Washington Nationals Countdown To Spring Training: 2 Days

The off-season is almost over. Less than three weeks until Washington Nationals pitchers and catchers report to Viera. To celebrate this fact, we here at DistrictOnDeck will commence a countdown of sorts pointing out interesting facts about numbers.

18 Days
17 Days
16 Days
15 Days
14 Days
13 Days
12 Days
11 Days
10 Days
9 Days
8 Days
7 Days
6 Days
5 Days
4 Days
3 Days

Today we will take a look at the best catchers in the organization and obviously it starts and ends with Gary Carter. Carter has the best five seasons by OPS+ when looking at catchers with at least 250 plate appearances. He also has eight of the top 11 and only three other catchers in Montreal or Washington have put up above league-average numbers: Darrin Fletcher, Mike Fitzgerald and Wilson Ramos. To put that into perspective, 167 different players have had at least a 100+ OPS+ since 1969 in Major League Baseball: only four were part of this organization.

Aug 26, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Washington Nationals left fielder Roger Bernadina (2) in the on deck circle during the seventh inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies defeated the Nationals 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

I also looked to see who were the oldest and youngest players in franchise history to have two home runs. The youngest, not surprisingly was Bryce Harper last year who did it for the first time on August 29 (19 years, 318 days). The oldest was Todd Zeile who did it on September 5, 2003 at 37 years, 361 days.

The best performance from a hitter in the two spot in terms of total bases is held by five different players. Cristian Guzman, Mike Lansing (twice), Tim Raines, Andre Dawson and Mack Jones have had 10 total bases in a game. Guzman did it while hitting for the cycle on August 28, 2008. Lansing did it two different ways, with two doubles and a homerun and with two home runs and a double. The other three players did it with a double and two home runs.

Notable players to wear 2 with the Expos/Nationals: John Bateman, Vance Law, Jamey Carroll, Damian Jackson, Felipe Lopez, Roger Bernadina