Washington Nationals: Stats, streaks, and upcoming milestones
Several Washington Nationals are approaching career personal marks and baseball records. Here are the numbers to pay attention to going forward.
Even in a world where rate stats trump all, I still get excited when I see players approaching old-school totals. The Washington Nationals are working through a sluggish, injury-filled start to the season, but several players are still nearing some historic marks.
While many Montreal Expos already dot baseball’s record books, fans are finally starting to see a few Washington Nationals pop up too.
The Nats are coming up on their 15th season in D.C., and the franchise’s talent level has dramatically increased over the second-half of their time in the city. With every additional all-star that dons the Nats’ red, white, and blue, Washington slowly turns into more and more of a baseball town.
It will take a long time for the Nationals to have the same relationship with their city as the Yankees or the Cardinals do with theirs, but watching greatness on a nightly basis will certainly further ingrain the team within the fabric of the city as each summer passes.
Here are the current Nationals to watch as they hunt down single-season records or their own personal milestone marks.
All stats are through Tuesday’s game against Pittsburgh.
Bryce Harper
Bryce Harper has been in a nasty slump – 6-38 with 0 extra-base hits – over his last 13 games, but he is still drawing walks at a near-record rate.
After 2 intentional walks on Monday night against Pittsburgh and another on Tuesday, the 25-year-old outfielder has worked a free pass in 29 percent of his 2018 plate appearances, something not seen since peak Barry Bonds in the early 2000s.
In fact, Harper, who currently has 39 walks in 30 games, is on pace for 210 walks this year. That would rank second all-time behind just 2004 Bonds (232).
Of course, Harper is very unlikely to remain on this blistering pace. April stats almost always fall off over the season, and Harper will not play in every game this year, as he has done so far through the first month.
Also, when Anthony Rendon, Daniel Murphy, and Adam Eaton return to the lineup, Harper will hopefully have more protection in the lineup, so teams won’t be so eager to send him to first.
Still, it’s reasonable to expect Harper to finish top-10 in total walks for a season in 2018. Jeff Bagwell is currently 10th all-time with 149 walks in 1999; even when Harper drops off his incredible current pace, he should still be able to earn at least 150 free passes for the year.
Breaking into the top 10 in walks is no small feat; only 4 players have ever walked 150 times in a season – Bonds (four times), Babe Ruth (twice), Ted Williams (twice), and Mark McGwire (once).
Trea Turner
Trea Turner is on the verge of breaking out at the plate, but he is already one of the best stolen base threats in baseball.
Turner is 12 for 13 on the base paths this year, and was successful in his each of his previous 15 attempts going back to the 8th inning of a Sept. 27 game against Philadelphia last year. That was, until he was caught stealing by Francisco Cervelli on Tuesday night.
Only five players have stolen at least 20 bases in a season without being thrown out once since MLB began tracking caught stealing in 1951. Chase Utley currently owns the record with 23 in 2009.
But since Turner was caught on Tuesday, he will be competing in a different group – at least 45 stolen bases and 5 or fewer attempts that resulted in a caught stealing.
Such seasons have only happened 11 times in baseball history, topped by Jacoby Ellsbury in 2013, when he finished 52 for 56 for the champion Red Sox. Ichiro Suzuki is the only player in the club with just 2 failed attempts when he stole 45 bases in 2006 for Seattle.
In his first two-and-a-half seasons, Turner is 93-110 on the base paths, good for an 85 percent success rate. Turner is on pace for another 55 stolen base attempts in 2018, so if he remained on his current trajectory, he would safely reach the next base on 47 of those attempts. Add in his current 12 steals, and 59 stolen bases on 67 tries would be remarkable, although it would be just outside that elite group.
But it wouldn’t be too surprising if Turner has cleaned up his stolen base approach and is a more effective base-stealer in year three of his career. He is already one of the fastest men in the game, so with improved technique, he may never be thrown out again (and I’m only half-joking).
Elsewhere on the roster
The Nationals have several veterans on the roster who are approaching career benchmarks.
Max Scherzer is sitting on 147 wins and 1,936 innings pitched over 11 seasons, all accomplished with a sparkling 3.26 career ERA. According to Baseball-Reference, only 97 pitchers in history have cracked 150 wins and 2,000 innings with a sub-3.26 ERA, and only 5 since 1990 (Randy Johnson, Felix Hernandez, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, and Pedro Martinez).
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Ryan Zimmerman, now in year 14, should also cross several marks by the end of 2018. For his career, Zim owns 1,683 hits, 951 RBIs, 892 runs, and 590 walks. Only 204 players are a part of the well-known 1,700-1,000-900-600 club.
That may not seem notable for Zimmerman, but consider that roughly 19,000 players have played in the major leagues. He will soon be a part of the 1 percent of players to ever rack up those numbers. For Zimmerman to amass such stats is a testament to his overall offensive skill set across a long and successful career.
Several other Nats are working towards some marks on their baseball cards too. Howie Kendrick is 9 knocks short of 1,600 base hits. Anthony Rendon – should he come back healthy – could crack 100 career home runs this season (currently at 79). Stephen Strasburg is also just 14 victories shy of 100 wins, which he may reach by the end of the year. Even the much-maligned Matt Wieters needs only six RBIs to break 500 for his career.
Next: Matt Adams plunders Pirates
This is the beauty of baseball; history runs parallel to every game. These are just a few milestones and marks to keep an eye on when you’re at the ballpark this summer.