The Nationals are headed north in Palm Beach County for today’s game against the Miami Marlins in Jupiter. That is where new Nats’ third baseman, Paul DeJong, makes his home because the Cardinals share Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium with St. Louis, and DeJong was once a budding star with the Cardinals.
This will be a 1:10 pm start and the game will be available on the Marlins radio feed via the MLB app. It is possible on Marlins.com that they have video from a pressbox camera like they have done in previous years.
This is the first ABS game for the Washington Nationals which means the “Automated Balls and Strikes” system, aka “robot ump” will be in effect and pitchers, catchers, and batters can challenge. Once you challenge twice unsuccessfully, you will be out of challenges. While CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches was not set-up with ABS, the Nats players with no recent minor league time will get this for the first time. The system is set-up based on your height — not where your knees are as the standard.
While the ABS system is only in Spring Training this year, it could be the standard for all MLB games next year. When that happens, most likely the rectangular K-zone image that is overlayed on your TV screen for games will go away.
The pitchers scheduled to start are Trevor Williams and Edward Cabrera. Same plan for Nats’ manager Dave Martinez will be to get an inning out of Williams as part of the Spring Training ramp-up. Yesterday was a rare off-day for the Nationals. But certainly players could have been getting in work on the back fields at the team’s complex in West Palm Beach.
Here is the 40-man roster as well as a list of the NRI players you will be seeing. At some point, you might also see players from Minor League camp get some action.
“We want them to just focus on throwing strikes. Let the catchers worry about [the ABS system]. Catchers have a better advantage, I think, when the ball is coming in [to the catcher] than the pitcher does. So we want them to worry about whether it’s a ball or strike or not.”
— manager Dave Martinez said
Much of Spring Training is about working on new pitches and mechanics for the pitchers, and batters are working on increasing contact and power.
As we learned last year with Trey Lipscomb tearing it up in Spring Training that not every positive you see will translate to the MLB season. But it also doesn’t mean you have to be cynical about what you see — good and bad. Spring Training in these small sample sizes and facing competition that often is like a Minor League game makes assessing by results more difficult. So far, it is top prospect, Robert Hassell III, off to a great start in his few at-bats where he has impressed with the bat, glove, and speed.
“It’s not just about hitting. You’re working on situational stuff, too, and it doesn’t have to be with runners on third. It could be a runner on second with no outs, your main objective is to get the guy to third. Make the guy behind you’s job a lot easier. Anybody can hit. For me, it’s about situational stuff and trying to do the little things to make your teammates’ job easier.”
— Dylan Crews said
There are 30-days until the Opening Day, and we get to see this lineup early in Spring Training:
- Dylan Crews RF
- Jose Tena 2B
- Paul DeJong 3B
- Josh Bell 1B
- Alex Call LF
- Stone Garrett DH
- Amed Rosario SS
- Jacob Young CF
- Andrew Knizner C
