Latest / District Territory / What Harry Ford's promotion means for the Nationals

Transcript

What Harry Ford's promotion means for the Nationals · District Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast. I'm Eric Shellhouse
0:09
Speaker 1: from the Bat Boys. Joining me today Spencer nuzsbound from
0:11
Speaker 1: the Athletic Happy All Star Week to all of our listeners.
0:14
Speaker 1: The Nationals showed out quite well, but we have some
0:17
Speaker 1: big news out of the Nation's Capital that I want
0:19
Speaker 1: to lead off today's show with Drew Billis was placed
0:21
Speaker 1: on the ten day injured list. The Nationals also a
0:24
Speaker 1: reinstated starting pitcher or right handed pitcher, Max Kranik. But
0:28
Speaker 1: the bigger news here, Spencer, you're reporting per source that
0:31
Speaker 1: Harry Ford is going to be joining the team following
0:34
Speaker 1: the All Star break.
0:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty big news, especially considering what we kind
0:41
Speaker 2: of expected harry Ford to be this season, right, Like
0:44
Speaker 2: we had talked about him as the National's answer behind
0:48
Speaker 2: the plate.
0:49
Speaker 1: Right.
0:50
Speaker 2: The fact of the matter is k Beart showed so
0:52
Speaker 2: much in the big leagues, especially from may on, and
0:57
Speaker 2: Harry Ford really struggled early on. As I kind of
0:59
Speaker 2: touched on in that story, he was dealing with a
1:02
Speaker 2: shoulder issue that I think explains at least some of
1:07
Speaker 2: the early struggles that we saw from him. Where that
1:10
Speaker 2: ops was sitting in the five hundreds for a while,
1:13
Speaker 2: but you look at what he's done since early June,
1:16
Speaker 2: you look at what Drew Millis has had to battle
1:18
Speaker 2: through on the injury front, and the timing just made
1:22
Speaker 2: a lot of sense for the Nationals. You know, I
1:25
Speaker 2: can't sit here right now and say I know exactly
1:28
Speaker 2: how many plate appearances Harry Ford's going to get this season,
1:31
Speaker 2: but I think the fact that he is even catching
1:33
Speaker 2: games right now with the big league club is a
1:36
Speaker 2: big step for the organization.
1:38
Speaker 1: I think what will be really interesting to follow here too,
1:41
Speaker 1: is how long might Millis be out for and how
1:44
Speaker 1: what does the split look like? Seeing how the team
1:46
Speaker 1: has matched up so well this year, how they run
1:49
Speaker 1: out a lineup every single day. Is there a day
1:51
Speaker 1: where Harry Ford gets a start and we're scratching our
1:53
Speaker 1: heads Kimrid just went three for four yesterday because he's
1:56
Speaker 1: been matching the ball this season. I just think that's
1:59
Speaker 1: going to be interesting, seem to follow how it might
2:01
Speaker 1: adjust Blake's ability to construct a line up.
2:05
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think that's a great point, especially because Harry
2:09
Speaker 2: Ford is a right handed hitter, right and we've seen
2:12
Speaker 2: k Bear, who's a switch hitter, hit so well against
2:15
Speaker 2: lefties or excuse me, against right e's where he you know,
2:19
Speaker 2: he's at this point is starting to out of every
2:21
Speaker 2: three games and largely it's on a rotation. But when
2:25
Speaker 2: the Nationals need, you know, these these guys to hit
2:30
Speaker 2: right handed pitching, Kber has been the one where you
2:33
Speaker 2: see all these pull side homers land in the home
2:36
Speaker 2: dug out instead of the visitors dugout, and so that'll
2:39
Speaker 2: be an interesting split for them, right. I think to
2:41
Speaker 2: the other point with Millis is and I think we've
2:44
Speaker 2: talked about this on the show before, where he's been
2:46
Speaker 2: playing with that finger that looks kind of like four
2:49
Speaker 2: fingers put together, like it's super swollen. It does not
2:53
Speaker 2: look good. It is what he's been playing through because
2:57
Speaker 2: he knows his opportunity to play in the big leagu
3:00
Speaker 2: and the opportunity to leagas is not one that just
3:03
Speaker 2: you know comes along like you have to take the
3:06
Speaker 2: most of the opportunity. And so he decided early this
3:11
Speaker 2: offseason excuse me, that he was going to try to
3:15
Speaker 2: play through it, and he has done just that. He's
3:18
Speaker 2: received really well at the offense. He was still putting
3:21
Speaker 2: it together. So I don't know exactly when he'll be back.
