Following a tough loss at the hands of the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, the Washington Nationals had to have felt pretty great with how they played over their homestand. After getting off to a 1-5 start after their first two series of the season against the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays, the Nationals pulled off back-to-back series victories against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers.
In the Diamondbacks series, they lost the series opener before rattling off 2 straight wins to claim the series, and then carried that winning streak into a 4-game streak, by winning on Monday and Tuesday of this week against the Dodgers. But after going 4-2 on the homestand, what were the 3 biggest takeaways about the team in general? Let's jump into it.
James Wood might be an All-Star
The first thing that stood out to me about the homestand, and more specifically the series against the Dodgers, is just how good James Wood really is. The 22-year-old outfielder had an unbelievable series, especially with his display of power. In the 3 games, he had 4 hits in 14 plate appearances, with 3 of the 4 hits being home runs. Additionally, he drew 4 walks and only struck out twice, and his groundout to end Wednesday's game was absolutely scorched, although not enough to add to his 7 RBIs he had in the series.
After getting out to a little bit of a slower start, he now has 4 homers and 10 RBIs, and also has 2 stolen bases as well. His OPS is up to .941, and if he can continue at a similar pace, we are going to see a true breakout season from the Nationals' young superstar. He has now hit almost half of the total number of homers he hit last year in 79 games, and I think there is a very legitimate chance he has a 30/30 season and gets selected to his first All-Star game.
Signs of life from slow starters
The second big takeaway I had from the homestand overall is that there were finally some signs of life from many of the slow starters on the team. Dylan Crews, who entered the homestand without a single hit, he picked up 5 base hits in the 6 games, including his first multi-hit game of the season. While he has yet to have one go for extra bases, there are at least signs of life, and we must remember that his learning curve is likely to take a little bit. There is no need to panic about Crews yet, and hopefully he will have a good showing down in Miami this weekend.
Other slow starters, like Luis Garcia Jr., Josh Bell, and Jacob Young all showed signs of life as well at various points of the homestand. Garcia Jr. hit his first homer of the season, and drove in 2 runs on Wednesday as well. Josh Bell picked up a base knock in consecutive games for the first time this season, and Jacob Young, who has begun ceding time to Alex Call in the outfield, had a multi-hit game on Tuesday, and drew a walk as well.
The slow starts at the plate from these players has dragged down the lineup at various points so far, but at least all of them had something to hang their hat on after the 6 games. Out of all of them, I am least concerned about Garcia Jr., and most concerned about Young, as I think he is destined to end up as a 4th outfielder long-term.
The bullpen outside of Kyle Finnegan is Russian Roulette
In what must feel like an absolute broken record on this site at this point, the bullpen of the Washington Nationals is a total guess on any given night. Outside of Kyle Finnegan, who pitched in 3 consecutive games, saving all 3, including a gutsy 5-out save on Monday to secure a victory over the Dodgers, the bullpen was extremely inconsistent.
Colin Poche made 2 appearances in the homestand, and struck out the side in his second appearance in what was definitely his best outing of the year. Orlando Ribalta pitched 3.0 solid innings of relief on Tuesday, while Eduardo Salazar finally had his first blow-up appearance of the season on Wednesday, taking the loss while failing to make it through a full inning.
Lucas Sims continues to be heavily relied upon by Davey Martinez, and he remains as inconsistent as ever, while still trying to find his groove. Jackson Rutledge was decent on Tuesday, but it's clear he will still have to earn the trust of the Nats' skipper after recently transitioning to the bullpen. Jose A. Ferrer has been inconsistent as well, although part of that is due to the situations he is being deployed in.
The bottom line is, with this bullpen, you have basically no idea what you are going to get from a reliever on any given night, and that is a big problem for the Nationals. Finnegan of course remains a rock in the bullpen, but as we all know by now with him, the 9th inning is never free and easy. I don't love that it seems like the bullpen is playing Russian Roulette on any given night in terms of what we're going to see from a reliever, but all we can do for now is just continue to cross our fingers and hope for the best.
What was your biggest takeaway from the homestand? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.