The Washington Nationals split their doubleheader yesterday to get to 4-4 on their Grapefruit League record. They have a game early this afternoon followed by another day-off tomorrow that manager Dave Martinez said that is a true day-off, and he is not planning on heading to the team’s complex at the CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches.
Yesterday’s games got in the work for both MacKenzie Gore and Michael Soroka — both throwing three innings of zeroes. Trevor Williams gets the start today, and we will see how far he pitches today as we are 3½ weeks to Opening Day.
This will be a 1:05 pm start and the game will be available only on radio on DC’s flagship 106.7 FM and via the MLB app. Yesterday’s Marlins’ radio broadcast made it difficult to listen due to technical difficulties as the audio was cutting on and off throughout the game.
Some good news, Luis Garcia Jr. was scratched for flu-like symptoms not an injury before yesterday’s game against the Marlins.
One of the standouts in camp is Dylan Crews. He is batting .462 with an 1.148 OPS, and has been racking up the hits with runners in scoring position. He spoke earlier in Spring Training about doing what Alex Bregman does of staying on top of the ball. Both Bregman and Crews went to LSU in college and Bregman has remained a mentor for Crews.
“[Crews] is not trying to do a whole lot. He’s staying more in the middle of the field. Two really, really good at-bats with runners in scoring position, which we love, and like I said, he’s just trying to work the ball in the middle of the field. The pull side will come. I really love where he’s at right now in his at-bats.”
— Martinez said
“He’s really trying to stay on top of the ball, and again, really trying to hit the ball out in front of the plate instead of behind. He’s had a good spring.”
Much of Spring Training is about getting 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 know, the key is also staying healthy. Players will be ramped up in their workload. The team is going to be cautious for instance with James Wood and his sore quadricep. He is in today’s starting lineup as the DH, and Martinez does have a plan for him.
“It was good to finally get back out there. So yeah, I felt good.”
— Gore said
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.
There are 25-days until the Opening Day, and we get to see this lineup early in Spring Training:
