Washington Nationals news & notes: Biggest development for the 2024 Nats? Pitching?

Davey Martinez had a lot to say about the current state of and the future of the Nationals’ organization…

The roster he finished the season with was drastically different than the roster he started the season with, and manager Davey Martinez talked before the Nationals’ 2024 finale about what he thought were the biggest developments for the club from another (re)building year in Washington, D.C.

“The biggest thing is obviously our young pitching,” Martinez said of the continued growth from MacKenzie Gore and Jake Irvin, and the emergence of DJ Herz and Mitchell Parker (with Josiah Gray out after Tommy John, and Cade Cavalli now aiming for a 2025 return after setbacks in his rehab from TJS this year).

“Seeing some of these guys come up [who] we thought they wouldn’t be here yet, and doing what they’ve done,” Martinez said, “they’ve done really well. But I also like getting some of our guys — like I’ve said before, getting some of our young, everyday players [like James Wood and Dylan Crews] up here, and doing what they did and gaining experience, it’s definitely going to help them coming into next year.”

Though less heralded than his outfield partners to the left (Wood) and right (Crews), 25-year-old, 2021 7th Round draft pick Jacob Young had a breakout season, finishing tied for second in the majors in DRS (11) amongst qualified center fielders, with good, not great, numbers at the plate (.256/.316/.331, 24 doubles, 3 HRs, 33 stolen bases).

“Jacob Young, I mean, what he’s done this year was really, really, really good. I mean, I say this every day, every time I see him, the guy is a Gold Glover. And his hitting is going to get a lot better, but man, when you have the kind of — if you can take a team and really be really good in the middle of the field, you’re going to be good, defensively, and you’re going to help your pitching staff. And he did that for us this year, which was awesome. So like I said, there’s a lot of positives, a lot of good things.”

They didn’t get to the postseason, as they likely expected, while holding out hope, but according to Martinez’s assessment, they aren’t too far away either.

“We didn’t get to where we wanted to be,” he acknowledged, “which is to try to get in the playoffs again, but I think those days are really coming.”

In the end, he said over the final weekend of the season, he liked the effort his team put forth, refusing to quit, fighting back all season, and playing hard regardless of the overall results.

“As I said all year long, these guys are not going to give up. They play hard, they really do. I’ve never seen them give up once … so I’m really proud of them.”

Martinez said over the final weekend of the season he was happy with the development he saw from the pitchers in the majors, and excited about the next wave of prospects coming through the system.

“We’re in a good spot with our young starters and still the guys we’ve got coming up, with Cade [Cavalli] hopefully being healthy next year in Spring Training.”

“We had this guy [Brad] Lord that did really well,” he added. “[Travis] Sykora, who’s pitched, as you know, really well. [Jarlin] Susana is developing really well. We’re really excited about our starting pitching.”