Latest / District Territory / Pitching help should be on the way for the Nats

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Pitching help should be on the way for the Nats · District Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast. I'm Eric Shellhouse
0:09
Speaker 1: from bat Boys Baseball. Joining me today Spencer Nusbaum of
0:12
Speaker 1: The Athletic. Last night was country night at the ballpark,
0:16
Speaker 1: hence the hat that I'm wearing today, and the Nationals
0:18
Speaker 1: got the win five to three over the Cincinnati Right
0:21
Speaker 1: So it took two home runs, a three run blast
0:23
Speaker 1: from Dayal Mile in the first inning and a two
0:25
Speaker 1: run shot from Harry Board in the fourth that lifted
0:28
Speaker 1: them over the team. But really, as I give you
0:31
Speaker 1: a look at Friday night's box score, but really, we
0:33
Speaker 1: have to give some credit to the pitching. Another fantastic
0:36
Speaker 1: outing from Kade Cavali. It's Spencer, This new look Nationals bullpen,
0:41
Speaker 1: Giovanni Cruz coming out, and then Orlando Ribalta and Clayton Better.
0:44
Speaker 1: That's not a new look, but this was exciting to
0:47
Speaker 1: watch the Nationals bullten in action last night.
0:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's funny, yesterday was actually a rare off
0:53
Speaker 2: day for me, so I didn't even really see it live.
0:55
Speaker 2: But obviously as a reporter, it's my job to catch
0:58
Speaker 2: up on these things. And what I will say first
1:01
Speaker 2: and foremost is that this is the bullpen that the
1:03
Speaker 2: Nationals have kind of been waiting for, right where you've
1:06
Speaker 2: had the Bolton Beater in some of those late spots before,
1:10
Speaker 2: but you never know exactly what you're getting in the
1:12
Speaker 2: seventh inning, and even beyond that, you know entirely, at
1:17
Speaker 2: least for stretches this year, you haven't entirely seen Beater
1:20
Speaker 2: and r Bolta, you know, hold it down. I will say,
1:23
Speaker 2: as of late, their stuff has looked really good. And
1:26
Speaker 2: then you add a guy who throws one O two,
1:28
Speaker 2: which we haven't seen wearing a Nationals jersey basically ever.
1:34
Speaker 2: And you see him throwing that nasty slider that again
1:36
Speaker 2: we talked about with Franny on the last episode. You're
1:40
Speaker 2: in a really good spot, especially against right handed hitters
1:43
Speaker 2: or right handed heavy lineups or frankly, I mean even
1:47
Speaker 2: lineups in general. Right, And so yeah, this is kind
1:50
Speaker 2: of what the Nationals have been hoping for all season.
1:52
Speaker 2: That's why I really, you know, I think some fans
1:55
Speaker 2: were down on the Luis Garcia junior trade, in part
1:58
Speaker 2: because of what he meant to the roster, but also
2:00
Speaker 2: in terms of what you got back. I just think
2:02
Speaker 2: some of those bullpen pieces that they acquired from the
2:05
Speaker 2: Yankees aren't just like relief prospects or typical relief prospects,
2:10
Speaker 2: like they're real guys. And I think you see that
2:13
Speaker 2: with what Cruz has been able to do in his
2:15
Speaker 2: first two dnings as a National.
2:17
Speaker 1: Yeah. One other another update on trade deadline moves the
2:22
Speaker 1: Nationals made the other day. Connelly Early experienced some forum
2:26
Speaker 1: tightness during a live VP the other day, although Blake
2:29
Speaker 1: by Terra seems to indicate that this is just an
2:31
Speaker 1: ultra cautious move sensor, I'm curious, like, do you think
2:35
Speaker 1: the national should be trying to get him back this season?
2:39
Speaker 1: Should they really be focusing on twenty twenty seven at
2:41
Speaker 1: this point? Is it a concern to you? What do
2:45
Speaker 1: you make of that situation? Yeah?
2:48
Speaker 2: I think ultimately, anytime you hear forum tightness, even if
2:51
Speaker 2: it's described as minor or light or subtle or mild
2:57
Speaker 2: or whatever adjective you want to ahead of time, I
3:02
Speaker 2: think you do have to express caution, especially if the
3:05
Speaker 2: guy is your marquee deadline acquisition and you are more
3:09
Speaker 2: or less out of the playoff race. I'm willing to
3:15
Speaker 2: take Blake by Chair at his word because I haven't
3:17
Speaker 2: heard otherwise In terms of like, oh, this is more
3:20
Speaker 2: serious than they're letting on or anything like that. But
3:24
Speaker 2: I just think, you know, when anytime you hear that
3:25
Speaker 2: and you hear that a guy is on pause, you
3:29
Speaker 2: really should kind of be cautious and take your time.
