Notes and quotes to get you ready for the start of the Grapefruit League season…
NATIONALS PREPARE FOR GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE OPENER:
With one day to go before the start of Grapefruit League action, Davey Martinez and his club put in work on Friday, preparing for the first game of the spring, which takes place today in West Palm Beach, FL (6:05 PM ET; Radio: nats.com; with a replay on the MLB Network at 10:00 PM).
“We really wanted to work on some — like the simple things I always talk about,” Martinez told reporters on Friday afternoon, simple things like some situational hitting, running the bases, and going over the new approach with tags (with MLB asking umpires to enforce the obstruction rules around the bases).
“We can’t block the base,” he explained.
“So we’re teaching these guys, one, to get to the base as quick as they can, and two, to kind of straddle the base a little bit. Because it will be called obstruction.
“So we worked on that today. They all seemed to do well with it.”
“Overall it was a good day. Good day. Tomorrow we get to see the guys play a little bit.”
Once they do start playing games, we’ll all get to read way too much into how Martinez is constructing his lineups early this year.
“Obviously this spring, we’ll toy around a little bit with it,” he said on Friday.
“But it can go so many different ways. We’ll see how it works out. We could do something against lefties, we could do something against righties. But like I’ve said before, it’s nice to have options. It’s nice to have a couple of guys in the middle of the lineup who can drive the ball and hit a three-run homer. So I’m looking forward to watching these guys.
“Like I said, it’s early in the spring, just get their timing ready, and watch these guys start driving balls…”
As he’s watching early spring games, Martinez said he’ll be looking to see his hitters start to get their timing down once they’re facing live pitching again.
“For me it’s all about timing. Obviously [early in spring] pitchers are going to be a little bit more ahead than hitters … so just get yourself ready to hit, get yourself ready to hit and get ready to hit the fastballs, and we were really good at it last year. I think we’re going to be good at it again this year, and with that being said, as this thing starts progressing, with guys on base, I want to see our offense really focus on driving in the runs and really work on it this spring.”
While there is a lot of excitement about seeing some of the young prospects (James Wood, Robert Hassell III, Dylan Crews + more) in camp get some Grapefruit League at-bats, there will be plenty to go around, but the expected members Opening Day roster have to get the at-bats they need as well, so Martinez will find the right balance.
“We have to get ready for our season, Opening Day,” he said. “I will play a lot of these kids.
“So, I don’t if you guys looked, our lineup tomorrow, all of those young kids are going to come in and play. [Guys] will get probably one or two at-bats, and then young kids will play.
“So they’re going to get tons of playing time, especially early, but we got to get ready for Opening Day… so our guys are going to get the at-bats they need and then we’ll go from there.”
“They’re going to be here,” he continued, talking about the prospects in camp, “and while they’re here I want to see them play. I want to see what they can do, and we’ve been working with them just as much as we’ve been working with our guys, our veteran guys, but they’re part of the Nationals’ organization and we want to get them ready. I love the fact that they’re here, and getting a lot of work in. And it’s fun. It’s fun for all of us. They bring a lot of energy too.”
ROBLES IN 2024:
Victor Robles, who’ll turn 27 in May, went 32 for 107 (.299/.385/.365) at the plate in 2023, but played in just 36 games, with a back injury leading to an IL stint in May. Robles returned to the Nationals’ lineup in mid-June, but ended up back on the IL on June 20th, and never returned to the majors after that point, which his manager, Davey Martinez, said was a real shame, considering how the center fielder played early on in the year.
It stinks for him, and for us, because we challenged him to make some changes with his swing,” Martinez said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.
“He did it, and he was doing really, really well. I really wish we could’ve seen that for 550 plate appearances, because I think he would’ve surprised a lot of people. But only time will tell now.”
Martinez said this winter he thought a healthy Robles was still really valuable to the club.
“It’s all going to depend on his health,” the skipper said. “I’m glad that he’ll be back. We definitely could use him.”
GM Mike Rizzo acknowledged late last season that there were outfielders on their way up in the Nationals’ system who’ll be pushing for spots on the big league roster in the near future, so there is no time like the present for players like the seven-year veteran (but still relatively young) Robles to step up.
“We’ve got players [champing] at the bit to get to the big leagues and they are going to be on the heels of a lot of these big league players that are currently on the roster,” Rizzo said.
“So that’s what this thing is all about: competition at the highest level.”
Photo by Brandon Sloter/Image Of Sport/Getty Images
“You don’t ever have to tell a player that there’s other players coming,” Martinez said as he was, speaking with reporters on Thursday afternoon in West Palm Beach, FL. He was asked about Robles’ future and the outfield mix in Spring Training.
“What I want him to do is just go out there and do what he does best, and just play the game. He’s going to do that,” Martinez added.
According to the manager, Robles came to camp ready to go, having taken all of the advice he received from the team to heart.
“He definitely has to come into Spring Training, one, and I talked to him in the winter time about being healthy, and he’s shown that he did that, he worked really hard to get ready.
“He looks great right now. He’s swinging the bat well so far in camp, and he’s running really well.”
“As we all know, Victor is very — he’s one of those guys where he’s just like [Ildemaro] Vargas, he loves his teammates, he’s going to give you everything he’s got,” Martinez said, “… but he knows it’s time to perform, so I expect him to go out there and do his job.”
BULLPEN MIX:
“I love the options. I said this before: we can’t have enough arms in camp,” Davey Martinez said in discussing the bullpen arms in West Palm Beach this spring.
He wants to get 21 outs from his starters as often as possible, but if/when they don’t go 6-7 innings, Martinez said, they have the options in the bullpen.
At the back end of the ‘pen, Martinez plans to have both Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey shutting things down in the late innings.
“They’re both going to pitch in the back end of the bullpen, high-leverage situations,” he said on Friday.
“On any given day, either one of those two guys will close and pitch the eighth. What I really like about our bullpen … we’ve got a couple of veteran guys who can help us in situations where they’re both down that day. I really want to watch their workload, especially early in the season. They have thrown a lot, especially Finnegan over the last couple years. So we want to keep an eye on that.”
Tanner Rainey, who saved 12 games for the Nats in 2022 but missed 2023 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, is in camp and healthy this spring, and gives the team another late-inning arm (along with free agent signee Dylan Floro).
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“Rainey’s healthy also. There’s nothing holding him back now,” Martinez said.
“So he’s just going to fit right in and hopefully he becomes that seventh-inning guy.
“For me it’s a good problem to have to have all these guys healthy and ready to go, so we’ll see how he does this spring.”
As for the bullpen mix overall, Martinez said he wants to see returning relievers approach things the same way they did last season.
“I really don’t want them to change,” the manager said. “I really don’t. Those guys are hungry. They wanted the ball. There were days where I thought, honestly, they should have had days off, but they all wanted to pitch. So, I love those guys. Those guys take the ball, they never complain, they’re just hungry to go out there and pitch and help us win games.
“They’re gamers, they’re go-getters, and I love every one of them.”