On the Nats’ crowded outfield conundrum

After the Nationals started 1-6, they have won four of their last five games. Winning cures all. Spirits are high.

But the Nats do find themselves with one problem. Don’t worry, it’s a good one to have.

There is a bit of an outfield conundrum forming in the Nats dugout, thanks to a scorching-hot start from Alex Call.

Call made the Opening Day roster as the fourth outfielder coming off the bench. Manager Davey Martinez announced early in spring training he was going to run out James Wood in left field, Jacob Young in center and rookie Dylan Crews in right on a daily basis to start the season.

But Crews struggled out of the gate, going hitless in his first 19 at-bats. Then Young was given a reset over the weekend after frustrations started to mount following his 1-for-15 start over his first eight games.

With Young on the bench, Call got his first chance at significant playing time in 2025. And he’s taken that opportunity and ran with it. The 30-year-old is 8-for-20 (.400) with a .481 on-base percentage and .500 slugging percentage for .981 OPS, which leads the team among those who played at least seven games.

Perhaps the most impressive stat are his five walks (and the emphatic bat flips that come with them) to only one strikeout.

Call has been every manager’s dream bench player: Patiently wait for your opportunity to play, be ready when it comes and produce.

How can Martinez take Call out of the lineup? Putting him in it was easy when two of the three starting outfielders were struggling at the plate, but now they’re coming along.

Crews has hits in three of his last six games, including two multi-hit games. Plus, he’s making more loud contact, which is a good sign his results will continue improving.

Young went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a walk Tuesday against the Dodgers, so hopefully his adjustments behind the scenes are starting to kick in.

And then there’s Wood, who may be the Nats’ best all-around offensive player and is in no danger of seeing the bench unless it’s for well-deserved rest. The 22-year-old is tied for the team lead with four home runs, and leads the group with 10 RBIs and leads qualified Nats hitters with a .941 OPS.

Oh, and he had three homers over his first two games against the Dodgers.

Again, this is not a bad problem to have. But it must be getting difficult for Martinez to decide who’s starting in his outfield on any given night. (The skipper actually got all four of them in the lineup Tuesday with Wood serving as the designated hitter for the first time in his career Tuesday while the other three played the outfield.)

But given the traditional three open spots in the outfield, who among the four do you have playing between the near lock in Wood, the defensive expert in Young, the high-potential rookie in Crews and the red-hot Call?

Amy Jennings and I gave our answers on the latest episode of “District Chat,” your new audio home for our national pastime in our nation’s capital. Check out our full conversation about the outfield and more by either watching yesterday’s episode here or listening to it on your favorite podcasting platform here.

“District Chat” will be live on the MASN Nationals Facebook page and YouTube channel every Wednesday at 1 p.m. We hope you like, subscribe and follow along for the latest Nationals news, talk and exclusive interviews all season!