Washington Nationals News: How should the Nats replace Fister in the rotation?
By Pablo Roa
Good evening DoD readers, and welcome to today’s District Daily! Start off your night with some great Washington Nationals articles from around the web below.
In today’s Daily, MLB.com’s Bill Ladson discusses the recent resurgence of the Nationals’ offense. As Ladson notes, the entire team has been clicking in the batter’s box and it’s a big reason for the team’s turnaround this month.
At the beginning of the season, the Nationals’ offense was all but inexistent. The team was regularly scoring less than three runs a game and wasting great performances from its starting pitchers. Recently, however, the team has been scoring runs by the bunches and great hitting from players like Bryce Harper have helped turn the season around for the Nationals.
Also in today’s Daily, Federal Baseball’s Jim Meyerriecks discusses how the Nationals should replace Doug Fister while he’s on the DL with a forearm strain. As Jim notes, the Nationals have several options to replace Fister, including Tanner Roark and A.J. Cole.
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Needless to say, Fister’s injury is a big concern for the Nationals and a huge loss for the rotation. Fortunately for the Nationals, the team has plenty of pitching depth at all levels and there are several players who can step up and get the job done while Fister’s out.
Be sure to check out the articles below, they’re definitely worth a read. And as always, stay tuned to DoD for all your Washington Nationals needs.
Nationals’ offense is coming around
SAN DIEGO — Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper isn’t the only hot hitter on the Nationals these days. In fact, the entire team has been smoking in the batter’s box.
In their last 17 games, the Nationals are hitting .311 with a .370 on-base percentage and averaging 6.5 runs per game. The run of success has raised their overall batting average from .215 to .261. The Nationals are 13-4 during that stretch.
“We were going to [start hitting],” Harper said. “I think everybody knew that. We are such a good team. We have so much fun out there. One through nine is such a good lineup. Even our pitcher rakes. It’s a lot of fun going in and playing games every single day. We are going to score runs, we need to do things to help our pitchers win ballgames. It’s going to be fun.” Read full article here.
How should the Washington Nationals replace Doug Fister’s spot?
(Jim Meyerriecks, Federal Baseball)
The Washington Nationals placed Doug Fister on the disabled list with tightness in his right forearm. The 31-year-old was off to a disappointing start so far this season, with a 4.31 ERA, a 1.41 WHIP, just 4.08 K/9 and a career low 40.9% ground ball rate. After getting lit up by the Padres Thursday night, it wasn’t that big a shock to hear that Fister was dealing with an injury. Not only has he been struggling with his command for most of this season, but he likely would have remained in the game at just 41 pitches to try and save the bullpen if he was healthy. Already trailing 7-0, the game had kind of gotten away from the Nats early and the Nats are in the middle of a ten day stretch without an off day. When Blake Treinen came in for the third inning, some alarm bells went off.
The Nats called rookie A.J. Cole up from Syracuse to take Fister’s spot on the roster. At first, it was being reported that Cole was coming up because the bullpen figured to be a bit undermanned with Treinen having thrown four innings and Matt Grace having thrown two innings in Thursday’s series opener. We later learned that Fister being placed on the disabled list was the corresponding move. Ken Rosenthal reported that Cole will indeed be coming up to replace Fister in the rotation… Read full article here.