Washington Nationals: Four players who need to bounce back in 2019

As the Washington Nationals look to get back on top of the NL East next season, they will need bounce-back efforts from these players to get there in 2019.

The Washington Nationals have been one of the busiest teams in baseball so far this offseason. However, if they are to reclaim their crown as National League East champions, they are going to need some of their players to rebound from poor 2018 seasons.

Among a variety of other reasons for their underperformance, some of the Nationals key players weren’t able to live up to their billing. Yes, there were injuries and poor management at times, but there were several players who just didn’t perform. After all, the game is played on the diamond, not off it.

Probably one of the most prominent examples of this was the team’s former MVP, Bryce Harper, who won’t appear in this list seeing as he’s not currently on the Nats’ roster. By his usual standards, the outfielder had a lackluster .214/.365/.468 slash line at the All-Star break with the team flirting around .500. Usually, he was the one to carry the team, but it just wasn’t the case.

Now, should Harper depart the nation’s capital, it’s going to be up to multiple players to step up and account for the missing production. Both the position players and pitchers will need to make up that gap, not just one area in particular.

In this article, we’re going to look at four players who had poor seasons in 2018 but also have the ability to flip the script come Opening Day in a few months. First up, we have easily the most obvious candidate for a bounce-back season on the mound.