The Washington Nationals will have DJ Herz on the mound for his second career start after his debut five days ago. The Braves will have an MLB debut for their top pitching prospect, 22-year-old right-hander, Hurston Waldrep. He was drafted in the first round less than 12 months ago from the University of Florida and has just 18 pro starts across the Braves’ various minor league levels. The Nats are up 2-1 in this 4-game series, and have won 5-of-7 games so far against the Braves this season. Tomorrow is a day-off and this game completes the long 17-game consecutive game marathon.
In the pregame, Washington Commanders 1st round draft pick, QB Jayden Daniels, is scheduled to throw-out the ceremonial first pitch. If you’re going to the game, arrive early so you don’t miss this. First pitch is at 1:35 pm. By the way, Dylan Crews went to LSU with Daniels, and Crews said before the NFL Draft that the two have “talked a couple of times” and he was hopeful that the Commanders would draft Daniels because “that would be pretty cool. An amazing talent for a dual-threat guy who can run the ball and sling it like he does. I think it would be a perfect fit.” Both were the №2 draft picks in this past year’s MLB/NFL drafts from LSU. That is the first time in the two sports that a second pick was chosen from the same school. You will remember that Paul Skenes and Crews made MLB Draft history getting selected first and second in the draft from the same school. The MLB Draft is exactly five weeks from today.
For the bullpen, manager Dave Martinez didn’t have to use closer Kyle Finnegan last night with a 4-run lead, and he was also able to stay off of Hunter Harvey. Once again Derek Law threw parts of two innings. Dylan Floro and Robert Garcia pitched the final two innings on Saturday. With the day-off tomorrow, every pitcher except for Law should be available.
With Patrick Corbin‘s downs and ups this season, you have to wonder what his future is in this rotation — but with DJ Herz up now and Trevor Williams injured, there is nobody to step in until Cade Cavalli and/or Josiah Gray are ready. Gray will pitch a rehab game with Single-A Fredericksburg on Sunday, and Cavalli will do some bullpen work after his rehab start with Wilmington High-A did not go too well. It appears that Gray will be ready first.
Here’s what we think the starting rotation could look like going forward since the Nats announced they are skipping Corbin’s next start and moving him to Saturday against Miami:
- Sunday: DJ Herz vs. Braves
- Monday: Day-off June 10
- Tuesday: Mitchell Parker vs. Tigers
- Wednesday: Jake Irvin vs. Tigers
- Thursday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Tigers
- Friday: Herz vs. Marlins
- Saturday: Corbin vs. Marlins
- Sunday: Parker vs. Marlins
- Monday: Day-off June 17
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Jake Irvin on top with a +1.7 WAR, Trevor Williams at +1.7 WAR, and MacKenzie Gore is at +1.5 WAR. Jacob Young is at the top spot with +1.2 for position players, and Mitchell Parker is at the +1.0 mark. In total, 20 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another six are at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
“When you play these teams that are really good, and you compete with that — that should say a lot to our guys. We can play with them. We’ve got to continue to do the little things. We’ve got to continue to throw strikes, and we’ve got to do a better job of driving in runs. But to do what we’re doing against Atlanta, that’s a good sign.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.07 and 17th in MLB.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 6.15
No. 4 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.57
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.47
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.12
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 2.22
Washington Nationals vs. Atlanta Braves
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:35 pm EDT
TV: MASN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app; In Spanish on DC 87.7 FM and La Pantera 100.7 FM/1220 AM. On Sirius/XM, the opposing team will be online and the Nats broadcast will be on Channel 179.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
TalkNats is Celebrating the 5 and 100 year anniversaries of World Series Wins by providing Game-by-Game Summaries.
Game 65:
The Nationals won on 06/09 on the road against the Padres resulting in a record of 30-35. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators won on 06/30 at home against the Red Sox resulting in a record of 37-28. Box Score / Standings
