Throughout Spring Coaching, it is extremely widespread to see an emphasis on protection, and that is definitely the case for the Nats. Of their time in West Palm Seashore, Davey Martinez and the Nationals employees have been laser centered on protection.
Final season, the Nationals weren’t an excellent defensive workforce. Their 109 errors was the third most in baseball, and the workforce was weak in some notable spots. CJ Abrams was notably disappointing on the defensive facet of the ball. Whereas he minimize down on his errors, he graded out as a extremely destructive defender. Significantly after the All-Star break, Abrams focus didn’t appear to be there and he was making sloppy errors. This might be a giant 12 months for Abrams to show that he’s a real shortstop.
One factor that can assist Abrams is the addition of first baseman Nathaniel Lowe. Lowe received a gold glove final season and recorded seven outs above common in 2024. If Abrams or another infielder has to make a troublesome throw they are going to be comforted by the very fact Lowe can bail them out with candy scoops. Whereas he was fairly brutal offensively, Joey Gallo did quite a lot of the identical issues and also you felt his absence when he wasn’t at first base final 12 months.
Even the pitchers have been responsible when it got here to the fielding woes. Nats pitchers mixed for -7 defensive runs saved final 12 months. Supervisor Davey Martinez made PFP’s a giant focus early on in camp. Mitchell Parker was a main wrongdoer within the lack of pitching protection. Talking to the Washington Put up, he acknowledged that he needed to be higher.
The outfield is a extra optimistic story. Jacob Younger and Dylan Crews are plus defenders in middle and proper area. Younger was notably spectacular, posting 19 outs above common, and arguably was robbed of a gold glove. Crews additionally appeared implausible defensively in his small huge league pattern dimension. Whereas James Wooden appeared a little bit clunky out in left area, his bat is nice sufficient to make up for that and he’s athletic sufficient to grow to be not less than a strong defender.
For a workforce that doesn’t have any confirmed stars, protection will go a good distance in pushing the workforce up the standings. If Abrams can grow to be a top quality shortstop and a number of the different younger guys can construct on their defensive success, it will assist the Nats push in direction of .500.
Catcher is one other fascinating space on the defensive facet. Whereas Keibert Ruiz wasn’t as dangerous as he was in 2023 defensively, he nonetheless was under common. Backup catcher Riley Adams can be a destructive defensively. Because of this I’d like to see Drew Millas be given a shot because the backup catcher. He’s a implausible athlete for a catcher and has a powerful defensive fame.
Doing the little issues has all the time been a giant focus for Davey Martinez. Final season, the Nationals didn’t do the little issues effectively in any respect. For the Nats to make the strides they should make, they might want to area higher and run the bases at a better stage. The muse for that begins in Spring Coaching when gamers have the time to sharpen their craft.
