Going Deep with The Nats

The Washington Nationals top prospects continue to impress with Robert Hassell III taking the lead in batting average and OPS at .556 and 1.767 respectively plus he has two stolen bases and got dinged on his OPS for that Sac Fly the other day. Nipping on his heels is James Wood at .455 and 1.751. Wood turned an 0-2 game yesterday into a 1-2 when he legged out an infield single on pure hustle. The sample sizes are still miniscule — but fun to watch these youngsters. Brady House and Dylan Crews have good OPS numbers themselves at 1.125 and .830. There are others too, that are not getting the pub of that quartet.

When news broke several weeks ago that Dylan Crews, James Wood, Brady House, and Robert Hassell III were all non-roster invites (NRI) to big league Spring Training camp — the negative vibes from an offseason that did not meet expectations turned positive. In an offseason that had almost nothing to cheer about except for the new LED lights and scoreboard at Nationals Park, the NRI list gave hope for the future.

When you cheer more for the off-the-field happenings, you know your team failed in improving their roster. The future is about these top prospects and developing more talent in the farm system and better drafts. Yesterday, to see the Top-4 position players all get hits and make exceptional plays along with home runs from Hassell and House — you know it was going to be a game you won’t soon forget.

Can we overuse that photo? The Washington Nationals are starting Robert Hassell III, Dylan Crews, and James Wood today against RHP José Urquidy who has five seasons of MLB experience. Houston’s pitcher was in pro ball in 2015 when the Nats’ trio of prospects were playing 12-U travel ball. Okay, Hassell was in the Little League World Series, but you get the point. This will be a big test to see what these young men can do against a legit starter.

All eyes in the ‘informed’ baseball world are on James Wood as he made headlines and the lede for MLB Network’s morning show today after he obliterated two baseballs in his first five at-bats. But hey, Dylan Crews smoked to liners to the outfield that were caught. Both were well over 100 mph, and BABIP didn’t work for him — a different story for Robert Hassell III who has the highest batting average of this trio (small sample size alert) at .600. Hassell has smoked three line drives into the outfield with two going oppo.

The Washington Nationals travel to Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium and that is a mouthful. At one time it was just Roger Dean Stadium. The largest self-described Corvette dealer of the southeast is a big deal in Palm Beach County. Not a far drive for the Nats and many have homes closer to Jupiter than West Palm Beach. MacKenzie Gore is set to start this game against ex-Nats draftee Jesus Luzardo in a battle of young lefties. Game time is 1:10 pm and only on radio unless the Marlins put up a video camera like they often did last year.

We have semi-real baseball today as it is Opening Day for the Washington Nationals Spring Training schedule in the Grapefruit League. This will be a 6:05 pm start and the game will be available on TV via the Houston feed, and on Nats Radio via MLB.com.