Latest / District Territory / How can the youngest Nats take the next step?

Transcript

How can the youngest Nats take the next step? · District Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast. I'm Eric Shellhouse
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: from Bat Boys Baseball. And joining me today, Spencer Nussbaum
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: of The Athletic. Nats break out with a big victory
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: last night against the Marlins, 9-2. But really, the big
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: story of the game, Brady House's nuclear home run. Originally
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: tracked at 474 feet. They're still giving it to us
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: on StatCast there. That is the longest home run by
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: a national all-season game. and in Nationals Park by a
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: National in the StatCast era. However, they did update it. Spencer,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: do you trust the StatCast readings? You went out there.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: It was a titanic shot by Brady last night, but overall,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: what'd you see from the offense?
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I will say I did go out there
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: hoping to talk to the people who got the ball
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: because I was like, oh, they caught the, not caught,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: but on a bounce, caught the furthest home run in
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Nats history. And as I'm like, Walking up to them,
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I get a notification on my phone and it's from,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: you know, Nationals comms and it says, you know, 445 feet.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Don't blame us. That being said, like, can I really
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: distinguish between 30 feet? No. Did it look like 470?
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Like I can't remember a ball being hit that hard
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: that far to that part of the park at home. So, yeah,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, it was it was unfathomable to see see
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: Brady kind of put that one together.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolute moonshot for him. Harry Ford had another home
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: run as well. It was just good to see to
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: get the bats going after the week that they've had
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: of late. But also, you've got to give some credit
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: to Jackson Kent. It's just his third big league outing,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: but he was really spectacular last night. Went seven innings,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: allowing one run. Spencer, what stood out to you in
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: this start compared to his first two, I guess, that
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: maybe allowed him to have a bit more success?
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so for me... And it kind of all rips
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: together just with like the theme of the game in general,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: because there's a bunch of young guys doing things that
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: you would see in them kind of progress towards. And
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: with Jackson, we saw him progress towards this, if not elite,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: really good command in the minor leagues. No, again, I
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: think people are going to look at that final line
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: and see four walks and say like command's not elite.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: And I would agree with that. And I think he,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: you know, he needs to be better than that. I
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: think that's fair. at the same time it wasn't the
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: same like four pitch walks or, you know, six walls
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: in a row or things like that. Um, he was
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: really sharp and, um, a lot of those walks were
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: competitive where it's just like a piss, a pitch just missing, um,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: off the plate or just kind of like landing right
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: on the edge. Um, now again, like, was it a
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: perfect start? No, but I was so impressed with that. Um,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: And it always feels dumb, for whatever reason to me,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: to just say it comes down to competing. But that
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: was as aggressive as he's been in any start. Anyone
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: who was at the park, Harry Ford who caught him,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Blake who managed him, Jackson himself, just felt like that
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: was kind of the mode that they expected him to
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: be in. And you can't talk about that without talking
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: about the 106 pitches, right? For him to go... um,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: and get that opportunity, I think says a lot about, um,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: the faith that the staff has in him and frankly,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: who he is as a pitcher, right. Where he finally
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: started to tail off a little bit before that mountain visit, um,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: comes back pumps 95, uh, two pitches on the black.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Like it, it was everything you want if you're at
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: the nationals.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah. It was encouraging to see, uh, he just looked
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: a little something was different the other night and I
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: was also very surprised to see him get that length
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: and get the opportunity to finish seven innings um and
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: like you said I hopefully just speaks to sort of
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: the confidence they have in him and hopefully lots more
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: good things to come from Jackson Kent let's move on
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: to our next subject here CJ Abrams made Nationals history
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: the other day he is the second National since Alfonso
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Soriano to record a 2025 season Uh, of course, Doriano
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: had the 40, 40 in 2006, I believe when the
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: nationals had first moved to DC, Abrams is having an
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: incredible season. Uh, it seems like, you know, barring an injury,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: he is definitely on pace for 30, 30, but Spencer,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: you know, what, what are the ceiling for this guy
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: in a healthy 162 games?
