The Washington Nationals swept the Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend and did so in impressive fashion with solid starting pitching (20 innings and 5 earned runs in 3 games) and some big time hitting (17 runs in 3 games).
What if anything can we have possibly learned from this series?
1. It’s better to start off the season with solid pitching and poor hitting than it is to start the season with solid hitting and poor pitching…
No matter how bad of a start guys like Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche may have gotten off to it wont last and eventually the hits are going to come for them. We saw that this series with LaRoche who batted .364 had an on base percentage of .462 with a home run, 2 runs, 2 rbis, 2 walks and 4 hits in 3 games.
If the Nats starting pitching holds up like it has the wins will start to pile up.
2. Adam LaRoche is definitely a big upgrade over Adam Dunn defensively at first base.
Once LaRoche who historically is known to start the season slow hitting wise starts to heat up and put it together consistently he is going to gain some fans in DC.
Too bad the Nats are not in the AL because it would be nice to have both LaRoche and Dunn in the lineup
3. Ian Desmond might be better suited to bat anywhere in the lineup other than leadoff.
It could be that his bat has finally just started to heat up but either way I’d keep him lower in the lineup for the time being. He had 4 hits and 2 walks in the series vs the Brewers and could potentially give the Nats a pretty good bat for the 6 or 7 spot.
4. Espinosa is already looking like he could be a strong candidate for rookie of the year.
His 14 rbis so far this season are the second most for any player in the NL and are more double the amount of the closest rookie.
Despite a low avg and obp for the series he came through in key moments with a sacrifice fly in the 1st game that drove in 1, a 3 run home in the 2nd game and a triple in game 3 that drove in 3 runs. In total he drove in 7 out of the Nationals 17 runs for the series.
5. If catcher Wilson Ramos continues to impress they way he has this season a move to first base for minor league catcher Derek Norris could happen in the near future.
Norris has more power potential at the plate than Ramos and has shown a remarkable knowledge and understanding of the strike zone for a guy his age 22, having already drawn 269 walks in just 330 games in the minor leagues.