Revere's struggles have not deterred Baker's confidence

Manager Dusty Baker opted to give center fielder Ben Revere the night off in Baltimore on Tuesday. Revere has struggled, hitting .186 (18-for-97) in his last 30 games, with one homer, seven RBIs and nine strikeouts.

Revere has not played as much recently with the addition of Trea Turner and his introduction to center field. His on-base percentage is just .259 this season, well off his career mark of .321.

But Baker said the Nationals need Revere to get more consistent and he will be valuable as the team strives to with the National League East.

Revere has had a tough time over the last week, hitting .118 (2-for-17) in his last five games.

"When you're used to playing every day, it's tough to handle," Baker said Tuesday prior to an 8-1 loss at Baltimore. "For a long time, he was playing every day. We're going to need Ben Revere. People ask why you stick with this guy, that guy. There's going to come a time when we need Ben Revere. God forbid if somebody gets hurt. If Ben hadn't played at all, now you're wasting time for him to try to find his stroke with very limited time left.

"It'd be different if he was a rookie and didn't have any track record. But this guy has a track record, just like (Ryan Zimmerman) has a track record. We have some other guys that have struggled, too, but we're still in pretty good shape. I'm counting on these guys at some point in time to come through."

Revere hit .294, .305, .306, .298 and .306 from 2012 to 2015 with Minnesota, Philadelphia and Toronto. During that same timeframe, his on-base percentages were .310, .333, .338, .325 and .342.

But this season, he has struggled to a career-low .213 average through 82 games with an on-base percentage of .259, also his worst mark with at least 80 games played in a season.

Baker and the Nats need Revere to return to form to help them win the NL East and attempt to make some noise in the 2016 postseason. He is certainly capable of that.

Programming note: If you are going to tonight's game, make sure you watch my interview with Olympic swimming champion Katie Ledecky of Bethesda on the field and appearing on the Nats Park video board at 6:30 p.m.