Washington Nationals: News and Links 2/17
By Pablo Roa
Aug 28, 2013; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg (37) throws a pitch in the second inning against the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
Day two of spring training is officially in the books for the Washington Nationals, bringing us one step closer to opening day.
For the most part, Sunday was business as usual for the Nationals. Pitchers and catchers continued their drills, with several pitchers throwing bullpen sessions. Of all those sessions, one of the ones that stood out the most to manager Matt Williams was Stephen Strasburg‘s. Williams had high praise for Strasburg’s attention to detail as he worked on improving his delivery in a way that will help keeps runners on base.
Sunday also marked the arrival of Ryan Zimmerman to spring training, where, as promised, a brand new first baseman’s mitt was waiting for him in his locker. Zimmerman will get several reps in at first base this spring, with the hope of implementing a semi-platoon with Adam LaRoche at the position during the regular season. Also on Sunday, Williams threw batting practice to Nationals hitters, because apparently running a major league spring training isn’t enough work on its own…
Perhaps the most interesting development at the Nationals’ spring training complex on Sunday was the fact that the team’s video production staff used an air-borne drone to capture video of the day’s drills:
The remaining position players report on Tuesday and we’ll hopefully get a chance to see the video captured by the drone sometime in the near future. Until then, checkout some more links from our fellow Washington Nationals writers/bloggers:
- Patrick Reddington from Federal Baseball writes about Stephen Strasburg working to become a complete pitcher. Check out his post here.
- Bill Ladson from MLB.com writes about general manager Mike Rizzo’s hopes for the Nationals in 2014. Check out his article here.
- Thomas Bozwell from the Washington Post writes a terrific column about what went wrong for the Nationals in 2014, and how they can improve this season. Read his column here.