DeJong homers, Williams efficient, Herz struggles with walks again

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Nationals know they need to hit for more power in 2025. They hit the second-fewest home runs in the major leagues last year with 135, only two more than the woeful White Sox.

The offseason additions to the lineup are supposed to address that lack of power. They already know Josh Bell’s homer potential. They believe Nathaniel Lowe can tap into the power he displayed in Texas. And Paul DeJong, while not known for his batting average, has been able to provide some pop throughout his eight-year big league career.

Bell hit his first home run in yesterday’s loss to the Cardinals, a two-run shot for the Nats’ only runs in the first game of their split-squad doubleheader. Lowe has yet to go long. And DeJong finally went deep in today’s 4-3 win over the Astros.

Against Astros closer Josh Hader, DeJong got ahead in the count, ran it full and drove the seventh pitch over the visiting bullpen in left field. There are no Statcast measurements at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, but it traveled far.

“He's been good. He's been really good,” manager Davey Martinez said. “Another veteran guy that knows himself really well. When he connects, he can hit the ball a long way. We saw that today. What I really love, though, is that, honestly, he plays defense really well, too, which is going to help us. It really is. We know when he's up there, he's got a chance to put us in the lead. And I love that about him. So he's been great.”

DeJong has collected three hits in five games this spring, but that was the first for extra bases. The infielder, who seems primed to be the Nats’ everyday third baseman, entered camp with only a .229 average and .714 OPS for his career. But he does bring solid defense to the infield and five seasons with 19 or more home runs. His 24 homers last year between the White Sox and Royals would have led the Nationals.

“We've been talking a little bit about cutting his strikeouts down,” Martinez said. “Putting the ball in play, especially with guys on base. Because that works as well. But we really wanted to go up there and, you know, two guys on, keep them off the ground, hit the ball in the air and try to hit it far.”

It’s only one week’s worth of spring training games, but the Nats still find themselves near the bottom of the league in home runs. They’re tied with the Angels for the second-fewest in the majors.

* Trevor Williams turned in a solid second start of spring.

The veteran right-hander, brought back on a two-year, $14 million deal, completed 2 ⅓ innings with five hits, one run, one walk and two strikeouts on 57 pitches, 34 strikes.

“For the second start of spring, it's just volume,” Williams said. “So I'm glad that we got up to close to 60 pitches today. It wasn't as efficient as it could have been. But we can be inefficient on March 2. But other than that, there was really only one pitch I wish I could get back. Everything else I thought executed well.”

It was pretty emblematic of a typical Williams start from the early part of last season before he was sidelined with an injury. Although he gave up a good number of baserunners, only one came around to score. And of the knocks surrendered, three of them were off soft contact that unfortunately dropped for hits.

One of the few hard-hit balls – a line drive RBI single to center by Jake Meyers in the second – was the only pitch Williams regretted.

“The one pitch was to Meyers, we were trying to go up and I threw it down. And it was an RBI single,” he said. “So that was just the one that I just wish I executed a little better. Other than that, I thought both spins were doing great. My sinker was doing great. Change was doing great. And we got some swings and swings-and-misses on pitches that we didn't get on last start. So just one of those were we're slowly making our way towards the beginning of the year.”

Is Williams enjoying tinkering with his stuff this early in camp or is it strictly about pitch volume?

“Both,” he said. “We had some sequencing today that, if this was a real game against the Astros, we probably wouldn't have sequenced to certain guys that way. But the ability to just execute the sequences that we want to, regardless of the outcome, was good today. So we were 2-for-2 doing weird sequences. And again, this is a start that I'm not really preparing for like I would a start during the year. Not that I don't know these hitters, but there's just certain guys that, if it was the season, we probably wouldn't have done that sequence.”

* DJ Herz did not have as encouraging an outing. Following Williams out of the bullpen due to tomorrow’s true off-day (no one will be at the Nationals’ side of the complex), the young left-hander issued four walks with one hit, two runs and one strikeout.

Herz entered the game in the bottom of the fourth to closely simulate starting a game. He only issued one free pass while otherwise getting out of that frame unscathed. But his afternoon turned ugly in the fifth.

Herz started his next inning by issuing three straight walks to load the bases. He was able to strike out the fourth batter, but then gave up a sacrifice fly and RBI single before Martinez came out to pull the southpaw from the game. Herz threw 47 pitches, 21 of which were strikes, over his 1 ⅔ innings.

“One, he wanted to pitch from the stretch. Two, he wanted to work on his slide step,” Martinez said. “At some point, he's just got to go out there (and pitch). I said, 'We can do all that stuff in the backfields. He's got to go out there and compete.' He's got to play in the game. We can work on stuff if he wants. But he's got to go out there and compete. The walks, I tell him all the time, the walks are gonna get him. So he's gotta throw strikes.”

While being a contender for the fifth starter’s spot in the Opening Day rotation, this was the second straight outing Herz had issues with walks. He gave up two runs, three hits and two walks with one strikeout Wednesday against the Astros. He issued a two-out walk, a two-run homer and then back-to-back singles in his first inning. Then he recorded two outs in the second.

“It's still early. We're still in early March,” Martinez said of his level of concern with Herz’s walks. “He did throw on three days' rest by design just getting back out there. But he'll be on a regular rotation next time.”

* The Nats' pitching plan after tomorrow's off-day:

Tuesday vs. Cardinals (ss) – Jake Irvin
Wednesday at Marlins – Shinnosuke Ogasawara/Mitchell Parker
Thursday at Cardinals – Michael Soroka