jacob Young in center and rookie Dylan Crews in right on a daily basis to start the season.

But Crews struggled out of the gate, going hitless in his first 19 at-bats. Then Young was given a reset over the weekend after frustrations started to mount following his 1-for-15 start over his first eight games.

There’s only so much you can take away from the first six games of a new year. But dang it, we will try.

The Nationals’ first week of the 2025 season hasn’t gone totally according to plan. Their 1-5 record doesn’t look good on paper. But digging a little deeper, you start to see some positives they can hold their hats on.

Here are some observations from the Nats’ first week of play …

KEIBERT RUIZ IS HOT
Ruiz’s struggles in 2024 are well known. After he missed a lot of time early in the season with the flu and lost almost 20 pounds, he never fully recovered. He finished the year with a .229 average, .619 OPS, 13 home runs and 57 RBIs in 127 games last year, producing just 0.6 bWAR.

This year, he looks to be in much better shape and it’s paying off.