3:32
Speaker 2: I don't I don't want to say like, he's not
3:35
Speaker 2: going to pitch before the end of the year, because
3:37
Speaker 2: we still don't know that. I think like, if you're
3:41
Speaker 2: the Nationals, you're probably still evaluating. They said he didn't
3:44
Speaker 2: need an MRI, or at least not yet, which again
3:47
Speaker 2: is in another encouraging sign, but outside of you know,
3:55
Speaker 2: appeasing the fan base, which is not the goal of
3:58
Speaker 2: rushing a picture back. Like, what is the upside of
4:01
Speaker 2: getting him back quickly? Right, It's maybe he gets more
4:06
Speaker 2: big league experience, but he already has big league experience.
4:08
Speaker 2: So for me, I'm taking the ultra cautious approach here.
4:12
Speaker 2: If I'm the Nationals, and yeah, we'll definitely kind of
4:15
Speaker 2: keep you guys aprized if there's anything new on that front,
4:19
Speaker 2: but at the moment, it's kind of just pause and
4:20
Speaker 2: see what happens.
4:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know a lot of fans online are some
4:24
Speaker 1: of my friends that were texting me. Were frustrated, saying,
4:26
Speaker 1: how we're not even gonna get to see this guy
4:27
Speaker 1: that we traded for. But that's the beauty of this
4:30
Speaker 1: trade is like it doesn't have to be this season.
4:32
Speaker 1: It was a win win, you know, both guys are
4:34
Speaker 1: getting players that will hopefully contribute in the near future,
4:38
Speaker 1: next season and beyond. Also worth noting, DJ Hurris is
4:41
Speaker 1: expected to make a rehab start later on today in Fredericksburg. Spencer,
4:46
Speaker 1: I assume you're at the ballpark and not headed down
4:48
Speaker 1: to Fredericksburg, but maybe you are. But this is exciting
4:52
Speaker 1: to see him making progress back. Given the shakeup of
4:56
Speaker 1: the National's rotation, we can't anticipate soon. You also touted
4:59
Speaker 1: out the other but the rough road trip. Check out
5:02
Speaker 1: the timelines of Luis Parrals and Jackson Kent how they
5:05
Speaker 1: progress this season. Obviously, we can't report on DJ Hurris's
5:10
Speaker 1: rehab start yet. This is being recorded. This is being
5:13
Speaker 1: recorded on Saturday. Spencer, talk about that story the other
5:17
Speaker 1: day and the depth, the current depth of the National
5:20
Speaker 1: starting pitching.
5:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I talked to some people in the organization,
5:26
Speaker 2: in particularly pitching director of Grayson Crawford is quoted in
5:29
Speaker 2: the story. But I had a lot of people in
5:32
Speaker 2: the ORG kind of walk me through both whether those
5:36
Speaker 2: guys were ready for the big leagues and what it
5:39
Speaker 2: would take for them to thrive up there, and a
5:42
Speaker 2: lot of what I heard was, and maybe this will
5:44
Speaker 2: piss off national fans, but like they could theoretically pitch
5:47
Speaker 2: in the big leagues right now. Right part of the
5:50
Speaker 2: reason they are not up yet is because a there
5:53
Speaker 2: have been pitchers ahead of them who are in the
5:56
Speaker 2: big leagues, and much much much more importantly than that,
6:00
Speaker 2: they are exercising patients, because that is what you're supposed
6:03
Speaker 2: to do with pitching prospects, in the sense that like
6:06
Speaker 2: it can help to throw them in the fire. But
6:08
Speaker 2: you look at a lot of the best organizations in baseball,
6:12
Speaker 2: or a lot of the best pitching development spots in baseball,
6:15
Speaker 2: and they don't rush their pitchers to the minor leagues
6:18
Speaker 2: before they're ready. And so while Kent and Prales could
6:23
Speaker 2: both very well be up soon, and I'd expect at
6:25
Speaker 2: least one of them to be up very soon, which
6:28
Speaker 2: I guess is notable, both of them have like minor
6:32
Speaker 2: things they're still working on right where with Kent it's
6:37
Speaker 2: develosity still looks okay, but it's not as it's not
6:41
Speaker 2: maintained as well as it was early in the year
6:44
Speaker 2: when we saw that big jump from last season, And
6:48
Speaker 2: so you don't you don't want to rush him up
6:50
Speaker 2: and just to get cloppered by big league hitters if
6:54
Speaker 2: he's throwing ninety two point five instead of ninety four
6:57
Speaker 2: point five. You know what I mean with paralys it's
7:00
Speaker 2: a lot of the game planning and in between start stuff.