3:24
Speaker 2: But I think, you know, the average fan might look
3:26
Speaker 2: at the batting average and say, oh, Drew Millis had
3:29
Speaker 2: an unproductive season. I think he's done a lot behind
3:31
Speaker 2: the scenes, and especially defensively with his receiving that has
3:36
Speaker 2: made him a productive player for the Nationals.
3:39
Speaker 1: Yes, sir, witching him a quick and recovery. Let's talk
3:45
Speaker 1: about the All Star Game last night though. CJ. Abrams
3:48
Speaker 1: was your starting shortstop for the National League. He hit fourth,
3:51
Speaker 1: and then of course James Wood came into the game
3:53
Speaker 1: later on Bud Spencer, did you see the cleats that
3:56
Speaker 1: he was rocking last night? These are some of the
3:59
Speaker 1: best cleats I've ever seen during an All Star Game
4:01
Speaker 1: or any sort of festive event like that. But just
4:05
Speaker 1: did you catch him and what were your thoughts on
4:07
Speaker 1: these things? They're beautiful, a nice homage.
4:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw a picture last night. I wonder if
4:12
Speaker 2: he's the first big leiguer to have an interstate sign
4:16
Speaker 2: on his cleats. I don't think I can do that
4:18
Speaker 2: stat head search, but I'm definitely I was impressed by
4:22
Speaker 2: the look. And yeah, it feels like he'll have a
4:24
Speaker 2: lot of All Star Games ahead of him, so a
4:26
Speaker 2: lot of opportunities to try different things out in the cleats.
4:29
Speaker 2: But yeah, it was a good choice for the All
4:32
Speaker 2: Star Game.
4:33
Speaker 1: I loved it ten out of ten. Look there, And
4:34
Speaker 1: then of course we would be remiss if we didn't
4:37
Speaker 1: mention mention Foster Griffin, who went one inning, two strikeouts,
4:41
Speaker 1: And this is really nothing new to us, Spencer, but
4:44
Speaker 1: you were disappointed he didn't use his entire pitch arsenal
4:47
Speaker 1: in that inning. But what was sticking out to me was,
4:50
Speaker 1: is this another situation where hey, we've got twenty nine
4:53
Speaker 1: teams watching our guy, and maybe his price is going up,
4:57
Speaker 1: or if the Nationals went to keep him, he's pitching
4:59
Speaker 1: so well, his price is going up. But what was
5:01
Speaker 1: going through your head is you watched Foster the other night.
5:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, he took throw cold water on any idea. If
5:09
Speaker 2: his trade value got bumped up by that, I'd be surprised,
5:13
Speaker 2: what I would say. On the flip side, The reason
5:16
Speaker 2: he pitched so well in that game is also the
5:18
Speaker 2: reason why his value could be pretty high at the deadline.
5:21
Speaker 2: Right he faced three All Stars. He has faced best
5:26
Speaker 2: Major League Baseball this year. You think back to his
5:29
Speaker 2: series or his matchup against the Brewers, or the Phillies
5:32
Speaker 2: or basically the Braves, any lineup that showed a lot
5:36
Speaker 2: of pop this season and then scrolled over to earned runs.
5:40
Speaker 2: It's like zero one zero, zero one two. Like he
5:44
Speaker 2: has shut down some of the best lineups in baseball.
