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