ANAHEIM, Calif. – Despite his torrid two months at the plate after he made his long-awaited major league debut last season, Joey Meneses entered this year as a huge unknown for the Nationals.

Were those two months, as impressive as they were, enough evidence to support the idea the 30-year-old is legitimately a top-tier hitter at this level? Or was he bound to come back to earth, proving why it took so long for him to reach the big leagues in the first place?

Two weeks in, it would be easy to assume the latter based on Meneses’ stats. Dig a little deeper, though, and there seems to be reason to believe his results are due to improve sooner rather than later.

Meneses enters today’s series finale against the Angels batting only .238 (10-for-42) with a .289 on-base percentage, .333 slugging percentage, zero homers and only one RBI in 12 games played. It’s been an admittedly frustrating start to his season.

“Obviously I’m not happy or satisfied with the results so far, in terms of the numbers,” he said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. “But that’s baseball, and that’s how baseball goes. I just need to stay focused and keep working.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Thaddeus Ward has pitched in 51 games as a professional, and he’s been the starter for all 51 of those. The last time he pitched in relief: 2018 while at the University of Central Florida.

So, it’s been a while.

If Ward is going to make the Nationals’ roster as a Rule 5 draft pick, though, it’s going to be as a reliever. The Nats aren’t considering him for their rotation, maybe someday down the road but not at this point.

So all of Ward’s eight appearances this spring have come out of the bullpen, including his first back-to-back appearances last weekend. That has required some adaptation.

“It’s been a fairly significant change, but through talking to a lot of the guys here and those who have made the transition before, it’s made it a lot easier,” he said. “They’ve helped me find routines to help make sure I’m fresh day to day and able to throw. I’d say I’m starting to get comfortable with the transition.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Thaddeus Ward will remember his Nationals spring training debut for the scoreless inning he posted, for the changeup he misfired to the backstop and for the news he got afterward: He might need to change his delivery, because his current one might qualify as a balk.

Ward, the top pick in December’s Rule 5 draft, pitched a scoreless bottom of the fifth against the Cardinals, though it included a walk and a wild pitch that came nowhere close to the plate. But the most notable development of his appearance might have been the news he got after he returned to the dugout about his delivery.

When pitching from the stretch, Ward brings his hands together at the waist for a split-second, then does it again before coming to a complete stop. It was no problem for him last year in the minor leagues with the Red Sox, but Major League Baseball is cracking down on those kinds of moves this year.

“They came up to me after the inning ended and told me about it, that the umpires were discussing it,” the right-hander said.

Ward said he began incorporating that double move when he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. It helped remind him to use his legs more, pushing off the rubber. It’s become a subconscious part of his mechanics.

JUPITER, Fla. – The handful of competitions in Nationals camp this spring involve the bullpen and bench. General manager Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez have a multitude of ways they could go about deciding who makes the Opening Day roster and who doesn’t, and today they’ll get their first look at several of the competitors.

The Nats bullpen can probably be divided into two categories: Late-inning specialists and multi-inning arms. The former group is mostly set, with Kyle Finnegan, Carl Edwards Jr., Hunter Harvey and Sean Doolittle (if healthy) all but assured of making the club. The latter group is more wide-open.

Only Erasmo Ramirez has a guaranteed contract. Paolo Espino, Cory Abbott, Mason Thompson, Jordan Weems and Victor Arano all have minor league options. Thaddeus Ward, a Rule 5 draftee, must remain on the big league roster or be offered back to the Red Sox. Alex Colomé and Andres Machado are trying to make the team off minor league deals.

The big question, ultimately, may be this: How many multi-inning relievers do the Nationals want to keep?

“It’s going to be a competition, because we have so many of those guys,” Martinez said. “But I like them all.”

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The first live batting practice session of the spring is always going to favor pitchers over hitters. Pitchers have been building up to this for a while. Position players, on the other hand, haven’t even officially reported to camp yet.

So most eyes this morning at Nationals camp were focused on the likes of Patrick Corbin, MacKenzie Gore and others who faced hitters free to swing away if they liked. Corbin went up against projected regulars Joey Meneses, Luis García and Dominic Smith. On an adjacent field, Gore faced Stone Garrett, Michael Chavis and Derek Hill, all trying to crack the Opening Day roster as bench players.

All told, 11 pitchers took the mound for about 10-15 minutes a piece: Corbin, Gore, Trevor Williams, Jose Ferrer, Hunter Harvey, Kyle Finnegan, Wily Peralta, Paolo Espino, Erasmo Ramirez, Alex Colome and Thaddeus Ward.

“My focus was really on watching pitchers, their mechanics and where they’re at,” said manager Davey Martinez, who bounced from field to field, trying to get a glimpse of as many guys as he could. “For today, basically I was trying to get everybody to throw the ball over the white of the plate. Just hit the white and focus on hitting strikes.”

Which isn’t to say there wasn’t some reason to notice what some hitters were doing. Chief among them was García, who after facing Corbin in the first round of live BP had to go up against the hard-throwing Harvey in the next round.