Going Deep with The Nats

When MLB implemented larger bases and put restrictions on pickoff plays that began with the 2023 season, the stolen base attempts increased by 40.7 percent. The success rate of stolen bases also increased by 8.7 percent. General manager Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez were clear at the Hot Stove event last month that the Washington Nationals were going to be taking advantage more of the speed game, and we saw it in the Rule-5 draft taking speedster Nasim Nunez as well as with the promotion at the end of August with Jacob Young.

The Washington Nationals had their annual “Hot Stove” event on Saturday for top season ticket planholders. With general manager Mike Rizzo and his field manager Dave Martinez giving their state of the union addresses, the takeaways gave a few clues as to the near-term future. They both see this 2024 season as a transitional year to improve over the 2023 season that had the Nats at 71-wins and that was a 16-win improvement over the prior season. Great. “What have you done for me lately” is the common fan retort.

The Hot Stove event is really the best season ticket planholder’s perk if you ask me. That annual event was held today with a huge crowd that was described to me as the largest ever — and that is because they expanded the event for full-season as well as half-season planholders. Special guest and new coach, Sean Doolittle, was a huge draw of course.