Washington Nationals 2025 Season

THE LEAD

Despite a checkered health history dating back to high school, the Nats went above slot to draft Cole Henry in the second round of five in the 2020 pandemic draft out of LSU. Henry was outstanding in limited innings in his pro debut in 2021, then good in 2022 before undergoing late-season thoracic outlet syndrome surgery - the same kind that effectively ended Stephen Strasburg’s career. Since then, it has been a long, hard road for Henry, who struggled mightily in his 2022 initial comeback from the surgery, and couldn’t stay healthy last year at AA (while taking a spot on the 40-man roster) despite being used for three innings once a week. It looked like he might be a candidate for a DFA this winter, but the team held onto him and he had a strong spring training. With Orlando Ribalta hitting the 15-day injured list thanks to a right biceps strain (perhaps 58 pitches in three innings had something to do with that? Anyone? Bueller?), the Nats called up Henry from AAA Rochester and he made his MLB debut late in the Marlins’ blowout of the Nats on Sunday afternoon. Henry gave up a hit but otherwise got three quick outs in relief of another Lucas Sims meltdown, two of them via strikeout. I am wholly in favor of Henry staying in the majors even if/when Ribalta returns. Stuff has never been the issue, just health and health-related command. Use those bullets in the majors while he has them. And congratulations to Henry on making his debut after a procedure that has ended many a pitcher’s career.

 Washington Nationals 2025 Season

Game Recap

Woof. The BABIP gods smiled on the Marlins yesterday and not on the Nationals, as the Fish compiled fourteen hits and seven walks en route to an 11-4 romp over the good guys. MacKenzie Gore was unable to pitch as well as he did against the Phillies or Dodgers, surrendering eight of the hits and three of the walks, leading to four runs. His teammates, meanwhile, left ten men on base, grounded into three double plays, and committed two TOOTBLANs (Thrown Out On The Bases Like A Nincompoop) while scoring just four runs of their own on ten hits and eight walks. Keibert Ruiz, perhaps the slowest player on the team, made the first TOOTBLAN in trying to steal third base with a lefty at the plate and thus a clear shot for the catcher, while Jacob Young made the second by getting way too far off of second base before a ground ball got past the pitcher, getting erased in a rundown after a leadoff bunt hit and throwing error put him halfway home with nobody out. I am now fully in the camp of “send Young down for Hassell and teach him actual base running fundamentals in Rochester” - he is getting hosed way, way too often for someone with his foot speed because he makes terrible decisions. Anyway, the Nats had multiple men on base in seven of nine innings (and one man on in an eighth) but were unable to execute and bring themselves back to within a game of .500. And tomorrow they have to face the best pitcher on the planet.

 STORY TYPE

Enough With Moral Victories

If the Nationals are actually going to take the next step from occasionally scrappy losers to more-than-occasionally scrappy quasi-winners, they have to make hay in series like these against a worse team, whether on the road against a flat crowd or not. And thanks in part to some brain farts and some poor execution, they did not in their first series of three on this road trip. There was zero reason for Ruiz or Young to run into outs on the bases and help kill rally opportunities. Jorge López and Lucas Sims combined to let things get out of hand in the late innings from the bullpen, with Sims failing to even record a single out. Pounding the ball into the ground resulted in those three double plays, and this third game was a slog even though the shadows should have made life easier on the pitchers for most of the afternoon. An organization that was focused on being good would have done what was necessary to take two out of three from a Marlins team that was clearly interested in giving those opportunities away, en route to going 6-4 or better on this particular road trip. But now they need to go 5-2 to complete that goal, with a date with Paul Skenes tomorrow evening.

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 WHAT WE THINK THE NATIONALS FRONT OFFICE IS READING

Speed Reads

📌 On Atlanta’s Sputtering Offense (Fangraphs)

📌 How Much Stuff Do These Guys Have? (The Athletic)

📌 Justin Steele Bitten By the TJ Bug (Yahoo!)