Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ youth movement and the Nats’ brass thinking they’re close…
This is what this stage of a rebuild/reboot, or “mini retool” looks like.
In their 2024 Season in Review, Washington’s Nationals noted how they, “… played [a total of] 15 rookies this season, matching the third-most they’ve used in a season since 2005, trailing only 2021 (17) and 2006 (18).”
GM and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo acknowledged late in September, in one of his weekly visits with Audacy’s The Sports Junkies, that fielding this young a team comes with its pros and cons, obviously.
The #MLBNOffBase crew reacts to No. 3 overall prospect James Wood being called up and what this means for the @Nationals. pic.twitter.com/xaxJtwnrlO
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) June 28, 2024
“The cons are the growing pains,” Rizzo told the Junkies. “All of these young players, they all don’t develop and blossom at the same time. So there’s bumps in the road.
“Like I’ve said, development’s not linear, there’s bumps in the road, you have to live and die with that throughout the season… Inconsistencies and sometimes the lack of fundamentals are definitely the biggest cons that I’ve seen throughout the season and things we have to work on.”
For all the growing pains, however, Rizzo ended the season positive about what the future holds for the organization.
“You’re seeing really the development of four major league starters kind of coming together in the same season, which is unlikely to happen often,” Rizzo said, referring to rotation arms MacKenzie Gore (25), Jake Irvin (27), Mitchell Parker (24), and DJ Herz (23). Both Josiah Gray and Cade Cavalli are working back from Tommy John surgery, and manager Davey Martinez late this season mentioned prospects Brad Lord, Travis Sykora, and Jarlin Susana as pitchers who have the organization excited about their depth.
Jarlin Susana dials it up to 102 mph en route to a career-high 10 strikeouts at High-A!
A new addition to the Top 100 Prospects list, the @Nationals 20-year-old (acquired in the Juan Soto deal) is up to 147 K’s in 98.2 IP this year.@WilmBlueRocks | @Nats_PlayerDev pic.twitter.com/FrlgSbwF2F
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 1, 2024
“I think that’s the biggest pro for me,” Rizzo continued, “… the state of our pitching at the big league level, at the upper minor league level, and at the lower minor league level has never been better for us, never flourished as much.
“We’ve never had as much depth as we’ve [got] right now.”
A total of, “84 of the Nationals’ 162 starts on the mound [in 2024] this year were made by a pitcher 26 years old or younger,” the club noted, “the third-most in the National League behind Miami (126), Cincinnati (113), and tied with Arizona (84),” and when it comes to Nats’ position players, they had. “… a total of 713 games played by players 24 or younger this season, the most in the National League and second-most in Major League Baseball (Detroit, 740).”
Late this year, the Nationals set franchise marks for playing young players.
Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
“On August 31, Washington used seven rookies in the starting lineup, the most in a single game in Nationals’ history (2005-pres.), per Elias Sports Bureau.”
“It’s awesome,” manager Davey Martinez said of the youth movement after two of last year’s debuting rookies (Darren Baker and Zach Brzykcy) came up September 1st.
“We should all be proud, especially our developmental group down in the minor leagues.”