After a hot start to spring training led to the Washington Nationals being the last unbeaten team in the Grapefruit League, the team has cooled off over the last week after winning just once over their last five.

Washington will look to get back in the win column when they take on the Houston Astros in the third meeting between the two teams in spring training, also marking the final game before the start of the World Baseball Classic, which will impact the Nationals spring training roster with both Harry Ford and Matt Mervis set to participate for their teams.

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It also marks somewhat of a midway point for the Nationals with a larger sample size of games to evaluate in the unofficial start of the Blake Butera era.

That includes analyzing roster weaknesses with Butera telling the MLB Network that he has kept his eye on a pair of positions through spring training, unsurprisingly: catcher and first base.

Of course president of baseball operations Paul Toboni noted that first base was one of two positions the team was actively monitoring in the days after the MacKenzie Gore trade, but those never came to fruition with several in-house candidates set to take over with Nathaniel Lowe, Josh Bell and Paul DeJong no longer with the team.

While Luis Garcia Jr. drew offseason buzz as the likely candidate to take over at first base with Paul Toboni open about the fact that he wanted to see him get reps there during winter league, that never came to fruition – and it hasn’t come to fruition this spring. Both of Garcia’s appearances this spring have been at second base with both Abimelec Ortiz and Andres Chaparro drawing four starts each with Matt Mervis, Yohandy Morales, Samuel Brown and Warming Bernabel all stepping in for either starts or pinch hits through the first week and change.

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But it would be Garcia who drew the nod as the team’s projected first baseman in 2026 after MLB Network projected the Nationals’ 2026 starting lineup during Sunday’s segment, adding intrigue to the position to watch through March.

The other position may be the more intriguing one, though, with the addition of Harry Ford drawing intrigue with a battle now brewing alongside veteran Keibert Ruiz.

Both catchers have played in five games each with Ruiz’s 11 at bats narrowly beating Ford’s ten, though neither has hit well through the first week with Ruiz batting just .182 compared to Ford’s .200 batting average with both boasting a double and RBI. Ford arrived known for his hitting and power in the minor league as he tries to prove that now in the spring, but similar to first base, MLB Network didn’t deviate from the expected pick.

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Ruiz was tabbed as the Nationals’ likely starting catcher by MLB Network as he looks to bounce back after concussions limited him to just 68 games in 2025. But it was Ford who was named the prospect making noise in Nationals’ camp by MLB.com.

“Ford, 23, is learning not only the Nationals pitching staff but Team Great Britain’s as well in the World Baseball Classic,” Jessica Camerato said of Ford.