The Washington Nationals are pulling off a magic trick you might want to catch during the next homestand. They are fourth in the majors in runs scored! You can look at team batting stats all you want but the goal is runners crossing the plate and the Nats are killing it. The thing is, when you do look at the team batting stats the Nats don’t rank close to the top in most categories.
In team OPS (On-base plus slugging) the Nats are 11th. In the more advanced hitting stats they are a little lower. This doesn’t normally happen. Runs scored usually correlates pretty well with team hitting stats at this point in the season, 39 games in. Manager Blake Butera uses a different lineup almost every night, always looking for an edge, or maybe gaming out who might be in the right lineup spot in the late innings. The only constant is James Wood leading off.
The Nationals do rank 3rd in baserunning, meaning successful stolen base attempts and taking an extra base when possible. So that’s part of the explanation for scoring all those runs. I thought the biggest factor would have to be clutch hitting with runners on base. Of course there’s a stat for that, and the Nats aren’t especially good on the clutch hitting scale; 12th in the majors. So like I said, it’s just a little magic.
The Nationals have a 19-20 record, which is good enough for second place in the National League East. The problem is that they are way behind the first place Braves who might be the best team in baseball. That’s what their 26-13 record says. The Nats pitching could use some of the magic. The Nationals rank near the bottom of the majors in most pitching categories.
CJ Abrams has moved slightly ahead of Wood as best hitter on the team. First baseman Curtis Mead has impressed in part time play, as has outfielder Joey Wiemer. Nasim Nunez is an old school second baseman; not a lot of pop at the plate but great defense and he’s stolen 16 out of 18 bases, which leads the majors.
In order to be really competitive the Nationals will need some of their prospects in the minors to step up and contribute in DC sooner rather than later. Good news on that front: four Nats prospects are in Baseball America’s new top 100 list out this week. Baseball America is a top source of information on prospects in the minors, in college, and in high school. They have shortstop Eli Willits ranked 24th, pitcher Jarlin Susana at 54, shortstop Ronny Cruz at 96 and shortstop Seaver King at 99.
What to do with three top shortstops, you might wonder? They are usually the best players on the field in high school and college so they make great prospects. You don’t see many second basemen getting drafted because that means they are only the second best infielder on their own team. So the Nationals will decide who is the very best shortstop and keep him there, and maybe move one of the others to second base and maybe the other to third or the outfield. That’s what minor league playing time is for.
The Nationals just finished winning a home series against the Twins and now head out for a weekend series in Miami followed by a visit to Cincinnati. They have won four of the last five games and the pitching has been solid recently. They are back in DC Friday the 15th for three games with the Orioles. The Nats bill it as the Beltway Series but really it’s the Baltimore-Washington Parkway Series, right? The Friday game is a hot dog hat giveaway if you’re interested in that kind of thing. Go watch the Nationals score runs, watch Nunez steal bases, and hope the pitchers have a good game.
