Martinez seeks more walks from Harper (Nats win 11-2)

Bryce Harper leads all National League hitters with 18 home runs. That's a good thing. He's tied for 50th in hits. That's not such a good thing.

Harper leads the NL in walks for the season, with 47. That's a good thing. Since May 1, he's tied for 60th with only nine walks. That's definitely not a good thing.

Such is the odd nature of Harper's season to date. He continues to hit the ball out of the park as well as anybody. But he's not hitting singles or drawing walks the way he used to (he has only nine singles and eight walks in his last 26 games).

Davey Martinez believes one key change will allow Harper to do everything else he has struggled to do for the last month.

"Like I've said before, Bryce just needs to understand about taking his walks," Martinez said. "And he's so good when he uses the middle of the field. He's got power to all fields. So if he stays in the middle of the field, he typically puts a good swing and hits the ball really hard. We'll continue to talk to him about that. He's going to be fine. His power numbers are unbelievable. We just want him to continue to take his walks and get on base."

Harper drew a near-record 38 walks in March and April, but he has grown impatient since then, chasing pitches out of the zone. And when he does make contact on some of those pitches - especially those off the plate to the outside, he's making weak contact.

The lack of protection around him hasn't helped, but help may be on the way soon. Adam Eaton is eligible to come off the 60-day disabled list Friday, and if he continues to look good on his rehab assignment that may happen.

After playing three games for Double-A Harrisburg over the weekend, Eaton moved to Single-A Potomac on Tuesday night and clubbed a home run while playing five innings in center field. He's scheduled to serve as designated hitter today.

Eaton's pending return leaves the Nationals facing a decision about Juan Soto. They are attempting to find out if Eaton's surgically repaired knee and ankle can handle the extra workload of center field, which would in turn allow Soto to remain in left field.

Now two weeks into his big league career, Soto has shown few signs of letting up, or of failing to adjust to major league pitchers. The 19-year-old enters today's game batting .333 (16-for-48) with a .429 on-base percentage and .949 OPS.

"He's done really well," Martinez said. "For him, it's just taking his walks and trying to not do too much. He's another guy: stay in the middle of the field. Yesterday he just missed hitting a home run. But he stayed on the ball really well. That's good to see."

Soto did commit a baserunning blunder Sunday in Atlanta when he failed to tag up from second base on a ninth-inning flyout to deep center field. But he bounced back Tuesday and went first-to-third on a single and then scored on a groundball to first with a nifty slide around Wilson Ramos' tag.

"We talked to him about (Sunday's mistake), and he understood," Martinez said. "But it's a learning process for him. He's got to learn. He's 19. He's starting awfully quick. He's only got 100 games of professional baseball. He's learning at the big league level. We've got to be patient with him."

Update: The Nats seem to have taken Martinez's advice to heart. They're already up 6-0 after three innings, with a string of impressive at-bats making that possible. They knocked out Rays "opener" Jonny Venters with five of their first six batters reaching base. That included a leadoff single by Trea Turner, walks by Harper and Soto and run-scoring doubles by Anthony Rendon and Michael A. Taylor. Then, after Rays manager Kevin Cash brought in starter/reliever Ryan Yarbrough and had him intentionally walk Pedro Severino to load the bases, Tanner Roark lined a two-run single to right to complete a five-run first. Add in another RBI single by Taylor in the bottom of the second, and the Nats have opened up an early six-run lead.

Update II: Though the Rays have been able to score a couple runs off Roark, they haven't seriously threatened the right-hander, who is through six innings on 84 pitches. And the Nats lineup hasn't let up. They just scored four more in the bottom of the sixth thanks to RBI doubles by Rendon and Soto, who has reached base three times today and just continues to impress, plus an RBI single by Taylor, who later stole third and scored on Wilson Ramos' wild throw. It's 10-2 heading to the seventh.

Update III: That'll do it. Nats win 11-2 and sweep the two-game series. They're off again tomorrow, then will return this weekend to face the Giants. (Might a certain silver trophy make an appearance on South Capitol Street during that series ... ?)