Williams Day Four roundup (plus, when do we see The Babe?)

VIERA, Fla. - One more day of physicals tomorrow for all position players and then Thursday begins official full roster workouts. Nationals manager Matt Williams said all pitchers are healthy through the first four days.

"Everybody's good," Williams added. "Nothing more than spring training legs and backs. That's part of the deal."

For the second consecutive day, Williams began the morning on the Space Coast Stadium infield going through fundamental drills with Ryan Zimmerman at first base. The veteran is making the move across the diamond after playing primarily at third base during his first 10 seasons in the majors.

"It's not easy," Williams said. "It's going to be an easier transition for him as opposed to other folks because he's a fantastic athlete. But still, it's the other side of the diamond. He's working every morning on it. It's good to be able to get him out there by himself and be able to take our time and do the things we want to do, and that will continue. He's never shied away from extra reps and working hard, that's for sure. The focus for him this spring is to get him ready offensively, but we really have to be diligent about his defensive play and the work he puts in in that regard. And he's on board. He's itching to do it."

Williams and other Nationals coaches spent most of the time simulating situations with a runner on first and Zimmerman having to rotate to make the throw to second base after fielding a ground ball. For the most part, he looked sharp throughout the short workout.

The most impressive moments of Day Four happened early in the pitchers' workout when Gio Gonzalez, Doug Fister and Jordan Zimmermann took the mounds three-across. Pitching coach Steve McCatty again started the session by yelling, "Flame on." And the trio properly followed instruction by popping mitts like gunfire with blazing fastballs and filthy breaking balls for the 10-minute period. It's an incredibly unique opportunity to see three of the game's premier pitchers perfecting their craft side-by-side-by-side.

It's well-documented that Fister and Zimmermann are entering contract years with the Nationals, so we know their added incentives this season. But the competitive Gonzalez has plenty to prove coming off his worst season with the Nats in 2014 that saw him deal with shoulder difficulties and labor through the first half of the year before returning to form down the stretch.

"It's the first time that he's ever had issues," Williams said. "Physical issues. He's always been completely healthy. Last year, he had a little feeling in the shoulder. Everything turned out fine as far as results go, but that's a shocker to a player that's never had something like that before. So he worked through that. So it's a learning process for him. During that time, it was a struggle for him because he didn't feel right and wasn't throwing the ball the way he wanted to throw the ball."

Gonzalez spent a month on the disabled list before returning to the rotation in mid-June last season.

"I think the greatest thing for him was his second half - the way he responded coming out of that injury, being able to go back out and get done what he wanted to get done," Williams said. "Yeah, he doesn't want the total result of last year to be what people think of him. We see beyond that, though. We see him coming back from the injury and having a dominant second half, and the way he pitched was more Gio. I think he would admit that, too. I think he's fine. I think he's enthusiastic. He's excited about being here and being part of it. Mentally, I think he's right on track and ready to go. I know he feels great, so give him the ball and let him go."

With full-team workouts scheduled to begin Thursday and the first game just nine days away, Williams shared some of his approach to spring training.

"Once we get into games, I want to know exactly how many at-bats guys want, and we'll get them to that point," Williams said. "These guys make it to the big leagues, they've played a long time. A lot of them have played a long time. They understand what it takes for them to get ready. I need to know that so we can plan accordingly. So all of that kind of gets compartmentalized as we work through the six to eight weeks that we're down here. So that being said, we'll cross the first hurdle, go to the second one, get past that one, and get to the end of the race, hopefully all healthy and ready to go for opening day."

Williams was also asked when he's going to bring out his famous Babe Ruth impression, a move MASN's F.P. Santangelo got him to promise would happen last season if the Nationals won 10 consecutive games. Of course, they did in August, but despite the urging, Williams didn't feel the time was appropriate given the Nats' late-season playoff push.

"The Babe? You know, I've made this decision and, uh, I can't even keep a straight face," Williams joked. "I have no idea. You know, there's some folks that speculate that it's kind of like a fine wine, right? So if you open that bottle of fine wine, why would you try to age it any further because it's already ready to drink, right? So that being said, why would you try to top what's already been done? So that's one avenue of thinking. The other avenue is, people are asking, 'When are you going to do it?' I don't have a clue. I'm just trying to get through spring, man. So we'll see. We'll just keep people hanging."

Here's the video from of Williams as "The Babe" from back in his playing days with San Francisco and pics from Tuesday: