Washington Nationals news & notes: DJ Herz makes MLB debut in Nats’ 6-3 loss to Mets + Trevor Williams to IL…

Notes and quotes from a news-filled day in D.C.

DJ IN D.C.:

This past Friday, the Nationals’ Player Development account on X/Twitter hyped up lefty DJ Herz, the 23-year-old 2019 8th Round pick by Chicago (NL) acquired in last summer’s deal which sent Jeimer Candelario to the Cubs at the trade deadline, noting that in his last three outings at Triple-A Rochester, Herz had a 3-0 record, a 1.76 ERA, 23 Ks, and five walks in 15 ¹⁄₃ innings pitched, in which he held opposing hitters to a .151 AVG.

In announcing Herz would start the second of three with the Mets in D.C. last night, after the club placed expected starter Trevor Williams on the IL (right flexor muscle strain), the club’s PR department highlighted in a press release that the southpaw had a (3-2) record overall in 2024, “with a 3.75 ERA, 42 strikeouts and a .177 opponents’ batting average in nine starts for the Red Wings this season.”

“Herz leads all of Minor League Baseball with a .176 opponents’ batting average and is third with 13.09 strikeouts per 9.0 innings since the start of the 2021 season (min. 250.0 IP). In parts of five Minor League seasons, Herz is 13-16 with a 3.65 ERA with 455 strikeouts in 317.2 innings and has held opposing hitters to a .178 batting average.”

“We’re going to give him an opportunity to go out there and start,” manager Davey Martinez told reporters before last night’s game, “so my message to him is to be where your feet are.

“‘I’m sure the nerves are going to kick in a little bit, but I think you’ll be fine.’”

Martinez got a good look at Herz this spring, and liked what he saw.

“He’s got good stuff. He’s got good stuff. The things is — we told him, ‘Just attack the strike zone. Don’t be afraid of attacking the strike zone.’ Hopefully he goes out there, and he just competes.”

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

“His last three outings were really good,” Martinez added. “We’ve been keeping an eye on that, and the difference is strikes. Right? Pounding the strike zone, getting ahead, using his changeup and breaking ball when he needed to, but for the most part he was attacking the strike zone with his fastball and did really well.”

Herz threw predominantly fastballs in his MLB debut, 57%, with six swinging and 10 called strikes on the pitch, which averaged 93.7 MPH and got up to 95.6. He mixed in changeups for 25% of his pitches, threw 16% cutters, and 1% sliders in the 4+ inning, 75-pitch outing, a solid-enough start in which he gave up seven hits, two walks, and four earned runs.

He worked around a leadoff double in the first, retiring seven-straight after the two-base hit, then got a called third strike on J.D. Martinez to wriggle out of the jam, but a leadoff walk in the fourth was followed one out later by a two-run home run by Harrison Bader, who hit the 1-2 cutter Herz left up in the zone 390 ft. to left-center to put NY up 2-0.

Back-to-back singles in the first two at-bats of the fifth ended Herz’s outing, and both of the runners he left on came around to score, 4-0, in what ended up a 6-3 loss for the Nationals.

“He was a little nervous,” Martinez said after the loss. “He was sweating like crazy out there.

“But you know what, in big moments he kind of settled down and threw strikes and looked really good.”

Herz managed to control his emotions, and settled in nicely after giving up the leadoff hit in his first major league matchup.

“The adrenaline was up there the first inning. But once he settled in and threw a strike, and to strike out a big guy like [Pete] Alonso, he kind of settled in a little bit,” Martinez said, “and then he was around the plate.

“He wasn’t wild, like everything was in the vicinity [of the strike zone], which was nice.”

“I think I definitely settled in,” Herz said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman after the loss.

“After I got the first out, I just kind of went from there and pitched my game. Did whatever I had to do to try to put these guys in a situation to win.”

What stood out for his manager watching Herz’s MLB debut?

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

“How he was able to handle himself in situations,” Martinez said. “Not trying to get ahead of himself, getting to that next pitch. Throwing strikes when he needed to. He had a couple of those where things could have went sideways, but he pumped strikes, which was good.”

Martinez’s message for the starter once he was done?

“I told him, I said, ‘You did a great job.’ He really did. So let’s focus on the positives.”

Will he get another turn?

“I would say, yeah,” Martinez said.

WILLIAMS VS NYM:

“He had a plan this winter to have a different routine,” Davey Martinez told reporters after Trevor Williams’ 11th start of the 2024 campaign (W, 5-0, 2.22 ERA, 2.78 FIP, .221/.272/.299 line against, 16 walks, (2.54 BB/9), 47 Ks (7.46 K/9), 2 HRs (0.32 HR/9) – down from his 2.12 HR/9 in 2023, when he gave up an NL-leading 34 HRs in 56 ²⁄₃ IP).