5:46
Speaker 2: And I think this was just a showcase for that,
5:48
Speaker 2: right where he gets this moment where he gets to
5:51
Speaker 2: be this thirty old rookie who came over from Japan,
5:53
Speaker 2: where Major League Baseball fans learn his name and Major
5:57
Speaker 2: League Baseball evaluators look at him and say, hey, this
5:59
Speaker 2: is what he's been doing all year. You know, he
6:02
Speaker 2: he could. I don't know if he's going to pitch
6:05
Speaker 2: the Nationals or another team after August third, but whenever
6:08
Speaker 2: a team he is pitching for, he's probably going to continue,
6:10
Speaker 2: you know, doing stuff like that.
6:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, you knew he was going to be facing big
6:15
Speaker 1: names coming into the game, obviously it's the All Star Game,
6:17
Speaker 1: but just seeing who he matched up with and how
6:19
Speaker 1: quickly he carved through them. I think I texted my
6:22
Speaker 1: buddy after the two foul ball of the second batter,
6:24
Speaker 1: I said, oh im maculate in and gone. I was
6:27
Speaker 1: waiting for some All Star Game history. There really quickly.
6:30
Speaker 1: I want to remind our listeners to subscribe. You don't
6:32
Speaker 1: want to miss any of our episodes throughout the course
6:34
Speaker 1: of the season. And once we reach one thousand subscribers,
6:37
Speaker 1: we're going to be giving away this Eli Willetts sign
6:39
Speaker 1: baseball card. You're looking at it on your screen. It's
6:42
Speaker 1: over my suitcase right now, but I'm going to start
6:44
Speaker 1: showing that off on camera for you all. When we
6:47
Speaker 1: get back from the All Star break, the nets are
6:50
Speaker 1: going to open up out West the No Name Athletics
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7:56
Speaker 1: to seat geek for that. Spencer. A couple other things
7:59
Speaker 1: from the Star Game last night, not necessarily Nationals related,
8:03
Speaker 1: but this was just an incredible show, an incredible performance,
8:07
Speaker 1: and I'm going to let it run for two minutes
8:09
Speaker 1: while we simply talk over it. What were your thoughts
8:11
Speaker 1: on the Sandlot Fireworks show?
8:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you you had a better view of
8:17
Speaker 2: it than I did. Right, I'm honestly getting the best
8:19
Speaker 2: look I had at it right now. But yeah, I
8:22
Speaker 2: mean this is supposed to be a spectacle, right, and
8:24
Speaker 2: we're we're facing a potential lockout in twenty twenty seven.
8:28
Speaker 2: You know, there's all this uncertainty over the game. But
8:31
Speaker 2: I think that, you know, obviously, in moments like this,
8:34
Speaker 2: we can appreciate just kind of when Major League Baseball
8:38
Speaker 2: is bigger than we expect it to be. And I
8:40
Speaker 2: think that citizens big part from my understanding reading and
8:45
Speaker 2: watching along from people who were actually there at the game,
8:48
Speaker 2: I think this is exactly what the game is supposed
8:50
Speaker 2: to look like at its best, right. So yeah, really
8:52
Speaker 2: impressed with what they put together here.
8:55
Speaker 1: Literally, everyone I've spoken to that was in attendance last
8:59
Speaker 1: night either said I got chills from it or I
9:01
Speaker 1: got emotional. I mean, it felt like you were in
9:04
Speaker 1: the movie for a moment and you realized, yeah, this
9:07
Speaker 1: is what it's all about at the end of the day.
9:10
Speaker 1: And to see the kids rolling in on their bikes
9:12
Speaker 1: straight onto the field really cool that Baseball allowed that
9:16
Speaker 1: to happen. I know some people are calling online for
9:18
Speaker 1: it to become like a tradition, a routine part of
9:21
Speaker 1: the All Star Game. I'm not sure what the firework
9:23
Speaker 1: budget was for Philly around this, but it would be
9:26
Speaker 1: really cool if they could start doing this every All
9:29
Speaker 1: Star Game because man, I mean it felt like the
9:32
Speaker 1: fourth of July, a couple of weeks late. Just incredible.
