The Nationals have MLB Network in camp today. We know that they have interviews set up with Dylan Crews and James Wood — and neither are in the lineup today. Actually, Wood has been nursing mild quadricep tendonitis, and the team has not allowed him to play to this point. You know who is starting today? Robert Hassell III gets the start after being the star of the first three Spring Training games.
This will be a 1:05 pm start and the game will be available on the Astros radio feed via the MLB app. No TV for this one.
The pitchers scheduled to start are lefty DJ Herz and Framber Valdez. Same plan for Nats’ manager Dave Martinez will be to get at least one inning out of Herz as part of the Spring Training ramp-up.
It now looks like the plan is to get both MacKenzie Gore and Michael Soroka on the mound on Saturday for their Spring Training debuts in split-squad afternoon/evening games. Gore threw two innings in live BP on Monday, and Soroka also pitched on that day. Jake Irvin is scheduled for his second start tomorrow against the Braves, and Shinnosuke Ogasawara starts on Friday with Mitchell Parker coming out of the bullpen after Ogasawara in that game at Port St. Lucie against the Mets. We might see Ogasawara facing Juan Soto. Yes, the Mets will air that game on SNY on Friday.
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.
“[Wood] is doing better. He’s doing all the exercises. He ran a lot better. My goal is if everything goes well is to maybe DH him Thursday night.”
— manager Dave Martinez said
Much of Spring Training is about get the reps in for the veteran players while working on new pitches and mechanics for the pitchers, and batters are working on increasing contact and power. For the players who are trying to make the roster, they are there trying to impress.
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 different levels of competition is like a Minor League game, and that makes assessing by results more difficult.
“We are really preaching getting good pitches to hit. We’re getting balls in the zone, and we’re making good contact, which is great. That’s what we’re talking about. We’ve got to have better swing decisions, and the last couple days, I’ve seen a lot better decision-making when the ball is in the zone.”
— Martinez said
There are 29-days until the Opening Day, and we get to see this lineup early in Spring Training:
1. CJ Abrams SS
2. Luis Garcia Jr. 2B
3. Keibert Ruiz C
4. Nathaniel Lowe 1B
5. Andres Chaparro DH
6. Jose Tena 3B
7. Stone Garrett RF
8. Robert Hassell CF
9. Juan Yepez LF
