Washington Nationals June 2016 Month In Review
We take a look back at the month of June for the Washington Nationals with our grades for the offense, starting rotation, and bullpen
For the third straight month, the Washington Nationals won 16 games as they finished the month of june with a 16-11 record in 27 games. While the team had a seven game losing streak at one point, Dusty Baker’s squad enters tonight’s game against the Reds on a five game win streak.
Since June 1, the Washington Nationals lead in the NL East has doubled from three games to six games over the reigning NL East champions, the New York Mets. Their current record of 48-32 is the third best in the National League behind the San Francisco Giants (50-31) and the Chicago Cubs (51-27).
Some of the great moments this month included the three-game sweep of the Mets earlier this week, the walk-off hits by Jayson Werth against the Phillies (June 12) and the Cubs (June 15), and the debut of Lucas Giolito on Tuesday against the Mets just to name a few.
However, there were some down moments during this month such as the Nats going 2-5 on their West Coast road trip. The lowlight of that trip came on June 22 in Los Angeles when Michael Taylor went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts and made the error in the ninth inning that ended up winning the game for the Dodgers. Plus, Stephen Strasburg had to go on the DL during the ten game road trip because of an upper back strain.
With that being said, here is my grades for the month of June. Feel free to share your grades in the comment section:
Next: Offense
Offense: B-
Even though the offense had its struggles at times, the Washington Nationals still scored the second most runs in the National League (139), hit the third most home runs (38), and they were tied for second in on-base percentage with the San Francisco Giants (.346).
Out of the 27 games they played in June, the Washington Nationals had ten games where they scored seven or more runs. This is still with the reigning NL MVP (Bryce Harper) struggling to find the dominance at the plate from a year ago (.280, three home runs, 12 RBI’s in 25 games).
In a month where Daniel Murphy only hit .265 (five home runs and 19 RBI’s), Wilson Ramos was the team’s best hitter in terms of batting average (.364) and has a 12-game hitting streak going into tonight’s game against the Cincinnati Reds. Plus, the Buffalo hit six home runs and 19 RBI’s.
For me, the surprises of the month were left fielder Jayson Werth and shortstop Danny Espinosa. Werth had two walk-off hits in a four-day period and hit .321 for the month along with a .438 on-base percentage.
As for Espinosa, he has silenced the folks calling for Trea Turner at shortstop, at least for now. This past month, he hit .306 with nine home runs and 21 RBI’s. Among all NL shortstops, he had the most home runs, was second in RBI’s (Brandon Crawford of the Giants had 23), was second in on-base, and fourth in batting average.
While the Nats are still looking for more consistency out of the leadoff spot, there are definitely some positives from the offense this month, which gives them an above average grade, despite struggling during the seven game losing streak to hit with runners in scoring position.
Next: Starting Pitching
Starting Pitching: C
For the first time this year, the Washington Nationals had to deal with a significant injury to a starting pitcher. Last Sunday, Stephen Strasburg was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of an upper back strain. In three starts during June, Strasburg was 1-0 with a 3.72 ERA.
With Strasburg out, that gave the opportunity for top prospect Lucas Giolito to make his MLB debut. Last Tuesday, Giolito only went four innings because of the rain delay, but he gave up only one hit and made a good first impression.
The star of the month in the rotation was Max Scherzer. In six starts, the right-handed ace was 4-1 with a 1.96 ERA, had 58 strikeouts to seven walks, and held opponents to a .158 batting average. Scherzer gave up only two hits in 7.1 innings against the Mets on Wednesday and has four straight double-digit strikeout games.
Although Tanner Roark had a rough first start in the month of June, he finished the month giving up seven runs in his final four starts. He filled in for Strasburg last Sunday and threw seven shutout innings against the Brewers to stop the losing streak.
As for Ross, he gave up five runs in his first start of June against the White Sox, but he gave up only 12 runs in his final four starts and has not lost a game since May 18.
The reason I drop the Nats pitching down to a C was largely because of Gio Gonzalez. Gonzalez got his only win of the month last night and had a miserable June. The left-hander was 1-4 with a 6.95 ERA in six starts.
Next: Bullpen
Bullpen: C
The bullpen took a big hit earlier this month when closer Jonathan Papelbon went on the 15-day disabled list because of a right intercostal strain. Papelbon is still in the middle of his rehab stint as he plays with double-A Harrisburg tonight.
With Papelbon out, Shawn Kelley became the new closer. While Kelley had a 5.25 ERA, he did convert four of his five save chances and his only blown save was because of a Michael Taylor error in Los Angeles. He had 21 strikeouts in June, which was the most of any Washington Nationals reliever.
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Two other relievers who had a strong month for the Nats were left-hander Sammy Solis (1-1 with a 0.71 ERA in nine appearances) and right-hander Blake Treinen (1-0 with a 0.82 ERA in nine appearances). Plus, Yusmeiro Petit had a strong spot start against Clayton Kershaw when Strasburg was scratched on June 20.
The two relievers who had awful months were Oliver Perez and Felipe Rivero. Perez had a 7.94 ERA in 12 outings with opponents hitting .292. Rivero was worst than Perez as he had a 10.64 ERA in 11 games and opponents hit a mammoth .356.
Next: Espinosa Suddenly One Of Nats Best Hitters
When you look at the bullpen, it could use Papelbon coming back to bring back the roles from the earlier season to the ‘pen. But, at the same time, they could still use another arm before the August 1 trade deadline, despite having the second lowest reliever ERA in the NL at 3.13 (Dodgers are first at 3.06).