9:37
Speaker 1: There was one other thing from the All Star Game.
9:39
Speaker 1: I'd be remissed if he didn't mention because it was
9:41
Speaker 1: Nationals related. They brought the President's race into Philadelphia. Spencer,
9:46
Speaker 1: I don't know if you caught this, but the Philly fanatic.
9:48
Speaker 1: As soon as I saw this guy come out, I'm
9:50
Speaker 1: not a fan of him. I started to get nervous
9:51
Speaker 1: he was stealing the race. But really it was just
9:54
Speaker 1: an act of brotherly love. He let Teddy hop on
9:56
Speaker 1: the back and as you're watching now, they got a
9:59
Speaker 1: late star art but coming in racing in at the
10:02
Speaker 1: last second, Teddy won the President's Race. But Spencer, were
10:05
Speaker 1: you surprised that they let them do a President's race
10:07
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia? Yeah?
10:10
Speaker 2: I don't know. It feels like the presidents are getting
10:12
Speaker 2: a little bit more shine this season for whatever reason, right,
10:15
Speaker 2: I just maybe it's a gut thing. I have absolutely
10:18
Speaker 2: no quantifiable evidence to back this up, unlike some of
10:22
Speaker 2: my other takes, but it just feels like they're getting
10:25
Speaker 2: put out there more for whatever reason the season, and
10:28
Speaker 2: I don't know what it is. I don't know if
10:29
Speaker 2: you know all four of those presidents had availability on
10:33
Speaker 2: their calendar over the break, but yeah, it was it
10:36
Speaker 2: was a surprising to see DC welcomes like that in Philly.
10:41
Speaker 2: You you don't often see Lisa at CI Sence Bank Park.
10:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, even on the red carpet too. Screech came out
10:48
Speaker 1: and he was getting booed by the Phillies fans. But
10:50
Speaker 1: when the presidents come out, not really booze. They were like,
10:54
Speaker 1: it's from the Washington Nationals. People loved it. They were cheering.
10:57
Speaker 1: I love the love for the presidents. Let's keep it
10:59
Speaker 1: wrong on Philly fans and all other twenty eight fan
11:02
Speaker 1: bases outside of the Nationals. Spencer, we talked about the
11:06
Speaker 1: draft a tiny bit in our last episode. I am
11:09
Speaker 1: really quite pleased with some of the top picks here.
11:12
Speaker 1: But you wrote a story talking about it's quote an
11:15
Speaker 1: unproven theory right now, but that's one we're betting on.
11:18
Speaker 1: Could you just talk a little bit more about the
11:20
Speaker 1: approach to the Nats draft this season and how the
11:24
Speaker 1: process went. Yeah.
11:26
Speaker 2: I think, like many things with the Nationals, right the
11:30
Speaker 2: process that these new people in the organization have brought
11:33
Speaker 2: in have kind of overhauled what we should expect the
11:39
Speaker 2: National's brand to be. Right, And before I would even
11:41
Speaker 2: get into that, I would hedge and say that the
11:44
Speaker 2: Nationals draft last season, which had an entirely different process,
11:48
Speaker 2: seems to have really strong early returns. And so there's
11:51
Speaker 2: really no one way to create a draft process or
11:55
Speaker 2: look at players. But from talking with people in and
11:58
Speaker 2: around the organization, people who used to be with the organization,
12:02
Speaker 2: and a lot of them said the Nationals in the
12:07
Speaker 2: right direction, right. I talked to people who had mentioned
12:12
Speaker 2: their incorporated a lot more data into the process. And
12:15
Speaker 2: that's not just the model that comes in at the end,
12:18
Speaker 2: but that's telling the scouts, hey, like, look at these plots,
12:21
Speaker 2: look at these metrics, and it has helped them be
12:26
Speaker 2: better informed evaluators. They've also, and this is probably the
12:29
Speaker 2: most crucial point, incorporated player development into it. Where these
12:33
Speaker 2: these scouts and the whole operation knows, hey, we want,
12:38
Speaker 2: you know, really good in zone contact, and we want
12:43
Speaker 2: guys with traits that are hard to teach, and we
12:46
Speaker 2: know that we can teach guys to lift the ball.
