During the All-Star Break, District on Deck will review and grade the play of each position group on the Washington Nationals roster.
After two years of subpar play from Matt Wieters, the Washington Nationals signed two free agents to upgrade the weakest position on their team.
Kurt Suzuki is coming off an incredible two-year run in Atlanta that revived his career. This prompted the Nats to steal an asset from their rival and add it to their team.
Suzuki is slashing .270/.313/.515 with a 108 wRC+, matching what he did last season in Atlanta. However, Suzuki’s power is off the charts good. His .245 isolated power mark ranks 7th among catchers (min. 175 plate appearances). That mark is also the second highest of Suzuki’s career, showing that despite turning 36 later this year, he’s punishing the baseball as well as he ever has.
The one weakness in Suzuki’s game is his defense. However, using the data on StatCorner.com, Suzuki in 2019 is merely a below average defensive catcher, as opposed to being one of the absolute worst defensive catchers in 2018. That improvement has been so vital to his and the Nationals’ success this season. GRADE: 85, B
Last season, Yan Gomes made the American League All-Star team after posting his best offensive season since 2014. However, in 2019, he is having the second-worst offensive season of his career.
This season, he is slashing .211/.303/.303, which are all awful. His defense has regressed to a below average catcher from an above average one last season. His strikeout rate has decreased but is still over 22%. His walk rate has increased to over 10%, which is about the best thing I can find to say about him. Overall, he has been a massive disappointment for the Nats this season. His -0.2 WAR is the worst among the Nationals starters with at least 50 games played. GRADE: 60%, D-
The Nationals have tried to limit Suzuki’s workload due to his age, but going forward it is clear that Suzuki gives the Nats a much more potent lineup. He needs to start as much as possible in the second half of the season.