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I, I think you have to think 40, 40, right. Um, no, he's,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: he's hit the 40 stolen base mark before. Um, 40
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: homers to me, honestly, is the one that I look at.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: And I, I think I have to squint a little
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: bit to see that if only because yeah, sure. He's
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: gotten better every single season. He's added power every single season. Um,
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: but the second half in some of these seasons, it's
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: been hard for him to sustain that. Like even in
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: August this year, um, I think his OPS is in
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: the four, the fives, right? Like it's, it's been a
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: downturn this season, um, in August again. And so, um,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: when I look at guys who have gone 40-40, most
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: of the time it's also finishing strong, right? That being said,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: we can't discount what this guy's done this season just
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: because he's had an OPS in the 4s or 5s
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: this month. To me, it's such a showcase of when
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: you have an elite player on the roster, what it does, right? Again,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: we can debate the validity of creating items or extending
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: him or things of that nature. I will say this
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: is the sort of guy who like ends up on
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: World Series rosters, right? Because he is one of those
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: like tier 1B or so players that like there's whatever, 25,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: 35 of them in the league. And yeah, he's unbelievable
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: when he's at his best. So I think 30-30 seems.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: Pretty likely barring an injury. Um, that 40, 40 marker
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: that was candidly, not something I've thought a lot about.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: So that's good questions. Yeah.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Um, I, I think you really have to get it going.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Obviously to get to 40, 40, I think it's a
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: little out of reach, uh, here recording on August 29th,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: but barring fingers crossed an injury or anything, you would
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: think he's, he's definitely on pace for 30, 30. I'd
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: love to see him push for 35, 35. Maybe he's
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: got to start swiping a little more than, uh, the
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: nationals have had him stealing bases this season. But, uh, 35-35.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: I still think that's an extra five to hang your
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: cap on, which is something. So the Nationals have three
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: more here against the Marlins before they head off into September,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: and then they get two against the Braves to open
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: that up, and then a day off. Road trip out
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: west to take on the Dodgers and the Padres. If
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: you are looking for tickets, consider using SeatGeek. I want
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: to get the sponsor of today's video, SeatGeek, a huge
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: shout out. With over 35 million downloads, SeatGeek is a
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: With over 35 million downloads, SeatGeek is the number one
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: rated ticketing app. There are more than 70,000 events listed
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: on SeatGeek, including concerts, sports, festivals, and more. MLB season
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: is coming down the stretch here. You don't know who's
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: going to make the playoffs. NFL season is right around
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the corner. And SeatGeek is MLB's official ticket marketplace, so
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: your tickets are fully guaranteed and instantly fulfilled in your
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: account after purchase. SeatGeek has your back. Each ticket is
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: rated on a scale of 1 to 10, so you
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: know you're getting a good deal. So look for the
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: green dots. Green means good. Red means bad. Plus, every
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: ticket is backed by their buyer guarantee. And of course,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: I have a code for you guys. You can use
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: code TERRITORY10 for 10% off your next set of MLB
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: tickets at SeatGeek. That's 10% off any MLB tickets with
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: promo code TERRITORY10. Make sure you click the link in
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the description to download the app and have the code
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: automatically added to your account so you can use it later.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you, SeatGeek. And we are back, Spencer. Nationals outfielder
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Dalen Lyle has just been on an absolute roll lately.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: I think we really need to have a serious conversation
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: about the Nationals trying to lock this guy up. I
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: know it hasn't been the cleanest 162, but I think
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: this is someone who has proven he should be a
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: fixture in this outfield for a while to come. And
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you've heard any discussions of that or
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: what the price range may look like for a player
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: of Lyle's caliber.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I... I discussed this, uh, honestly, it was
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: like first or second week of the season. It might've
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: even been before we started the podcast. Um, I, I
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: broached the idea and did a little bit of reporting
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: around it around that time. Um, the nationals and Lyle
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: had not, um, engaged in any sort of conversations. Um,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: I haven't heard of any conversations being engaged in sense,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: but that doesn't mean that they haven't happened per se. Um,
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: to me, when I think about who smart candidates to
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: extend are, it is the kind of uber-reliable players who A,
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: seem to love DC, and B, seem to have, for
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: lack of a better word, phrasing, I guess, agencies that
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: have shown a willingness to extend players in the past, right?
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: There's a million other factors that go into it, which
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: is part of why they rarely happen but um Lyle's
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: an interesting case to me right because he hasn't been
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: consistent this season but I've I mean just frankly been
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: being the drama all year that he is still um
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: going to figure it out now again is he having
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: the season he wanted absolutely not um he's been quite
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: frustrated and quite open about his frustrations uh with himself
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: but um this is around the time he turned it
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: on last year and I think when you look at
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: the swing itself right um It is swing that screams
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: consistency it screams a guy who's going to play in
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: the big leagues for a long long time um and
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: so ultimately that next step is the thing and it
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: feels weird to say but because he's been saying it
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: right like the the mental side of things right not
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: getting in his own head um maybe taking it a
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: little easier on himself he mentioned he's been like swinging
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: less pregame, right? Because he just, he would take one
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: hack after another, after another. Um, when in reality the
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: swing is fine, right? Like, um, he said he kind
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: of takes after James and CJ in that way where
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: he's tried to like scale it back a little bit
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: more focused on the approach and things like that. Um,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: and so just to kind of like sum it all
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: up here, um, it's a player where if he gets
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: kind of that approach side, um, back where it was