12:48
Speaker 2: So if you look at like a chrysocopian, for example,
12:51
Speaker 2: has all those tools. The one thing he hasn't really
12:54
Speaker 2: mastered on the offensive side is lifting the ball in
12:56
Speaker 2: the air. So obviously when you're scouting him, you're trying
12:59
Speaker 2: to figure out can he do that and can we
13:01
Speaker 2: teach him that. I think the answer is yes. And
13:03
Speaker 2: I think that's why they were so confident in that pick, right,
13:06
Speaker 2: is because they knew they had the trades to teach him.
13:10
Speaker 2: And so yeah, I'd recommend reading the story. It gets
13:13
Speaker 2: into how different the process looks this year and how
13:16
Speaker 2: they hope it will help them for years and years
13:20
Speaker 2: down the line.
13:22
Speaker 1: I think is a lifelong Nationals fans fan. Two, you
13:25
Speaker 1: have to remember each draft class is going to be
13:28
Speaker 1: different as far as the talent that's going to be
13:30
Speaker 1: in it, and we were pretty spoiled with the back
13:32
Speaker 1: to back one picks in the back to back this
13:35
Speaker 1: is who it's going to be, being pretty obvious like, hey,
13:38
Speaker 1: that's your guy, that's who you should take. And when
13:40
Speaker 1: the talent is just that's separated, it made it an
13:45
Speaker 1: easier pick for the Nationals at the time. But times
13:47
Speaker 1: have changed, Scouting has changed in the way that people
13:49
Speaker 1: build their teams has certainly changed as well.
13:52
Speaker 2: Sure, pop and you look at and on that point,
13:55
Speaker 2: you look at the Nationals from the draft after rendown
13:58
Speaker 2: through twenty twenty three or so, they drafted less offensive
14:03
Speaker 2: talent than any other team in baseball, and it was
14:06
Speaker 2: kind of the not the same exact story on the
14:08
Speaker 2: pitching side, but you look at how they're pitching right now.
14:11
Speaker 2: That big piece of that is draft and development. And
14:13
Speaker 2: that's why it's so important to get draft and player
14:15
Speaker 2: development on the same page. Is so you give these
14:17
Speaker 2: guys profiles, You draft players with profiles that player development
14:21
Speaker 2: ultimately can teach. And I think that's part of why
14:24
Speaker 2: I'm confident and bullish on this draft classes. Not because oh,
14:29
Speaker 2: I think Chase Brent's is going to be a superstar
14:32
Speaker 2: or I think Chris Occopian is, you know, the next
14:35
Speaker 2: Babe Ruth. I think it's because they targeted the right
14:39
Speaker 2: types of players and now trust player development to finish
14:44
Speaker 2: out the process.
14:45
Speaker 1: Also, importantly, they got three hundred and sixty five days
14:48
Speaker 1: to prepare for it this time around. I remember that
14:51
Speaker 1: was kind of something that stuck out to me last year. WHOA,
14:53
Speaker 1: we're doing this now, We're doing this right now before
14:55
Speaker 1: the draft. But I'm sure that you know, a year
14:57
Speaker 1: to prepare and scout those guys assisted them as well.
15:00
Speaker 1: Get to take a quick break, but when we come back,
15:02
Speaker 1: we'll pop over the standing see where the Nationals are
15:04
Speaker 1: at and what the season might hold for them moving forward.
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Speaker 1: Now the Nationals find themselves just eight games back of
16:12
Speaker 1: the Braves in the National League East. I don't think
16:14
Speaker 1: a lot of people Nationals fans at least had that
16:16
Speaker 1: on their bingo card come opening Day. But what we're
16:19
Speaker 1: really working on here is the wildcard. They are now
16:21
Speaker 1: four games back of the Marlins as they continue to
16:25
Speaker 1: float around here in the playoff race into mid July.
