Washington Nationals: Top Five Players of 2016 Season
Another postseason trip looms for the Washington Nationals. Which players excelled during a successful regular season?
The Washington Nationals finished the 2016 season with 95 wins and a third National League East division championship in five years.
Behind the relaxed hand of first-year skipper Dusty Baker, the Nats nearly went wire-to-wire. By season’s end, they bested the New York Mets by a healthy eight games.
Although injuries played a bigger role than anyone hoped, shutting Wilson Ramos down with a knee injury for example, Washington was never seriously challenged. If you thought they could survive an off year by Bryce Harper and an inconsistent Jonathan Papelbon, then you saw the emergence of Trea Turner and Joe Ross into big roles.
Starting pitching is this team’s biggest strength. Defense is a close second followed by the most prolific offense in Washington Nationals history.
With Mark Melancon anchoring the bullpen, the jobs by Shawn Kelley and Blake Treinen getting games to Melancon to finish gave Baker piece of mind.
From April to October, the Nats played hard and never finished a month with a losing record. Almost 2.5 million of you turned out this year at National Park while the rest of you enjoyed the summer watching Bob Carpenter and F.P. Santangelo on MASN or listened to Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler on 106.7 The Fan.
On a team that played as one all year, here are the five who excelled the most. Based on their Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement numbers, these five made watching the Washington Nationals fun in 2016.
STEPHEN STRASBURG
15-4 W-L, 3.60 ERA, 183 K, 1.104 WHIP, 3.3 WAR
Before his right elbow flexor strain shut him down, Stephen Strasburg had one great season.
The higher ERA came from his last two starts before his first disabled list stint in August. At one point, he won his first 13 decisions and emerged as the ace everyone hoped he would be.
Set to be a free agent at the end of the year, Strasburg agreed to a massive seven-year contract extension. All you needed to know about the general health of the Nationals and the future can be said by the Scott Boras client never hitting the open market.
What will be lost because Strasburg is unlikely to pitch in the playoffs is how dominant he was in the first half. Earning his second All-Star bid, his best game came in Miami on April 19 against the Marlins.
In a 7-0 laugher, he went eight strong innings scattering three hits and two walks. His ten strikeouts was the first of eight times Strasburg hit double-digits. With 105 pitches, he posted a season-high game score of 84.
Without him, the Nationals have a harder time getting the needed separation from the rest of the division. Here is hoping for a healthy 2017.
ANTHONY RENDON
.270 AVG, 20 HR, 85 RBI, 110 OPS+, 4.1 WAR, 1.1 DWAR
In his fourth season with the Nationals, Anthony Rendon provided a much needed offensive punch down the stretch and breathtaking defense on the hot corner.
After missing nearly half of 2015 to injury, Rendon picked in this year where he left off in 2014. When the Nats needed him to steal a base, he did 12 times. One of six players to swat over 20 homers, the first time an NL team did that since the 1965 Milwaukee Braves, he smashed 20.
His most productive month came in August. Hitting .324, Rendon slashed 13 doubles and three homers while driving in 20 and posting an OPS of .929. In September, while his bat cooled off, he drove in 23 as he helped secure home field for the NL Divisional Series.
With runners in scoring position, he drove in 66 hitting .294. When Washington needed a hit, he gave it. His 85 RBI seems remarkable for the year considering he had one in April.
A wizard with the glove, Rendon is figured to have saved a career-high 16 runs at third, topping the 11 in 2014. He helped turn 25 double plays and hit into a meager five.
Responsible for moving Ryan Zimmerman over to first, Rendon has turned third base into his own.
DANIEL MURPHY
.347 AVG, 25 HR, 104 RBI, 47 2B, 157 OPS+, 4.6 WAR
In what may go down as one of the biggest free agent heists of all time, Daniel Murphy made the move from Queens to Washington and stole the show.
With a second place finish for the batting crown and a league best 47 doubles, Murphy quickly became a fan favorite. What he did to his old club, the Mets, defies description.
In the 19 games between the two rivals, Murphy had a base hit in every one of them. He owned them to the point the editors of Wikipedia had to lock the Mets team page. Night after night, he pounded them, hitting .413. It was not the average or the six doubles and seven homers that drove Mets fans batty; it was those 21 RBI. No one loved frustrating the Mets more.
The move from pitching-friendly Citi Field to the more neutral Nationals Park increased his power numbers across the board. Aside from his career-high 47 doubles, Murphy slapped five triples and 25 homers leading to 104 RBI. Not one to strike out often, only 57 in 142 games, he led the league in slugging percentage at .595 and a whopping .985.
Although Chicago Cubs slugger Kris Bryant will probably win the NL MVP, Murphy’s 2016 is worthy of a few votes.
TANNER ROARK
16-10 W-L, 2.83 ERA, 172 K, 148 ERA+, 5.5 WAR
When the Nationals needed to have someone replace the injured Strasburg and erratic Gio Gonzalez as a stopper, Tanner Roark came through.
Working a career-high 210 innings, Roark earned the role as No. 2 starter. Nine times out of 33 this year, he held the opposition scoreless into the seventh inning. Only once did he fail to pitch past the third.
His best game of the season came on April 23. At home against the Minnesota Twins, Roark found something extra and fanned a career-high 15. In seven shutout innings, he scattered two hits and three walks. Tossing a season-high 121 pitches, he registered a game score of 85. Seven times in 2016, he topped a game score of 70.
Overshadowed by the next player on this list, Roark gave the Washington Nationals more than they asked for. His sixth-place finish in the ERA crown and fourth in innings will give voters something to consider in their Cy Young ballots.
For Washington, his 5.5 WAR is fourth for NL pitchers. Roark’s ability to keep the ball in the yard, holding hitters to a 0.729-per-nine mark in a record home run year, goes with this season’s mantra of not beating himself. Most teams would consider him an ace. Here, he is considered ours.
MAX SCHERZER
20-7 W-L, 2.96 ERA, 284 K, 0.968 WHIP, 6.2 WAR
The Washington Nationals brought in Max Scherzer last year to be their ace. With the numbers listed above, he did that and more. If he keeps pumping out those stats, he is destined for Cooperstown.
For the second time, he won 20. Four years in a row, he fanned over 250, winning the first strikeout title of his career. Three times out of the last four, his WHIP was under 1.000. Although his control was not as sharp as 2015, his 5.07 K/BB ratio led the league.
With Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers on the shelf for 60-days, it is hard to see how Scherzer does not win the Cy Young. (Yes, Cubs fans will try.)
For his best game this year, would you believe it was not his 20-strikeout gem against his old club, the Detroit Tigers? His game score that night was 87.
On August 25, as part of an interleague home-and-home against the Baltimore Orioles, Scherzer was lights out. In eight innings, he allowed two hits and fanned 10. The rest of his pitching line is full of zero’s, leading to his 14th win of the year and a game score of 88.
Seven times this year, Scherzer walked nobody. Thirteen times, he registered double-digit strikeouts. An All-Star, his win and strikeout total captured two-thirds of the NL pitching triple crown and our Player of the Year.