Instructional league work paying dividends now in cold January days

The progress the young pitchers in the Nationals system make during this offseason began with October and early November instructional league workouts and games.

The fruits of that labor are not seen by fans right now. The work these players are doing right now is fortified by what they learned at instructional league this year.

Thirty pitchers descended on the Nationals' Florida training facility at the end of the 2015 campaign and were given specific offseason regimens and points of emphasis they needed to improve their games on. Every pitcher - from Lucas Giolito to the likes of then-teenagers Pedro Avila, Weston Davis, McKenzie Mills, Yorlin Reynoso and Tyler Watson - all had precise goals in mind after instructional league concluded of what they needed to do right now to get better for 2016.

"Each guy had a special task," said Nationals pitching coordinator Paul Menhart. "We had individual meetings with each and every guy. We told them exactly why they were there and exactly what they were going to work on. And hopefully by the end of that time, they got a grasp of it and knew what they needed to do in the offseason on their own when they didn't have 30 eyes on them."

The league was broken up into groups for real games and then those that didn't pitch that day had to observe with a technical eye each play in those games. They were tested on game-related scenarios the next day.

"We went over the games the next morning as a group," Menhart said. "We gave out awards for Pitcher of the Game because you usually use seven or eight pitchers a game. We tested them on what happened during the game. We would hold a chat session with Q and A, and they were held accountable.

"We didn't ask the pitchers (who had played) in the game, we asked the pitchers that were watching. So they didn't think they were just down there to do nothing, so they were actually learning the game and paying attention. We were trying to teach them the importance of using that resource to help them in their own personal careers."

Now when these pitchers get back to places like Potomac, Hagerstown, Harrisburg and Syracuse and are in games, they can notice in-game situations and learn from them. Watch what the pitcher does here: Where does he position himself when the ball is in play? What base is he covering? What is the catcher doing? Are the pitch choices taking too long? Is the pitcher shaking him off too much? How is the communication between the catcher and the pitcher working? How are the signals being transmitted from the dugout? Is the pitcher slowing down too much late in games?

Menhart said "veterans" to instructional league, guys like Giolito, Jake Johansen, Austen Williams and others, at times stepped forward and took control of practices and workouts.

"These guys led," Menhart said. "It was so refreshing to see them be first in line every time and take over their particular groups."

Menhart said instructional league organization and accomplishment seems to rise every year with this club. And this time around, the players came to Florida ready to go, not hoping to kick back in the offseason, but instead work to get better with an aggressive, positive attitude. He noticed a big leap forward. Each player was given minor details of baseball plays to study and practice.

"I think leadership of (Nationals director of player development and pro scouting) Doug Harris has gotten us all on board with teaching these kids our core principles and making everything they do important," Menhart noted. "It showed. It could have been how to field a bunt to covering first base to changing a grip. They were open-eyed and ready to learn.

"It was a lot of fun this instructional league. We did some other things outside of baseball: your corn hole tournaments and your talent shows. The kids, I think, really enjoyed this year's instructional league and put a lot of work out there and gave us a nice return on what we put into it as well."