16:29
Speaker 1: I gotta say, though, Spencer, after that Yankee series, something
16:32
Speaker 1: in my gut kind of maybe say, maybe this is
16:36
Speaker 1: a cell Maybe this is not a soft buy sell
16:40
Speaker 1: sort of situation. But what are your latest feelings on
16:44
Speaker 1: where the Nationals should maybe be heading after this? After
16:49
Speaker 1: the break.
16:51
Speaker 2: I still think they're in a spot right where they
16:54
Speaker 2: have three years so weeks. I should say two and
16:57
Speaker 2: a half at the figure it out, But every loss
17:02
Speaker 2: is so consequential. When you lose three in them in
17:04
Speaker 2: a row, it really does kind of stop forcing the
17:09
Speaker 2: issue in terms of buying, right. I think we're almost
17:14
Speaker 2: approaching a point where it's more likely the Nationals sell
17:19
Speaker 2: than they don't. But I'm just not in a spot
17:21
Speaker 2: right now where I can report that, because there's still
17:25
Speaker 2: games to be played, and there are two supposedly soft
17:29
Speaker 2: series coming up, and we could be looking like we
17:32
Speaker 2: often have this season at the end of a road
17:34
Speaker 2: trip and saying, hey, they're right back in it. I
17:37
Speaker 2: do think ultimately, like you know, we'll see how this
17:40
Speaker 2: plays out. I think, you know, they will always value
17:45
Speaker 2: the long term and that's something to keep in mind.
17:48
Speaker 2: But this story is not being done written, which makes
17:51
Speaker 2: the next couple weeks really exciting in my opinion.
17:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, they've been playing this way, forcing the issue,
17:59
Speaker 1: as you just said, for a good couple of months now.
18:01
Speaker 1: Every time they written my heart out, go on this
18:03
Speaker 1: road trip and they play incredible baseball and hey, we're
18:06
Speaker 1: right back in. And as you mentioned Athletics and Rockies,
18:10
Speaker 1: I've been saying this, I feel like in every show,
18:12
Speaker 1: but it feels like, oh, this is the season, this
18:13
Speaker 1: is this is the whole season, this series, this road trip.
18:17
Speaker 1: I'm really believing it here. If they can't walk away
18:20
Speaker 1: with this five and one or four and two, you know,
18:24
Speaker 1: for and forur and two, I'll take foward too. But
18:25
Speaker 1: you know, we need a winning road trip to really
18:27
Speaker 1: thrust ourselves back into a situation where I think that
18:31
Speaker 1: the front office can say, hey, we're going to do
18:33
Speaker 1: a soft buy at this deadline. As you said, the
18:35
Speaker 1: story has not been written yet. The Nationals open up
18:40
Speaker 1: play again on Friday. We'll have a preview of that
18:42
Speaker 1: series for you in the next episode, Spencer, anything you
18:45
Speaker 1: want to toss in before we head out today.
18:49
Speaker 2: No, I hope everyone enjoyed the All Star Game, enjoys
18:51
Speaker 2: the All Star break and like Eric said, two really
18:55
Speaker 2: exciting series coming up against teams that the Nationals could
18:59
Speaker 2: theoretically and so we'll see if that actually happens.
19:02
Speaker 1: We'll be watching and I'll remind people really quickly again,
19:05
Speaker 1: don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel. You don't
19:08
Speaker 1: want to miss the giveaway for the ELI will at
19:10
Speaker 1: sign baseball card and we do weekly giveaways on Fridays,
19:13
Speaker 1: although I don't know if we're gonna have a giveaway
19:14
Speaker 1: this week. I'm up in New York, so I'm not
19:16
Speaker 1: gonna be able to peruse around my room. Maybe I'll
19:18
Speaker 1: buy like a National signed card at Fanatics Fest. But
19:21
Speaker 1: until the next one, see you later.