The Washington Nationals notched another come-from-behind win last night in Kansas City. This team is playing exciting baseball, and tomorrow they will reach the one-third mark in the season. Since that trip to l’étoile du nord, “the star of the north”, in Minnesota, the Nats are 18-16 in that 34-game stretch, and while that sounds good for a rebuilding team — fact is that is the fourth best record in that span for NL teams.
Maybe the biggest news of the night was the rise of the Nats top prospects led by Brady House, Elijah Green, and James Wood. They all had monster games to really bolster their May stats. Wood was already over .900 OPS for the season, and House got back to that mark last night after blasting not one, but two oppo homers high over that 16 foot wall in right field. Green just missed a homer and settled for a double for his efforts, and Wood blasted his third homer of the week.
News broke this morning from the Washington Post’s Jesse Dougherty that Wood has been promoted to Double-A Harrisburg. That is a good sign as Wood dominated High-A Wilmington and earned this promotion. Usually a move like this comes on a Tuesday, but the team certainly might think that they want to move his level up with more urgency and join fellow Top-100 prospect Robert Hassell III in Harrisburg. Both came over in that Juan Soto trade with the Padres. Normally when someone like Wood is promoted, it might trigger other moves so stay tuned for that.
“He’s done well. In a short period of time in High-A, [James Wood] has done really well. I try to keep track of these [prospects], and I think his OPS is over .900. His strikeout [rate] is down a little bit, and his walk rate is up a little bit.
— manager Dave Martinez said last night
When [James Wood] hits the ball, he hits the ball hard, and he’s walking, so that’s a good sign. They felt like this is the time to move him up, and he definitely deserved to get his shot to go up to Double-A. …He’s gonna be a good one.”
The Nats starters have a combined ERA of 4.51 for 16th best in MLB after Gray held serve yesterday.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Jake Irvin 5.32 ERA
No. 4 Starter: Patrick Corbin 4.88
No. 3 Starter: Trevor Williams 4.32
No. 2 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.88
No. 1 Starter: Josiah Gray 2.77
The Nats starter yesterday, Josiah Gray, did not have his best stuff and manager Dave Martinez hooked him in the fourth inning to keep the game close as 2-0. The bullpen stepped up with a 5-inning shutout by Mason Thompson, Carl Edwards Jr., Hunter Harvey, and Kyle Finnegan. That proved to be the right moves as the Nats mounted another great comeback and won it 4-2 on a game-winning RBI 2-run double by CJ Abrams. The Nats can actually sweep a 3-game series for the first time since 2021 (June 14-16) if MacKenzie Gore can find a way to lead these Nats to a victory.
Here is your Baseball Savant Statcast link for the game.
Washington National vs. Kansas City Royals
Stadium: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
1st Pitch: 2:10 pm EDT
TV: MASN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
