Soto not in Nats lineup after tweaking knee Thursday

Davey Martinez arrived in the visitors' Zoom press conference room in Atlanta shortly before 5 p.m. today and immediately was asked about Juan Soto's status for the Nationals' series opener against the Braves. Martinez, while insisting he's not significantly concerned about his star slugger's right knee, made it clear he was hesitant to put him in tonight's lineup.

"I'm at 50-50 right now, I really am," Martinez said. "Unless he comes in and says he's feels great, we might do something else."

About 20 minutes later, the Nationals unveiled their lineup card. And sure enough, Soto was not included in it.

The 22-year-old hurt his right knee while running the bases in the bottom of the ninth of Thursday's loss to the Phillies, crossing the plate on Josh Bell's infield single and Didi Gregorius' subsequent throwing error at a walk instead of a run. Afterward, Martinez said Soto "felt something in his knee," and would have to see how he felt the following day.

Soto made the trip to Atlanta with the rest of the club and went through some pregame drills to test the knee.

"He's out there right now," Martinez said as he opened his pregame session with reporters. "I don't have a lineup yet. We're trying to see how he feels. He's going to do some activation stuff and hit, and we'll see what happens here in a little bit."

Given the current state of a Nationals team that just traded away eight key veterans and has lost 22 of its last 31 games as it begins a rebuilding process, the lack of Soto's presence fundamentally changes Martinez's lineup. The manager is left to use the left-handed Yadiel Hernandez as his No. 3 hitter and the left-handed Gerardo Parra as his right fielder tonight, even though the Braves are starting a lefty in Kyle Muller.

But given Soto's importance to the franchise over the long haul, there seemed to be real hesitancy to try to let him play tonight and risk any further injury.

"He took his secondary lead yesterday and kind of tweaked his right knee," Martinez said. "I don't think there's a major concern, but we want to make sure he's OK."