Robles walking, Zimmerman homering, Scherzer starts tonight

The highlight of the Nationals' 8-4 loss to the Mets on Thursday in Port St. Lucie, Fla., was the Grapefruit League debuts of first-round picks Cade Cavalli and Jackson Rutledge. But there were other notable developments to come out of the game, so let's run through some of those this morning ...

* Victor Robles is getting on base out of the leadoff spot without getting hits. The young center fielder has started three games so far and has served as the leadoff hitter in all three. And though he's only notched one base hit, he's reached base in four of nine plate appearances to date.

There was the token Robles hit-by-pitch during Wednesday's game against the Marlins. But more importantly there were a pair of walks during Thursday's game. And in each case, Robles promptly stole second base, putting himself in scoring position.

It's hardly time to declare the Robles leadoff experiment a success, but he's off to an encouraging start.

"I love to see that," manager Davey Martinez said during his postgame Zoom session with reporters. "He worked some good at-bats, got on base, stole a couple bases for us. That's huge. If he can do that for us, we're going to be in great shape, really. We're going to continue to work with him. I know he's got a long way to go - he knows that - but his at-bats looked a lot better."

* Ryan Zimmerman is hitting the ball with authority. He homered to left in his 2021 debut Monday. Then he doubled and homered to right Thursday afternoon.

The double, a sinking liner to right in the first inning that skipped away from a diving Khalil Lee, left Zimmerman's bat at 105.4 mph, the hardest any Nationals batter hit a ball during the game. The homer, off a Dellin Betances fastball away in the fifth, left his bat at 102.3 mph and sailed over the fence in right-center some 402 feet away.

For a guy who sat out the 2020 season, Zimmerman looks very comfortable at the plate.

"Ryan is a professional hitter," Martinez said. "He understands the strike zone, he understands what he wants to do. He's one guy who really stays through the ball. When he starts hitting the ball like that, to right-center field, that's a good indication that he's really seeing the ball, staying on the ball well."

Two games in, the 36-year-old first baseman is 3-for-4 with a double, two homers, a walk, four RBIs and a modest 3.300 OPS.

"It's a little early," Martinez cautioned. "The biggest thing for us right now is to keep him healthy and keep him going."

* Though Cavalli and Rutledge enjoyed memorable spring training debuts, a fellow young pitching prospect was not as fortunate. Cole Henry, the organization's second-round pick last summer, also made his first appearance but was roughed up during a long bottom of the fifth.

Henry loaded the bases with one out when Drew Ferguson singled, Brandon Nimmo walked and Jeff McNeil was hit by a wayward pitch. Henry got back on track when he struck out Dominic Smith, but his pitch count was already at 27 by that point.

Martinez had the option of ending the inning right there because of the high pitch count, but he decided to let Henry continue. The next batter was Pete Alonso, and the Mets masher sent the first pitch he saw deep to right-center for a grand slam.

It was a rough introduction for Henry, but the former LSU right-hander seemed to take it in stride.

"I asked if they were nervous," Martinez said, referring to all of his young pitchers who appeared in the game. "Obviously they said very, and Cole Henry made a comment about getting his feet wet. And he said they were soaked."

* Four games into their Grapefruit League schedule, the Nationals have not yet won a game. They also have not yet sent Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, Jon Lester, Joe Ross, Brad Hand, Daniel Hudson, Tanner Rainey or Will Harris to the mound.

At long last, though, one of those important pitchers will actually pitch in a spring training game tonight: Scherzer will start in the 6:05 p.m. game against the Cardinals in West Palm Beach.

Scherzer's outing comes about four weeks after he sprained his left ankle during a pre-spring training conditioning drill. After taking some time off following the injury, he began to throw again and ramp his arm back up. He has since thrown off a bullpen mound several times and faced live hitters once.

Turns out the three-time Cy Young Award winner will be the first member of the Nationals' projected opening day rotation to pitch this spring, even with the injury setback.