Washington Nationals news & notes: Davey Martinez happy to get Spring Training started…

Notes and quotes from the first day of live BP in WPB…

Davey Martinez played 16 seasons in the majors, retiring after 2001 before he started his second career, as a Spring Training instructor with the Tampa Bay Rays, and, eventually, became a coach with the club in 2008.

He spent 10 years as a bench coach with Madden in Tampa and Chicago, taking a number of interviews for managerial jobs before he finally got one in Washington in 2018.

So he has plenty of experience in Spring Training, but he still hasn’t tired of it all.

In fact, he said early this spring, seeing all the players come together every year to reestablish relationships or build new ones is part of what he loves about the game.

Martinez talked last week about seeing his club this year, “… starting to have conversations, seeing guys communicate and starting to build that bond again,” adding, “it never gets old.”

“It’s part of the reason why a lot of years I’ve spent doing what I do because I love it, and I love getting out with those guys. It’s what Spring Training is really all about, it’s about bringing everybody together, and it’s a lot of fun.”

It is also, of course, serious business, and coming in, for the manager, (who signed a multi-year extension with the club last summer), the expectation is his players will arrive in shape and ready to start in on the work they need to do to get ready for the regular season.

“The emphasis all winter is to make sure you come into Spring Training in shape,” Martinez explained on Day 2 in West Palm Beach, FL, “so that you can get ready and get into baseball shape, and part of that is hitting, fielding, running, which I think they’ve all done. I said it yesterday — these guys, it feels like I’ve been in camp already 3-4 weeks.

“To have all our guys here now except maybe two or three, it’s amazing, and they’re all talking about they’re ready, they’re hungry, and they want to go out there and compete.”

For pitchers, in particular, who reported along with the catchers last week, their goal is to start slow and build slowly as they progress towards the start of the ‘24 campaign.

“Right now it’s just about getting their feet underneath them, their mechanics, how well they are using their lower half,” he said.

“Right now, 70-75% is good. As you get into a game, that stuff just ramps up.”

“For right now it’s just about locating your fastball.”

With all of the early arrivals putting in their work before things officially got started, Martinez was thrilled with what he saw as they started the process.

Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images

The early arrivers apparently took the club’s messages about coming into camp ready to go seriously.

“They took it to heart,” Martinez said on Day 3. “A lot of them – because the weather’s so good – they came here early and started to work out. When I came here, we already had 15-16 guys working out. I thought that was pretty impressive. I’m happy they’re here. I’m happy they’re working this early.”

Seeing younger prospects in camp and getting to know all the big leaguers and assembled veterans is another one of the things Martinez appreciates.

“It’s awesome to see those guys,” he said.

“They’re young. Hopefully they’re going to learn a lot this spring, and we’ll get them going. They’re a big part of our future. …”

Those who are new to big league camp, he said, haven’t missed a beat.

“They fit in. They’ve been interacting with a lot of guys out there. We’re not even really in camp yet, and these guys — I saw them today, I saw them take infield today and was like, wow.

“I’m going to just kind of watch them, watch their actions … and see how they do.”

On Sunday, in advance of the first full squad workouts, Martinez reiterated his message to everyone in West Palm Beach, go out there and kick the door in as he’s often said.

“I said this earlier, right now there’s an opportunity for all these guys, and I want them to come to camp and try to compete and win the job,” Martinez said.

“There’s really nothing set in stone, I want these guys to come here and try to win a job.”

His biggest takeaway from Monday’s workouts and live BPs?

“The ability for them to throw strikes,” the manager said. “We had a lot of guys that were around the strike zone, that threw a bunch of strikes. The balls were coming out good.”

Martinez saw a number of pitchers, and watched some young hitters go up there swinging early in the process.

“I saw MacKenzie [Gore] a little bit. He was really, really good. [Jackson] Rutledge was good. Jake [Irvin], who ended up slipping on one mound*, we had to move him to Field 5, and he threw a full bullpen, but he threw the ball really, really well.

“[Hunter] Harvey, [Kyle] Finnegan, they all threw the ball well, so it was awesome.

“It was also good to see some of our really young minor league players come up here, our prospects, and swing the bats a little bit, so it was impressive.”

Bringing in some young prospects like Elijah Green and Daylen Lile had the desired effect, with the youngsters a little more aggressive than veterans might be this early in the spring.

“Absolutely, yeah,” Martinez laughed. “They were swinging. There’s no doubt about it, so that was kind of nice.”

“I watched Green go up there and take some really good healthy hacks. Some of our other players, [Daylen] Lile, swinging the bat, some of the other younger kids, but the other guy too, who isn’t as young but he went up there, was Joey Gallo, and he was swinging and he hit a couple balls really well.

“And I talked to him, and he said the only way you’re really going to get your timing is if you swing, and he’s absolutely correct. You can take pictures all you want, but unless you swing up there, you’re never going to get your timing right.”

Having everyone together again, in the end, was the highlight for Martinez on Monday.

“It’s awesome to get all the boys back together,” he said, “… and see them and start having those conversations again. It’s a lot of fun. It doesn’t get old for me. I love it. This was Day 1. We’ve got a long way to go. But I enjoyed every minute of it.”

BONUS QUOTE:

A reporter noted that catcher Keibert Ruiz was spotted wearing red contact lenses which he said helped him see the red on the baseball. No really.

“I did notice, and I had to give a double-take, but hey, whatever works,” Martinez said.

“I’m not going to shy away from anything. It’s new technology, so whatever works, we’ll see how it works.”

ALSO THIS:

AND THIS:

[ed note – “Did you forget about the * up there? We didn’t. Did Davey say Jake Irvin slipped on the mound? Yes, he did. “It wasn’t good, so we stopped him right away. We moved him onto field five. He has such a long stride, and he was falling in a little hole and he was slipping, so we got him out of there.”]