“He did that,” Martinez said of the changes Williams made.

“He worked some different pitches, some different grips, he’s done that, he’s been effective, so I give him a lot of credit for going back after so many years — and being a veteran — to change some things up, and he’s been awesome.”

Williams made 30 starts total last year, posting a 5.55 ERA, a 5.99 FIP, 53 walks (3.30 BB/9), and 111 Ks (6.92 K/9) in 144 1⁄3 innings pitched, over which he gave up the 34 home runs (2.12 HR/9) and put up a .300/.359/.533 line against in the first year of his 2-year/$13M deal in D.C.

“He’s been pitching lights out for us,” Martinez said.

“It’s great to see. Like I said before, he made some adjustments, it’s working.”

Unfortunately, Williams is going to be shut down for the next two weeks or so after he felt off throwing a bullpen and went for an MRI which revealed a right flexor muscle strain.

Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

“I think for the most part, we lucked out,” Martinez said after receiving the diagnosis.

“After his last bullpen he said he felt funny, so kind of said he wanted to go through some other things, he did, and we got him an MRI, and just came out a strain, so we’ll give him some time.”

“He had no structural damage, which is good. So we went for an MRI, and he’s going to be down for a little while, but I think best-case scenario is that he’s got a muscle strain, flexor muscle strain. We’re going to keep him down for two weeks, and then we’ll see how he is and then we’ll go from there.”

The Nationals’ rotation will miss Williams, considering what he’s done this year, but the Nats’ skipper is hoping he’ll be back relatively soon.

“It stinks for our team because he was out there every five days competing, keeping us in ballgames,” Martinez said, “… and we were winning a lot of those games, (9-2 in 11 starts), “…but I hope he comes back, he comes back soon.”

ABRAMS & YOUNG:

CJ Abrams jammed his shoulder diving awkwardly for a ricocheted grounder in Cleveland on Friday night.

Jacob Young got hit on the right hand in Saturday afternoon’s game.

Abrams missed three games with the shoulder issue.

Young left Saturday’s game shortly after the HBP/K and had not yet returned to the lineup.

Manager Davey Martinez acknowledged in his pregame presser before the series opener with New York in D.C. on Monday that there was some concern about two of them being unavailable for multiple days.

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

“I’ve always said going on three days missing a game, I am a little concerned about both,” he explained, “… because you’re at a point where you’re playing short if they can’t play. So, if this continues, it will be something that we need to talk about.”

Both players tested themselves before Monday’s game.

“Jacob tried to hit today, he’s still sore, so I don’t want to push it,” Martinez said.

“CJ, same. I just want them to get right. CJ said he felt better today than he did yesterday, so it is getting better. So I figured just give him another day, and hopefully if we need him, he’s available.”

Asked what he wants to see from Abrams before he returns, Martinez said he wants to see the shortstop swinging without an issue.

“Just the whole swing. He said it bothers him a little bit when he swings, so we’ll get that going again and he’ll be back in there.”

Without either of the speedsters in their lineup, the Nationals were missing a lot but trying to compensate for their absences.

“The other guys are stepping up and playing well,” Martinez said. “We’ve got to do some other things, maybe try to hit a few more homers would be nice, but these guys are a big part of our success offensively, because when they do get on base, they create havoc. But Lane [Thomas] is playing well, Luis [García, Jr.] is playing well, [Eddie] Rosario is running a little bit more, [Jesse] Winker gets on and runs some.

Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

“We had Joey [Gallo] running yesterday, so we’re going to push the envelope a little bit, but these guys got to be ready to go. We play the game a little bit differently than people think, but we’re going to be aggressive, and we’re going to continue to be aggressive, but I can’t wait to get these guys back in the lineup.”

While he said before the game he hoped Abrams was available on Monday if they needed him, Martinez didn’t call upon his infielder when there were some opportunities, and he said afterwards both Abrams and Young were unavailable.

Did he consider Abrams as a pinch hitter as the Nationals rallied in the ninth?

“Yeah, we wanted to stay away from him,” Martinez said.

And Young? “Yeah, same.”

Martinez was asked again if he thought it was necessary to make a move (or two) if both remained unavailable.

“Not yet,” he said late on Monday night.

“I’m hoping they feel a lot better tomorrow.”

Both Abrams and Young returned to the lineup on Tuesday.

“They were good. I watched them both hit in the cage, they both swung the bat really well. I watched Jacob [throw] a little bit — the issue was him gripping the baseball, but he threw and he said he felt fine, so they’re both going to get an opportunity to play today, and hopefully we’ll get them through it, but they both swung the bat really well in the cage.”

Abrams went 1 for 4 with a walk and Young was 3 for 3 with a walk and two RBIs in the loss.