Washington Nationals news & notes: Off day leftovers – Cade Cavalli; Trey Lipscomb; and James Wood at the plate…

Notes and quotes on the Nationals after an off day and before they play the Orioles tonight…

CAVALLI IN 2024?:

With setbacks from an extended illness and a dead arm period as he ramped back up earlier this season, Cade Cavalli had to do a reset on his rehab from Tommy John surgery and he is now, essentially, starting from scratch, trying to buld his back arm up for an eventual return to game action.

Nationals’ manager Davey Martinez told reporters this week Cavalli was heading down to West Palm Beach, FL, and was, “… going to leave here throwing about 75 feet,” and, “… he should be ramping up.”

As for whether Cavalli, who did make three rehab starts before things came to a halt, could get a start or two in late this season somewhere in the organization, Martinez said right now it’s wait and see.

“Only time will tell. I would really — we’ll see how it goes — I would like for him to pitch even if it’s for an inning, two innings, three innings, whatever it is, just to know that he could have a regular winter and get ready for Spring Training. Who knows? Look, he is a big strong kid, and he’s feeling pretty good right now.”

LIPSCOMB PLAN:

In his latest 20-game run with the bu league club, Trey Lipscomb, 24, put up a .152/.211/.182 line, going 10 for 66 at the plate with two doubles, five walks, and 17 Ks in a total of 72 plate appearances.

Earlier this week, Lipscomb was optioned back out to Triple-A Rochester.

“We’ve got to get Trey a little bit more comfortable at the plate,” manager Davey Martinez explained after the news on the latest move was official.

“He’s playing unbelievable defense. We want to get him to work on some things, get him some everyday at-bats and get him back hitting the way we know he’s capable of hitting.”

In the minors, the 2022 3rd Round pick (out of the University of Tennessee) has put up a solid .279/.317/.417 line in 778 PAs vs his .207/.276/.239 line in 205 PAs in the majors.

“He’s got to stay on his legs a little bit better,” the skipper said. “He kind of lost that, and for me I kind of noticed he really was trying to pull a lot of balls.

Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images

“In Spring Training, if you noticed, he stayed on the ball really well, hit the ball more up the middle and to right-center field, right field, we want him to get back to that.

“He’s going to go down there and work on some things, and hopefully find his swing again, and then see if we can get him back up here.”

The message for Lipscomb going down again after he struggled at the plate over the last few weeks?

“You always want everybody to come up here and be successful. But it’s part of the game,” Martinez said. “I told him that, hey, because you got options, it’s part of it. Just understand you’ve got to go down there and work to get yourself back up here. And I hope to see him back up here. If I know Trey, he’s going down and work really hard to get back here.”

WOOD ROLLING:

Coming off a 3 for 11 series against the LA Angels in which he hit a double and a home run, with a walk and two Ks in 12 plate appearances, James Wood, 21, is now 19 for 35 over a 15-game stretch going back to July 27th, with a .359/.469/.642 line, three doubles, two home runs, 11 walks, and 16 Ks in 64 PAs.

Wood went 0 for 3 with a walk in the finale with LAA in D.C., and he’s now reached base in 15 of his last 16 games.

His latest home run, in Saturday’s win in Nationals Park, was an opposite field shot, 381 ft. to left-center on a 2-2 slider inside from Angels’ righty Griffin Canning.

“He stays on the ball,” manager Davey Martinez said after Wood’s fourth home run in the big leagues, and his fourth opposite field home run.

“He stays on the ball really well,” Martinez stressed. “He drives the ball the other way really well. So it was a great swing. And then he comes up and hits the ball to right-center field. Puts another good swing on it, so he’s having good at-bats.

“When he hits the ball, he hits it hard.”

Wood’s HardHit% in 152 PAs in the majors, 43.5%, is the fifth-highest in the majors among players with at least 150 PAs on the season, and his .383 BABIP is tied for 3rd overall. He’s hit 48.2% of balls in play to center. No wonder Davey loves pencilling him into the lineup.