The Washington Nationals split their doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday after falling in the nightcap, giving the team a 9-13 record and leaving them with a 4-6 mark on their road trip. That trip was a great opportunity for the team to rack up a lot of victories, facing the Miami Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Rockies, none of whom are really expected to be competitive teams this season.
Instead of posting a great record in the 10 games, the Nationals dropped 2/3 to Miami, 3/4 to Pittsburgh, and only took 2/3 from Colorado, the worst team in baseball. If you had any legitimate expectations that this team was going to compete for anything significant, it's time to adjust those thoughts, and realize that this is who the Nationals are.
However, it wasn't all bad, as the road trip featured some good moments and some brutal ones as well. With that being said, let's take a look at 3 quick takeaways following the road trip.
The Nationals need a new hitting coach
When the Nationals announced before last season that the entire coaching staff would be back, naturally there were a lot of groans from a fanbase that is growing increasingly frustrated with the team's lack of changes. The most egregious decision was to bring back Davey Martinez's buddy Darnell Coles, the hitting coach of the Nationals who has not helped the team in any significant way since coming to DC.
While the first game of the series in Colorado inflated the stats overall for the series, the Nationals did not record an extra base hit in 18 innings of Sunday's doubleheader, and the offense continues to look putrid more often than not, even when facing subpar competition. The Nationals only scored 7 runs in 4 games against the worst offensive team in baseball when they were in Pittsburgh, and many hitters that have gotten off to tough starts like Luis Garcia Jr. and Josh Bell are seemingly still in a big funk.
I do not think Darnell Coles will make it through the season, especially if the offense continues to sputter over the next couple of weeks. I personally would love to see what a new voice could do for our hitters, and a promotion of Assistant Hitting Coach Chris Johnson would at least provide some optimism.
Dylan Crews is coming around
If there was any big takeaway for Nationals fans to be excited about from the road trip, it's that Dylan Crews is seemingly figuring things out. One of the favorites for NL Rookie of the Year before the season began, he scuffled out of the gate but has really come around recently. I believe that the series in Colorado was exactly what he needed to get going, as he blasted his first 2 homers and recorded his first double of the season on Saturday as well.
Crews is now on a 6-game hitting streak, and his average has crept all the way back up to .186, which is not great, but a big step up from where he was even a week ago. Of course, his defense and baserunning are great, and if he can continue to progress he will keep his name in the conversations for NL ROY as the season wears on. His Baseball Savant page shows that he has been a very unlucky hitter to this point, and as I noted earlier this season, he is very close to fully figuring things out.
Bullpen in need of major changes
The overall takeaway that needs to be addressed as soon as possible is the fact that the Washington Nationals own the WORST bullpen in the majors by a lot. Outside of Kyle Finnegan, who continues to be a save machine, and Jose A. Ferrer, who has all the talent in the world but has been inconsistent, the current state of the bullpen is an absolute joke to roll out there every day.
Lucas Sims and Colin Poche have been maybe the 2 worst relievers in baseball this season, and need to be gone. The issue is that the team doesn't have a ton of internal options that are readily available to take their places, but non-40 man roster guys like Connor Pilkington and Carlos Romero could earn themselves an opportunity.
The Nationals currently own the worst bullpen ERA in the league, and watching Sims and Poche continue to earn opportunities on a consistent base is becoming more maddening by the second. Guys like Cole Henry and Jackson Rutledge need to be given more looks if for no other reason than their jerseys don't say "Sims" and "Poche" on the back. The fact that the 2 of them almost single-handedly lost the team a game in Colorado on Saturday that they once led 12-2, shows how little trust they have at the moment. Changes need to be made, and if the Nationals want any chance of being at least competent from a pitching standpoint after their starters exit, they need to come soon.
What was your biggest takeaway following the road trip? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.