The Washington Nationals hosted the crew from MLB Network in camp yesterday. It was good to see so much positivity spread. It certainly gave the Nationals some good exposure on their busy offseason with Kyle Finnegan‘s signing becoming official as the 11th player added on an MLB deal that began in early December when Evan Reifert was taken in the Rule-5 draft.
Since Reifert was added, Rizzo signed 10 new players, nine via free agency, and one through a trade. Nationals added Trevor Williams, Michael Soroka, Finnegan, Josh Bell, Shinnosuke Ogasawara, Jorge Lopez, Lucas Sims, Amed Rosario, and Paul DeJong via free agency, and Nathaniel Lowe via trade. Of course, Williams and Finnegan are not new to the Nationals, and same with Bell, but they all signed back as free agents. With the new contracts, bonus incentives and Ogaswara’s posting fee, and Reifert’s Rule-5 acquisition fee, Rizzo has committed to over $51 million in new payroll expenses.
This will be a 6:05 pm start and the game will be available on the Braves’ TV feed and MLB Network which reportedly is not blacked-out in the DC market. The game is being played in CACTI Park at the Palm Beaches, and the Braves are still sending their TV and radio crews to cover this game.
The pitchers scheduled to start are Jake Irvin and Bryce Elder. Now the second time through the rotation brings a ew plan for Nats’ manager Dave Martinez. He will hope to get at least two innings out of Irvin 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. Shinnosuke Ogasawara starts tomorrow 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 that a couple of days ago and Wood is not in the starting lineup tonight
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 the players who have 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 because Spring Training in these small sample sizes don’t mean much. Players are also facing different levels of competition that sometimes include fill-ins from their minor league camp.
“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 28-days until the Opening Day, and we get to see this lineup early in Spring Training:
1. CJ Abrams SS
2. Dylan Crews RF
3. Nathaniel Lowe 1B
4. Josh Bell DH
5. Luis Garcia Jr. 2B
6. Paul DeJong 3B
7. Robert Hassell III LF
8. Riley Adams C
9. Jacob Young CF
