In today’s game against the Marlins, top prospect right-handed pitcher Erick Fedde gets another start for the Washington Nationals. The stands will have scouts and fans in attendance at this game. It is unclear why the scouts are tracking Erick Fedde, and it could be wishful thinking on their club’s part as Erick Fedde is the Nats “next man up”. Fedde faced the Mets “A” team on Saturday and went 3 innings of one-hit baseball. The key today is going 4 innings with the same dominance against the Marlins.
Photo of the front gates of Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter by Sol Tucker for TalkNats.com
In yesterday’s minor league camp, Max Scherzer got his final tune-up before he makes his Grapefruit League debut next week. Scherzer pitched pain-free as he has been recovering from a fracture in the knuckle on his right ring-finger in his throwing hand, and this was the first time this spring that he was able to grip his fastball with a normal two-finger grip. Scherzer had been working for a few weeks with a three-finger grip on his fastball to alleviate the pain.
“It’s good to be back to the normal grip,” Max Scherzer told the assembled media after his outing yesterday. “From here on out, I’ll obviously be progressing that way and dialing it in to really try to pitch with the fastball again. Now, I feel back…I should be progressing at a pretty good clip now to allow myself to find a way to be able to start the regular season.”
Before Scherzer threw a pitch yesterday, Dusty Baker threw caution to the wind with his feeling that we should not expect Scherzer to be ready for Opening Day. Scherzer clearly has his own opinion on how he will get ready in 17 days for Opening Day because he was not having anything of what Dusty Baker was serving up as Scherzer’s plan is to be ready for April 3rd at 1:05pm in Nationals Park against the Miami Marlins. Time will tell.
The Nationals starting position players have not been on-base often this Spring other than Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon. Matt Wieters is batting .000, Jayson Werth .130, Ryan Zimmerman, .136, Daniel Murphy .176, Trea Turner .182, and Adam Eaton .226. The silver lining here is that these stats go in the trash can at the end of the day on April 2nd.
Today’s St. Paddy’s Day starting line-up against the Marlins today is Anthony Rendon and several players vying for a spot on the Nationals bench for Opening Day:
- Wilmer Difo SS
- Brian Goodwin RF
- Michael Taylor CF
- Anthony Rendon 3B
- Chris Heisey LF
- Clint Robinson DH
- Adam Lind 1B
- Spencer Kieboom C
- Emmanuel Burriss 2B
Erick Fedde RHP
Photo by Kevin Nibley for TalkNats
Photo by Kevin Nibley for TalkNats