7:04
Speaker 2: But beyond that, I mean, he allowed five round runs
7:08
Speaker 2: in his last outing in Rochester and so you know,
7:11
Speaker 2: and he's still walking guys, and so there's still more
7:14
Speaker 2: work to be done there. But I'm not gonna sit
7:16
Speaker 2: around and say, hey, these guys don't deserve to be
7:19
Speaker 2: pitching in the big leagues right now, because if if
7:21
Speaker 2: my hand is on the button or my finger's on
7:23
Speaker 2: the button, I'm probably pressing it and saying, hey, let's
7:25
Speaker 2: get these guys up here, right because paralysis such that
7:29
Speaker 2: nasty splitter, because it wouldn't hurt to get him some
7:34
Speaker 2: big league runway. And Jackson can't same thing, right, Like,
7:38
Speaker 2: the pitch ability is nuts, having four pitches that he
7:42
Speaker 2: can rely on and control and command also nuts, and
7:47
Speaker 2: so I think the Nationals are smart to exercise patients
7:50
Speaker 2: with these guys. And I'm not saying it would be
7:53
Speaker 2: a bad idea to keep them in the minor leagues
7:55
Speaker 2: any longer, because they can still learn down there in
7:58
Speaker 2: a way that would be harder than me leagues. But
8:01
Speaker 2: now that you're at the stage of the National season
8:03
Speaker 2: where they're probably not winning ninety games, I think that's
8:07
Speaker 2: fair to say. I think it'd be really cool to
8:10
Speaker 2: get those guys up here and you know, have them
8:12
Speaker 2: tested a little bit, and I think that both of
8:14
Speaker 2: them could very well show some stuff that is very
8:19
Speaker 2: encouraging for this season next one.
8:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with that is diehard of a Nationals
8:26
Speaker 1: fan as I am. The live look at the National
8:28
Speaker 1: League's standings, this team is four games under five hundred.
8:31
Speaker 1: Unless they start playing Boston esque, which I'm sure you
8:35
Speaker 1: would like that, then I think they're out of the
8:38
Speaker 1: playoff picture. But you look at the upcoming schedule, I
8:40
Speaker 1: think it lightens up in theory a little bit. Then
8:43
Speaker 1: it has been the past couple of weeks. But I'm curious, Spencer,
8:47
Speaker 1: do you think, like these past couple weeks, does that
8:50
Speaker 1: help build the anticipation to maybe make this extra it's
8:54
Speaker 1: a little bit easier, or is it all just one
8:56
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty two at the end of the day.
8:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know if I have a great answer
9:01
Speaker 2: there what I will say, and maybe it is worth
9:04
Speaker 2: like filling the fans in on is the Nationals are
9:08
Speaker 2: kind of holding these two thoughts in their head at
9:10
Speaker 2: the same time. One is that like you'd be naive
9:14
Speaker 2: to say that the deadline in these last like week
9:17
Speaker 2: week and a half hasn't been a reset for the team,
9:19
Speaker 2: where like you get rid of Zach ly tell, potentially
9:23
Speaker 2: other moves could be on the way, like the youth
9:26
Speaker 2: movement is even more of an exaggerated youth movement, Like
9:29
Speaker 2: that stuff is all true. And also there's real value in,
9:33
Speaker 2: you know, playing some of these opponents, some candidly like
9:37
Speaker 2: weaker opponents, and trying to get back in the stretch run.
9:40
Speaker 2: There's still a little less than a third of the
9:43
Speaker 2: season left to go, and while the postseason odds are
9:46
Speaker 2: are dipping real, real low, Like you can't tell me
9:49
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter for this if this team finished the
9:52
Speaker 2: year eighty one and eighty one as opposed to you know,
9:55
Speaker 2: seventy one and ninety one or whatever it would potentially
9:57
Speaker 2: end up being. And yeah, there's all those long term
10:01
Speaker 2: considerations about oh, like you'd have a better draft pick
10:04
Speaker 2: or this and that so both. Again, it's a lot
10:07
Speaker 2: of like contradictions down the stretch. But if the Nationals
10:12
Speaker 2: were able to rip off some some series wins against
10:15
Speaker 2: either lesser teams or better teams like that, that has
10:18
Speaker 2: real value. And these these games still matter even if
10:21
Speaker 2: it doesn't maybe to the same degree that it was
10:25
Speaker 2: three weeks ago or whatever it was.
10:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it. I love it. Good good stuff there.
10:31
Speaker 1: Really quickly. I'll go ahead and remind our listeners and
10:34
Speaker 1: viewers to subscribe to the podcast. We are coming up
10:36
Speaker 1: on two hundred subscribers. I got a nice little Want
10:39
Speaker 1: Soto bobblehead giveaway picked out for when we get to that,
10:42
Speaker 1: and of course this Eli Willetts sign baseball card. Once
10:45
Speaker 1: we hit the thousand subscriber mark. You don't want to
10:48
Speaker 1: miss it. Talk about another exciting prospect down on the
10:52
Speaker 1: farm really quickly, Chris Hacopian, I believe I'm pronouncing it correctly.
10:57
Speaker 1: That's like the first time in a month that I've
10:59
Speaker 1: tried saying last name on the show. But I'm really
11:02
Speaker 1: excited about this guy. What's really exciting, Spencer? He's starting
11:05
Speaker 1: out at HIA. How I mean, is it ridiculous? I mean,
11:10
Speaker 1: there's no need to rush him up, as we've been
11:11
Speaker 1: saying the last couple of minutes, but to see him
11:14
Speaker 1: starting out there is exciting. And what can you report
11:16
Speaker 1: on that? Yeah?
11:18
Speaker 2: I mean again that means more than nothing. Right, Like
11:22
Speaker 2: a lot of these guys end up starting in Fredericksberger
11:25
Speaker 2: at least, I should say, making the jump from the
11:28
Speaker 2: Florida Complex League to single A Fredericksburg to go to
11:33
Speaker 2: right to Hya. Again, it's kind of just a testament
11:35
Speaker 2: to how polished and how advanced Jakopian is as a hitter.
11:40
Speaker 2: We'll talk about a lot over the next coming years,
11:43
Speaker 2: so I will try to make this point concise. But
11:46
Speaker 2: he does everything that is hard to teach as a hitter,
11:49
Speaker 2: and he has a couple small things to work on
11:53
Speaker 2: that the Nationals are really good. I shouldn't say small,
11:56
Speaker 2: but medium things to work on that the Nationals believe
12:01
Speaker 2: that they can teach in terms of lifting the ball,
12:03
Speaker 2: and he hits it quite hard, but hitting it a
12:05
Speaker 2: little bit harder and so sending him there, putting him
12:09
Speaker 2: alongside I mean, just think about that roster, right Eli, Willetts,
12:13
Speaker 2: Miguel Sime Like, I can go up and down the
12:16
Speaker 2: list of guys at that level and frankly the level
12:19
Speaker 2: above who really are worth watching, Like I will probably
12:23
Speaker 2: be making multiple trips up to Wilmington over the next
12:27
Speaker 2: two months just because of how much talent is there.
12:32
Speaker 2: And so yeah, what I still don't know exactly like
12:36
Speaker 2: what he'll what position he'll play in his debut, or
12:41
Speaker 2: how many at bats he'll get, or how often he'll
12:44
Speaker 2: be rested or whatever. But to be there that quickly
12:47
Speaker 2: is again just a testament to what the Nationals think
12:50
Speaker 2: of him and candidly who he is as a prospect.
12:55
Speaker 1: So the Nashvills have two more against the Reds before
12:58
Speaker 1: they get a much needed off day. This is been
13:00
Speaker 1: a long stretch without an off day. And Andrew Alvarez
13:03
Speaker 1: probable pitcher later today, Spencer, what do you think will
13:06
Speaker 1: be key for the Nationals to keep the momentum rolling,
13:09
Speaker 1: hopefully get a sweep, hopefully win the series. The Reds
13:13
Speaker 1: scene to have a game plan for Kabala yesterday to
13:16
Speaker 1: elevate the ball in the three solo home runs. But
13:19
Speaker 1: what will be critical for Albi today against this lineup?
13:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean Alvarez went seven strong his last time
13:27
Speaker 2: out and then for our purposes it gave really good
13:31
Speaker 2: quotes postgame. But I won't necessarily hold him to the
13:34
Speaker 2: second part of that. But for the first part, it
13:38
Speaker 2: was something where he hasn't really pitched that deep into
13:41
Speaker 2: a game before, and you saw him navigate around some
13:46
Speaker 2: of the issues that previously failed him in terms of
13:49
Speaker 2: the walks and the control and the command getting behind
13:52
Speaker 2: him counts. For six innings he did almost none of that,
13:57
Speaker 2: and then in the seventh in his last time out,
13:59
Speaker 2: he did. And so I think there is just kind
14:01
Speaker 2: of that hurdle for him to be able to do
14:04
Speaker 2: that over the course of a whole game, because we
14:07
Speaker 2: see when he is able to be in the zone,
14:10
Speaker 2: he looks like a legit big league starter. And that's
14:14
Speaker 2: not to say that whatever I would guarantee success from
14:18
Speaker 2: him this time out, Like he's still learning as a pitcher,
14:21
Speaker 2: still growing, but if he's able to command the ball
14:24
Speaker 2: and keep it in the strike zone, he generally is
14:28
Speaker 2: set up pretty well for success. And so if I'm
14:30
Speaker 2: watching anything today, it's like, hey, can you keep Ellie
14:33
Speaker 2: off the base pass? But can you also keep their
14:36
Speaker 2: seven eight nine hitter off the bass pass? And can
14:38
Speaker 2: you really navigate that bottom stretch of the lineup and
14:41
Speaker 2: figure things out from there?
14:44
Speaker 1: It's going to be exciting to watch on TV, which
14:47
Speaker 1: I plan on doing from here in Arizona, Spencer, Is
14:51
Speaker 1: that anything you want to throw in here in notes
14:53
Speaker 1: or subjects that we should be talking about as we
14:55
Speaker 1: start to wrap up today's show.
14:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the only maybe item that really compels
15:03
Speaker 2: me for the rest of the series that is worth
15:05
Speaker 2: fans paying attention to is the bullpen piece about this
15:09
Speaker 2: that we were talking about earlier, right where you have
15:11
Speaker 2: Cruz Beater Ribalta in the back innings, but you also
15:15
Speaker 2: have all these art like Will Dion is a new addition,
15:19
Speaker 2: and you have a lot of these guys that you've
15:21
Speaker 2: acquired via trade that I will be writing about in
15:24
Speaker 2: the coming week or so who could potentially be up
15:27
Speaker 2: here by the end of the year, and all of
15:28
Speaker 2: a sudden, the National's biggest weakness, I would argue, at
15:33
Speaker 2: times by far, but at least by a little this
15:35
Speaker 2: season has been that relief pitching you have like a
15:40
Speaker 2: you know, Ben grabil is a name that probably most
15:42
Speaker 2: Nationals fans don't know because they just got him in
15:45
Speaker 2: a trade. But he's I mean, what he could be
15:49
Speaker 2: on this roster is really really valuable back end piece.
15:53
Speaker 2: And so I'll be writing a lot about these guys,
15:56
Speaker 2: and I would just say keep an eye on per
15:58
Speaker 2: als in Kent for next week. That's not to say
16:01
Speaker 2: both are going to get called up or anything.
16:02
Speaker 1: Like that, but there is an opening.
16:05
Speaker 2: There's an off day Monday, so maybe think about what's
16:08
Speaker 2: possible on Tuesday, is all i'd say.
16:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been getting a lot of those texts too.
16:13
Speaker 1: I don't know if we have any Nats players that
16:17
Speaker 1: be tuning into the podcast, but I just want to know.
16:19
Speaker 1: I thought I heard Dylan Cruz change the walk up
16:22
Speaker 1: song through the speakers last night, and that disappointed me.
16:26
Speaker 1: For anyone else listening that enjoyed the glourrilla on the speakers,
16:29
Speaker 1: I think there's no more of that at the ballpark,
16:31
Speaker 1: So I don't know who needs to hear that, but Dylan,
16:34
Speaker 1: I missed that. That was a great walk up song. Spencer,
16:37
Speaker 1: do you have a favorite walk up song?
16:38
Speaker 2: But the Nationals, Dylan's was pretty good. I always kind
16:44
Speaker 2: of attested that if I were out there and I
16:48
Speaker 2: was a Reliever in particular, I'd be using brain stew.
16:52
Speaker 2: Cole Henry had that and hasn't been up. That's that's
16:55
Speaker 2: always kind of been my favorite. I will say for
16:57
Speaker 2: friends of Glowrilla, there's still playing Sexy Red after wins
17:01
Speaker 2: in the clubhouse, so you know, you kind of get
17:04
Speaker 2: your fix there more or less. But if you're a
17:05
Speaker 2: Nationals fan of the outside, I understand the complaint.
17:09
Speaker 1: That's good. I just I need to make it back
17:11
Speaker 1: to DC and do some post game coverage and then
17:14
Speaker 1: I'll get my fill. Hopefully they need to get a
17:15
Speaker 1: win too. But until then, we'll be back next week.
17:19
Speaker 1: Another episode on Monday. Enjoy the weekend, everybody, See you later.