SPRING TRAINING COVERAGE 2025

THE LEAD

Today was once so personally revered by this author that I took it off of work for the first fifteen years of my adult life, but alas, I no longer love college basketball the way that I used to (the product is worse, and conference realignment has destroyed too many of the natural rivalries). Here at The Nats Report, however, we are all about baseball, and the last few days of the Grapefruit League, as Opening Day is now just a week away (!!!). I worry that not enough people are tuned into the possible promise of the 2025 Nationals, as it is never a good sign for ticket sales when the organization has to include Opening Day tickets in a 50% flash sale a week out from the event, as they did yesterday.

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 SPRING TRAINING COVERAGE 2025

Game Recap

Yesterday was a demonstration of what can happen if the pitchers cannot miss enough bats, as Jake Irvin allowed ten hits and six runs in his five and two thirds innings, in what should be his final start in Florida (he would appear to be on track to start the Monday exhibition against the Oreos and then the second official game of the season next Saturday). Irvin also walked a pair and hit a batter while striking out four, and two of those ten hits left the yard. In relief, Jose A. Ferrer and Eduardo Salazar both struck out a pair of hitters in mop-up duty. At the plate the Nats were held to six scattered hits and just one run, which didn’t even come on an RBI but courtesy of a wild pitch after Dylan Crews tripled off the glove of Cardinals center fielder Victor Scott.

This evening the Nationals host the Mets at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches behind Shinnosuke Ogasawara in his last chance to make a case for the 26-man roster, with first pitch at 6:05 PM.

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 STORY TYPE

What Does Success Look Like?

Some of us (raises hand) had hoped that the Nationals would be more aggressive this winter with so many of their most important young players for the rebuild either in the majors already (Wood, Crews, Abrams, Gore, Young, García, Ferrer, Herz, Parker, Nuñez) or on the doorstep in AAA (House, Hassell, Lord, Stuart, Pinckney, etc.). However, we now know that that was not the case, and the team is clearly waiting to see what will happen with those young core pieces this year as they hope for several of them to make important strides forward. With that in mind, what does a successful season for the Washington Nationals look like? If the team is approaching or at .500 but it is mostly on the backs of short-term players like Trevor Williams, Kyle Finnegan, Nathaniel Lowe, Josh Bell, Michael Soroka, and Paul DeJong, is that really what the brain trust wants? Or would it rather the record be a game or two worse but the aforementioned young core pieces be the drivers of success? I would think the latter.

Who do YOU think are the most pivotal players to the Nats’ success in 2025? Drop a line in the comments! I will identify a couple of my selections tomorrow.

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 WHAT WE THINK THE NATIONALS FRONT OFFICE IS READING

Speed Reads

📌 We Love Multi-Sport Athletes (MLB.com)

📌 House and Hassell Need to Prove it in Rochester (MASN)

📌 Big Decisions Looming for Abrams (Fangraphs)