At plate and on bases, new-look Wieters shows off

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - For nearly two weeks, we've heard Nationals catcher Matt Wieters talk about how much better he feels than he did last season. We've heard Davey Martinez talk about how good Wieters looks. And we've heard Kevin Long rave about the changes Wieters has made to his swing.

Which is all nice, except that it was all idle chatter until Wieters actually stepped to the plate in a game and did something to confirm all those positive assessments.

Which is exactly what he did Sunday.

In his first game appearance of the spring, Wieters showed off his new swing and his new body. He went 2-for-2 against the Braves with a homer and a line drive single. And he also raced home from second base to score another run, looking as spry as he has in years.

"It's a good feeling to be able to carry over what you've put some time and effort into live at-bats," the veteran catcher said, adding: "Results are results. But more than anything, I felt like I saw the ball well today. And I felt good in my legs today, which was what we were shooting for."

On the heels of a miserable season that saw him post career lows in batting average, slugging percentage and OPS, Wieters vowed to make changes this spring. He reported to camp 14 lbs. lighter. And with the help of new hitting coach Long, he is revamping his swing, with an emphasis on better balancing his lower half.

There's still work to be done, but Wieters has been very pleased with the progress he's made to date.

"The biggest thing is being able to stay grounded, stay on my legs to where I don't cross myself over," he said. "Almost like a pitcher pitching across his body, sometimes throughout my career, I've hit across my body. So we're trying to take that out a little bit. And hopefully that will free up, and it already has freed up, the upper body to be a little quicker."

That much was clear Sunday when Wieters (batting left-handed) ripped a line drive single to right-center in the bottom of the second, then (batting right-handed) sent a ball soaring to left field for a two-run homer.

"A lot of times early in the spring, it's tough to see the ball and get a good pitch to hit," he said. "And I felt like I was able to track every pitch I saw, which is a good feeling Day One."

Consider his new manager among the impressed.

"It's good for him to have the results, but his swing looked good all camp so far," Martinez said. "He's made some good adjustments. And the big thing is, he feels great. His body feels great, so that's a plus. I just want him to stay that way."

Wieters undoubtedly had to be feeling great in order to score from second base on Chris Dominguez's single up the middle. With third base coach Bob Henley waving his around, the slimmed-down Wieters scampered home and beat the throw.

But does he actually want to be testing out those legs like that on Feb. 25? Yes.

"Probably the fastest I'll be is Feb. 25," he joked. "So might as well get it out there now."