Photo by Jake Stephens/TalkNats)

The Washington Nationals finally make their first trip to Port St. Lucie on the final day in February to take on the Mets. Today’s lineup features several potential starting players and Jake Irvin on the mound. Everyone will be curious to see his velo on his 4-seam fastball today. He is throwing a lot more cutters in his pitch mix, and fewer 4-seam fastballs.

We also get to see Seaver King start once again in the middle infield. Nasim Nunez gets the start at shortstop. And Harry Ford gets another start at catcher. The Nats are giving lots of reps to five of their catchers which includes Ford, Keibert Ruiz, and Drew Millas who are all on the 40-man roster plus Riley Adams and Tres Barrera are getting a lot of playing time. On top of that, the team’s top catching draft pick in the team’s history, Caleb Lomavita (1st round 39th overall in 2024), has seen some playing time. For some Nats draft trivia, the next two highest catcher’s draft picks in Nats history were Kevin Bazzell at pick 79 of the 3rd round in 2024, and Jakson Reetz at the 93rd pick of the 3rd round in 2014.

At this point, we only have eight Spring Training games in the books, and no batter has more than 12 plate appearances on the Washington Nationals. And for that matter, no pitcher has more than 4.0 innings.

Remember, players are working on some of the intricacies of their game — and yes, some just are not good enough yet for the MLB competition. The Nats have had 53 batters step into the box, and 25 of them have no hits. Dylan Crews got his first hit of the Spring Training last night. But should Andres Chaparro and Warming Bernabel be named starters because they are both 2-for-5 and batting .400?

Process means a lot in small sample size analysis. But we also need to know back-stories of what players are working on. Would you not play James Wood and Daylen Lile due to the fact that neither have hits going into this game? Of course not.

Also, Jacob Young appeared in his first game after suffering a hand/wrist injury on being plunked by a HBP in live BP by a teammate, Bryce Montes De Oca. Not even three minutes into last night’s game, Young jumped over the fence to rob Jose Altuve of a lead-off home run. Young only played three innings, and was replaced by Andrew Pinckney in center field. In the 5th inning, a flyball wasn’t reached by Pinckney for a 2-run single with two outs. We’ve seen Young with his great reads catch those balls. If he is in there, he probably saves 3-runs on defense. That is what defense is worth. In football, it’s like an interception Pick-6 as they call them. Points picked up by the defense.

Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets

Stadium: Clover Park, Port St. Lucie, Florida
1st Pitch: 1:10 PM EDT
TV: SNY and MLB app
Radio: N/A

Related