The Washington Nationals have two overlapping games on the schedule this afternoon. The first game is the final game of the Nats’ west coast of Florida games, as they play the Atlanta Braves in Venice, Florida. An hour later is the first pitch of the Nationals top prospects who will be playing in their first of two SPRING BREAKOUT games, with the other game on Sunday.
Today’s first game will be a 1:05 pm start time, and the game will be available on TV via MLB Video and radio from the Atlanta radio feed via the MLB App. The SPRING BREAKOUT game at 2:05 pm also looks to be available through the MLB.com website.
The Nationals are at 9-9-1 in Grapefruit League play. Manager Dave Martinez had a great start to yesterday’s game with a CJ Abrams‘ lead-off single, a Dylan Crews single, then a 3-run blast by James Wood. Unfortunately the Nats 4-1 lead turned to watch the Rays win 14-4.
A few days ago, Martinez was asked about who would be his fifth starter which appears to be a competition between DJ Herz and Mitchell Parker at this point. There might not be enough time for Shinnosuke Ogasawara to show what he has. Let’s look at ERA and WHIP for each: Herz 6.52/1.970, Parker 4.91/1.227, Ogasawara 7.56/2.520. Herz pitched yesterday and his velo was down on his fastball, but he also had his best pitching results of Spring Training allowing only 1-run over 3-innings. Herz made it clear he is not pitching with an injury.
“The spring training wear and tear kind of hits me a little harder. Look at last year, and then look at the years before, my velo’s always down in spring training, my command is all over the place. … Spring training hits me a lot harder than, I would say, most people. And I’m kind of going through that right now. I’m trying to grind through, get through these ones, until my arm is good.”
— Herz said
One starter who is out of the competition for the rotation is Jackson Rutledge however he will start today against the Braves in a bullpen role doing the “opener” for the Nats. He was the Nats 1st round draft pick in 2019, 17th overall, and has appeared seven times for the Nationals with a career 5.72 ERA. He did come out of the bullpen twice for the Nationals in 2024 with some success. The 6-foot-8 righty might be used as a long-man or just to pitch an inning. Martinez believes he will be able to throw harder out of the bullpen and be more effective.
“We’ll keep an eye on [Herz]. We’re going to be awful careful, because we can. I know he’s vying for that fifth spot, but we’ve got to be smart. For him, and for us. … Let’s see what happens this week.”
— Martinez said
RHP Zach Brzykcy has been dealing with a quadricep tendon issue, and he wasn’t projected to make the Opening Day roster prior to the announcement of his injury. Amed Rosario was scratched due to soreness in his knee. He hasn’t been moving well most of Spring Training. Again, health is a key. Players will be ramped up in their workload as Spring Training continues.
Here is the 40-man roster as well as a list of the NRI players you will be seeing. As you also had been seeing, players from Minor League camp have been subbing in late to get some action.
There are 13-days until the Opening Day, and we get to see this lineup today:
Andres Chaparro was scratched with an apparent injury, and the Nats posted a new lineup:
- CJ Abrams – SS
- Dylan Crews – RF
- James Wood – LF
- Luis García Jr. – 2B
- Stone Garrett – DH
- Trey Lipscomb – 3B
- Juan Yepez – 1B
- Riley Adams – C
- Jacob Young – CF
The SPRING BREAKOUT lineup with Jarlin Susana as the starting pitcher:
