Nats giving Young "reset" as frustration mounts for outfielder

Jacob Young will sit for the second straight day as the Nationals finish their three-game series against the Diamondbacks. Alex Call will play right field as Dylan Crews shifts to center, as was the case when Young sat Saturday against Arizona left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez.

Call starting against a left-hander yesterday wasn’t questioned due to his career .740 OPS against southpaws versus Young’s .678. But against right-hander Corbin Burnes, it was a wonder why the starting center fielder wasn’t back in the lineup.

“I talked to him a couple days ago. We're just doing a reset on him,” manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame press conference. “He's got a little frustrated just (with) how he is swinging. We saw some things that we wanted to address. He's been working the last two days on his swing, so he'll be back in there tomorrow.”

Young is 1-for-15 (.067) with a double, three walks, two strikeouts and 1-for-3 stolen bases in seven games. He’s only started six of those games, coming in as a pinch-runner Wednesday in Toronto but getting caught stealing for the final out in a loss.

“Well, one, he's diving to home plate,” Martinez said. “He's not seeing the ball away from him. He's not catching up to the ball inside. So we just want to address the issue and get him going.”

Young slashed .256/.316/.331 with a .648 OPS, 24 doubles, one triple, three home runs, 36 RBIs, 33 stolen bases and 30 walks during his rookie season. He was also one of the best defensive center fielders in the major leagues, finishing as a finalist for a National League Gold Glove Award.

The 25-year-old entered spring noticeably bigger, hoping to add more offensive production this year. He started strong, but the Nats noticed some changes to his approach toward the end of camp.

“Kind of towards the end a little bit, we started seeing it a little bit,” Martinez said. “In the beginning of spring training, he was actually pretty good. And then towards the end, we let it go for a little bit, and now we gotta kind of give him a little reset.”

The Nationals want to make sure he stays within himself before things get worse.

“The thing about Jacob is that he understands he has to be short,” the skipper said. “We're not looking for him to hit home runs. We're looking for him just to put the ball in play, hit the ball hard. Play the game the right way. He's a situational guy. We got to understand, too, his defense is really important to us, too. So as I told him, he's our center fielder. He'll be back out there. But before it becomes a real big problem, we want to fix it. Hopefully he gets back out there and he starts hitting the ball the way we know he can.”

Meanwhile, Call is 4-for-8 (.500) with a 1.225 OPS, a double, two RBIs, two walks and no strikeouts in his 10 plate appearances over three games.

“He's just ready. He's always ready,” Martinez said. “He's ready to play the game. He does a good job of preparing himself every day. So to have a guy like him … be readily available, step in and play and do well, is awesome.”