Washington Nationals: Previewing the Spring Training position battles

Fifth Starter

The Washington Nationals rotation struggled a lot last season, outside of Max Scherzer. The fifth spot in the rotation, in particular, just seemed to be a revolving door at times and there’s bound to be a competition for that role this spring.

About a week ago, it looked like it would be a full-blown competition between the likes of Joe Ross, Erick Fedde, Henderson Alvarez, and Kyle McGowin. But then the Nationals signed Jeremy Hellickson to a one-year $1.3 million deal which instantly makes him the favorite.

Last year, the right-hander went 5-3 with a 3.45 ERA last with the Nats in 19 starts after joining the team late in Spring Training. But injuries cut his season shorter than he would’ve liked, missing time with a hamstring injury and then subsequently a wrist sprain later in the year.

But when he was healthy, he was effective on the Nats’ new plan to restrict him from facing hitters a third time as much as possible. At times, this taxed the bullpen, but it always gave their ballclub a chance to win the games he started, which is all you can ask of a fifth starter.

Now that he’s been brought back on a major league deal, that likely will mean Ross and Fedde will start in Triple-A to serve as pitching depth, which the team didn’t have last season. Barring something catastrophic, this is Hellickson’s job to lose this spring, and it’s hard to expect him to lose it.

Prediction: Jeremy Hellickson

Bullpen Spots

This is one of the more tricky competitions to predict, as it’s still unclear how many relievers the Washington Nationals will carry. But with only a few locks to make the Opening Day bullpen, there’s plenty up for grabs regardless.

Sean Doolittle, Trevor Rosenthal, Kyle Barraclough, and Matt Grace seem like the four pitchers who need not worry about losing their job. That will leave three or four relief roles to claim, though the bullpen could look very familiar to last time.

Justin Miller was a revelation when he first came up, though looked fatigued towards the end of the year. He should be back barring a collapse this spring. So should Koda Glover who the team is incredibly high on and was solid when he finally got back healthy last season.

The next man up is likely to be Wander Suero who 3.59 ERA and struck out almost a batter per inning last year. He’s also shown the ability to go multiple innings, which will be a valuable asset. But he does have two options remaining on his contract, so could be expendable if he struggles.

That could be the bullpen for Opening Day set, but last year, top open the season at least, the Nats carried an eight-man bullpen. That would leave the door open for several names such as Vidal Nuno, James Bourque, and Tanner Rainey, but Sammy Solis may be best positioned to win that final job.

Solis caused stress among management, reporters and fans alike with some sketchy showings last season. But this may have come down to overuse early in the season, which manager Dave Martinez even owned up to. That should give the lefty the inside track after the skipper trusted him early on, but any red flags will open the door for others to step in.

Prediction: Koda Glover, Justin Miller, Wander Suero, and Sammy Solis

Starting Catcher

This Spring Training battle won’t really have any active roster implications like the previous battles in this list. However, it’s going to be interesting to watch with two brand new catchers in the locker room this spring.

With the two new additions behind the dish, generally, we’ll likely see one catcher three times through the rotation and the other two times. But management will likely end up favoring one over the other where possible and will end up starting 100 or so games.

Yan Gomes has to be the favorite to be the de-facto starter. Coming off of an All-Star season with the Cleveland Indians, he’s proven himself as a solid hitter, at least by catcher’s stands, after slashing .266/.313/.449 with 16 home runs and 48 RBI.

While Kurt Suzuki, who is returning to D.C. on a two-year deal also has the offensive stats, Gomes is far superior defensively at this point in his career. We’ve previously looked at the Brazilian’s defense, especially his blocking and how it may make him the team’s best acquisition this offseason.

A possible way for this to play out could be Gomes taking on Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin and Jeremy Hellickson for the majority of their starts. That would leave Suzuki to catch Stephen Strasburg and Anibal Sanchez, the latter of whom Suzuki had a lot of success with last year. That would make Yan Gomes the starter, by default.

Prediction: Yan Gomes

Starting Center Fielder

Another one that is only really a battle in the loosest sense of the word this spring. This time last year, Michael Taylor has the starting job in center field sewn up, but Victor Robles has a chance to impress. Now, it appears to be the other way around.

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Robles dazzled in his brief big league time last season to the tune of a .288/.348/.525 slash line with three home runs and a triple. He would’ve been up even sooner if it wasn’t for a hyperextended elbow in April that kept him sidelined for a few months.

Meanwhile, Taylor couldn’t replicate his breakout 2017 season, eventually slumping to post a measly .644 OPS with just six home runs last year. The one positive on the offensive side of the ball for Taylor was that he was able to swipe 24 bags in limited playing time, but it’s clear his bat will likely never be good enough at the major league level.

While Taylor’s calling card and a major strong suit is his gold glove defense, something that doesn’t get enough attention is just how good Robles is on the defensive side of the ball. While he’s not quite a gold glover yet, he possesses all the raw tools and flashed that in center last season.

Perhaps the nail in the coffin is that one way or another Robles will have to get regular playing time, either in the bigs or in the minor leagues. Say Taylor won the starting job, that would mean replacing Robles with Andrew Stevenson on the big league roster until they deem him ready.

With that in mind, the Nationals may as well let Robles work through the kinks at the highest level, as he is clearly the more talented player. Get excited Nats fans, it’s the Victor Robles era.

Prediction Victor Robles