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: at the end of last year and we're starting to
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: see that a little bit it is like the perfect
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: player for the nationals to extend add on top of
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: that like his defense has improved monumentally this year um
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: his base running is still elite and figures to hold
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: up for a while um now again if you're extending
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: him just for the sake of extending him like oh
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: we're gonna you know buy out the final two years
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: of his contract or whatever um and just to say
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: we did it, like that's never a smart reason to
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: do it. But if you think you're getting value down
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: the line, um, it's a, it's a good idea. Um,
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: as for, I think you also asked about like the,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: the potential cost associated with it. Um, candidly, I don't
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: remember exactly where we ended up. Um, but I, I
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: know that kind of around the Lawrence Butler number made
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: sense earlier this season. Um, I think in like the
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: $ 70 million range or so was where it was floated. Now, again,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: that changes a little bit because of the season he's had,
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: because you've already lost this year itself. But it is
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: compelling to think about, right, because he's been on a downturn.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: But in my eyes, and I think in at least
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: some other people's eyes, this is a guy that should
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: be able to recapture what he's done in the past.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: So we'll see.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: I would love to see it happen. Ownership, learner family,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: please find a way to get the job done. Final
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: thing I want to finish with today, though, Spencer, you
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: had written about a week or so ago about the
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: possibility of Andres Chaparro getting a little more playing time
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: over at third base, and we saw him there the
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: other day. Is he getting more reps over there at
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: third base? And I guess take me through that story
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: and the versatility he could really provide at the hot
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: corner if he's able to get it down.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I think the thought process here, right, is
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: You don't want to turn Brady House just into a
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: platoon bat who only faces lefties. But there are absolutely
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: right handers that he struggles against, or at least has
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: in the past. We'll get to that. But when you
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: think about a potential platoon next year, like Chaparro and
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, like Ortiz feels like a perfect fit where
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Abby is the, you know, left handed bat. Chaparro is
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: the right handed bat. But then you go over to
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: third base where, again, Brady has struggled a little bit
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: against right-handers. And so you want to get Chaparro potentially
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: in some of those right-handed spots, right? And at that point,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: you're saving a roster spot. You don't have to roster
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: a left-handed hitting third baseman, not just for the sake
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: of doing it, but just for the sake of making
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: him comfortable. I feel like you have more versatility there,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: especially if he's decent at third base. which we'll see, right?
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: He hasn't done much of it in the big leagues before.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: There's a reason for that, and that they believe in
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Brady and they believe in the other options they've had
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: over there. But to me, that is really the compelling
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: angle of the end of Chaparro's season, is how often
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: do they play him there? And then on Brady's front, right?
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: He hit 445, 473, whatever you want to call it, tank.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: um off a off a right hander off 99 miles
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: per hour um he is blake said yesterday i looked
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: into this i i think i don't know if we're
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: looking at different stats or i need to um maybe
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: refine my search a little bit he said brady's chase
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: is down a lot over the last six weeks um
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: it's definitely down i think it's probably maybe men against
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: right handers or certain pitch types or whatever um but
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: brady's approach nevertheless has been better over the last six
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: weeks or so um And so if you have basically
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: two guys in that position who are comfortable hitting or
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: comfortable enough hitting against right-handed pitching, um, you save yourself from, again,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: having to roster someone that, um, is just kind of there.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: And I'm, you know, I don't want people to read
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: between the lines and think I'm saying VVAS, right? Like
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: I think it's more so you, whoever ends up in
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: that third base spot next year, um, you don't want
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: to have to feel like pigeonholed by the idea that
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Brady or Chaparro can't hit right-handed pitching. Um, and so that's,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: that's a big reason why it compels me. Yeah.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Well, uh, I am finally back in Washington, DC. I'm
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: excited to see the boys over at the ballpark later today. Spencer,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: is there anything you want to toss in before we
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: wrap up this weekend episode?
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Um, I think just the final thing I would touch
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: on again is, is Jackson being able to go, uh,
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: seven innings, 106 pitches, right? Like, I think that deserves
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: its shine. I think it's fascinating that for how new
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: school organization is, for how candidly young their manager is, like,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: there's still a decent amount of, like, old school traditional
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: elements to it in the sense of, you know, Blake
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: saying he wouldn't pull a guy with a no-hitter unless
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: there were, like, really, really dire straits because it's something that,
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: you know, is special and a guy deserves a chance
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: to do. Or again, like Jackson being given 106 pitches
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: to see if he can do it, see if he
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: can grid it out because it might help him in
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: the future, all these things. And then Jackson himself, right?
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: Like he didn't, you know, play it up or play
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: it down too much. He basically said what it was,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: which is like, this is awesome, right? He loved it.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: And I think when I think about the nationals rotation
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: next season, right. I think so much about Jackson and how,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: how much length the nationals can get out of him. Right.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Is it, you know, 90 inning season or is it
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: a hundred and 70 inning season? Right. And I think that's,
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: that could swing a lot for the nationals. If he
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: is someone you can bank on, start in, start out
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: in his, you know, first full season in the big leagues. Right.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: And so, See something like this to see if he
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: can do it this far into the season. Again, it's
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: really compelling stuff.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: We will see you next week's episode. Everyone have a
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: great weekend. Keep going Nats.