Nats still in search of some power

ATLANTA – However close the first two games between the Nationals and Braves this weekend were, one thing has been abundantly clear: One team has power in full supply and one is seriously lacking.

You can probably guess which team is which.

The Nationals were doomed by this stark difference yesterday. The Braves hit two home runs, both two-run shots. The Nationals hit one, a leadoff homer by Stone Garrett in the top of the ninth in what ended up being a 6-4 loss.

Digging a little deeper shows the power difference is more than just home runs.

The Braves barreled four balls from Nationals pitching: Two doubles and the two homers. The Nationals barreled just one: Luis García’s deep fly ball in the first inning that was a sacrifice fly instead of a two-run homer.

(Per Statcast: “To be Barreled, a batted ball requires an exit velocity of at least 98 mph. At that speed, balls struck with a launch angle between 26-30 degrees always garner Barreled classification. For every mph over 98, the range of launch angles expands.”)

García’s ball had an expected batting average of .610 and would have been a homer in 13 out of 30 major league ballparks, including Nationals Park.

Even Garrett’s longball, which had an exit velocity of 102.2 mph at a 39-degree launch angle, wasn’t technically a barreled ball.

Sabermetrics aside, the Nats will take any form of power resulting in extra-base hits and home runs.

“We have to start getting the ball up in the zone and being aggressive early in counts,” manager Davey Martinez said after last night’s loss. "I think we're trying to see too many pitches and taking too many balls in the zone and then being on the defensive. It's hard to hit, but when you get to 0-2 it's really hard to hit, 1-2. So we got to be a little bit more aggressive in the zone early in counts and just try to stay in the middle of the field. We're really good at that. We're really good about hitting the ball and staying in the middle of the field, just getting base hits and not try to do too much. We gotta get back to that.”

The Nats have hit the second-fewest homers in the major leagues and the fewest in the National League. You’d be shocked to know the Braves have hit the third-most longballs in the majors and second-most in the NL.

Washington is averaging 43.84 at-bats per home run hit, and the Nats have only hit multiple homers in 12 of their first 63 games.

That can be incredibly frustrating for the team that has one of the highest overall batting averages (.262) in the sport and a top-10 on-base percentage in its league.

“I think it's a long year and I think we just have to keep hanging with it,” Lane Thomas said after going 2-for-4 with a triple and two-run double yesterday. “Eventually some of those will start falling. We can get some wins against guys like this. So hopefully, that happens in the future.”

The Nationals have typically been good at playing small ball to make up for their lack of power. Though the clutch hits have somewhat faded during this six-game losing streak.

“I think we just got to start doing a better job of moving guys and the situational hitting,” Thomas said. “Driving guys in when we have a chance to because that's what the good teams do.”

For right now, as it pertains to this series against the Braves, it’s easy to see the disparity in power between these two teams.

“We can't be frustrated about that,” Martinez said. “They got some good hitters. So we just got to keep pounding, keep working. And like I said, try to come back tomorrow and go 1-0 and leave here with a victory.”