With new youth movement, will Nuñez get more chances to play?

The Nationals’ goal for the last six weeks of the season is clear: Stick with the youth movement and see what pieces they have for next season.

The young regulars, of course, will continue to get a majority of the playing time. CJ Abrams, James Wood, Keibert Ruiz, Luis García Jr. and Jacob Young are important pieces moving forward. Newcomers Juan Yepez, Andrés Chaparro and José Tena will also get reps.

So where does that leave Nasim Nuñez?

The 23-year-old infielder, who the Nationals selected with the fifth pick of last year’s Rule 5 Draft, has been with the team all season. As part of his Rule 5 status, he has to remain on the major league roster all season or else be offered back to his original club, the Marlins.

But Nuñez has only played in 31 games this season, mostly as a pinch-runner or defensive replacement. He has only made six starts and played four complete games.

Nuñez is only 6-for-22 (.273) with 11 runs scored and four stolen bases as a hitter. But his value comes as a defender; he has yet to commit an error at shortstop in 15 games and, after he joined the Nats organization, he was named the “Best Defensive Infielder” in the system by Baseball America.

Unfortunately, his defensive position is also the reason he has not played as much with the All-Star Abrams blocking him. In fact, manager Davey Martinez thought about giving Abrams a day off Sunday in Philadelphia for a little mental reset before today's off-day and playing Nuñez instead. But with Abrams struggling at the plate since the All-Star break, the skipper decided to keep him in there, which kept Nuñez on the bench again.

“The biggest thing with Nasim is he plays shortstop,” said Martinez. “Our shortstop is very, very young, so he's got to play. He's done really well though.”

The Nationals have told him to prepare every day as if he’s going to play. Because as a role player off the bench, he never knows when he’ll be called upon to play.

That was the case when Nuñez recorded his first major league hit. In a June 27 game in San Diego with the Nats down 8-0 to the Padres in the ninth, Martinez had Nuñez pinch-hit for Abrams. Except the skipper told Nuñez at the very last moment, so he actually had to use Abrams’ batting gloves while recording his first hit.

Moments like that are why Nuñez has to stay ready at all times.

“I'm really proud of him because his routine is really good every day,” Martinez said. “He prepares himself every day to play. The biggest thing is that I told him, I said, you gotta come in to the ballpark every day and act like, when you're working out, it's your game day and you're playing. And he's done that and he's done really well. And when I put him in, he's done really well in the field. He's starting to get hits here and there. He's running bases really well.”

It may be tough for Nuñez to watch other young players get more playing time. But that is the nature of his roster status and the position he plays.

After this season, however, he’ll be able to be optioned down to the minors, where he should get everyday playing time. He could even come back up to the majors and play every day for the Nationals should they need him.

But for now, they need Abrams to play as much as possible while they wait for Nuñez to become more roster flexible.

“His time will come,” said Martinez, “but we got a young shortstop that needs to play every day.”