Matt of Matt's Bats: The Nationals through the eyes of a 10-year-old

Hello, Nationals fans! Aren't you happy baseball is back?

My name is Matt, a 10-year-old kid from the D.C. suburbs. I am a huge Nats fan, so I am so excited to be writing for MASNsports.com this season. I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself to the readers who may not know me.

In July 2012, I started a blog called Matt's Bats, which you can find here. I started writing Matt's Bats because I became a huge fan of baseball after going to my first Nationals game in 2009. When I was 8, my parents and I worked out a deal that I could stay up past my bedtime to watch Nationals games on MASN by writing a short paragraph about what happened in the game. Eventually, we started publishing those paragraphs and more of my writing about players and games on a blog. In November 2012, we set up with a Twitter account (@MattsBats), and as word spread around Nats fans online, my blog really took off. I now have over 1,300 Twitter followers! Later that year, in August 2013, MLB Advanced Media asked if would write a Pro Blog on their Web site, and I instantly became the youngest professional blogger on MLB.com. I have been writing my blog on MLB's blog network, despite juggling third, fourth and fifth grades. I am glad that MASNsports.com asked me to be a guest blogger this baseball season.

Being a kid blogger has been a lot of work, but it's also given me great opportunities. I have been interviewed about baseball on live TV, podcasts and Web sites. I've had my posts featured on other blogs, and Derek Jeter even put one of my posts on his Facebook page! The coolest thing about being a pro blogger is that I have had the opportunity to meet and interview many famous baseball players, like Justin Verlander, Stephen Strasburg and Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda. If you want to read more about these cool experiences, check out my page here.

OK, enough about me. Let's bring the subject back to baseball. Here's what I think you need to be on the lookout for in the first week of the 2015 season. The Nats didnt field their opening day lineup on opening day. Jayson Werth, Anthony Rendon and Denard Span are injured. Be prepared in the first couple of series for the Nats to look like a good team with a little bit of struggle in them. It's great to get off to a hot start during the first week, but even if they don't, don't worry! Our first five series are against teams that had below-.500 records last season. I expect once the regular starters come back into the lineup, the team will do fantastic. Plus, they have some great starting pitching to carry them through the early part of the long season.

I can't wait to for the baseball season to get started. Check in every Tuesday on MASNsports.com to see what I think about how the Nationals are doing. I hope you like my work. I'll be back next week with more baseball through the eyes of a 10-year-old kid.

Ten-year-old Matt blogs about the Nationals at Matt's Bats. Follow him on Twitter: @MattsBats. He shares his views weekly as part of MASNsports.com's initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.