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How the Nats captivating middle infield is finishing the season · District Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory podcast, a nice road
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: trip for the Nationals. They finished the season out four
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and two in Detroit. And after dropping the first game,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: come back in victorious fashion for the next two. I'm
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Eric Shellhouse from Bat Boys Baseball. Joining me today, Spencer
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Nussbaum of The Athletic. As I just mentioned, the Nationals
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: dropping game one, nine to two, but bouncing back with
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: three to one victory on Tuesday. and then a 4-2
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: on Wednesday. Let's start off with Tuesday because this was
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the C.J. Abrams show. He got it started by putting
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: the Nationals on top with a solo home run at
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the top of the second inning, making it 1-0, and
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: then had another later on to throw them on top
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: in the seventh inning and made it 3-1. That was
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: your final score. All C.J. Abrams on Tuesday, Spencer. And
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: he has done superstar things all over the course of
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the season. It is hard to imagine this Nationals core
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: going into 2027 and beyond being as competitive as it
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: has been this season without CJ.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Right, and so much of what we were kind of
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: thinking about and discussing before the season and in the
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: middle of the season was whether CJ Abrams would even
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: be a National right now, given, again, the trade conversation
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: around his name, which... I know he heard about in
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: part because every player has heard about it when their
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: name is floated and in part because CJ and I
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: have talked about this, right? And so I think to
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: do what he's done this season under that backdrop is
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: rather remarkable. On top of that, he has had seasons
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: in the past. I think we look at 2024 and
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: 2025 where the results in the second half were not
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: what he wanted. And it looks for a second like
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: it might be trending that way again this season, right?
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: um or in august there was a lot of chase
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: a lot of ground balls not a lot of pulling
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: the ball in the air um and he has since
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: been able to figure it out right we we talked
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: to both him and blake butera after um we are
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: so late in the season i don't even remember what
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: day of the week it was but the second game
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: of the series um and uh blake had said that
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: you know he he felt like and cj kind of
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: felt like Um, there was a time where CJ was
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: one Homer shy of 30 and that was weighing on
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: him a little bit. Just, you know, sometimes you, um,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: this is like a, they didn't mean it in a
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: rude way per se, but you, you get a little
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: distracted or a little, um, caught up in the things
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: that can take you away from your process. Um, and
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: that kind of reaching that 30 Homer mark might've been
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: part of it. Um, but now he's been able to reset,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: he's been able to breathe. Um, in these big moments,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: especially as we saw on the other day, um, he
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: has shown up and, um, it, it has been, if
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: not an a plus season for CJ Abrams and a
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: minus or an a, um, I mean, there really isn't
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: a whole lot, um, at least at the plate to,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: to say, oh man, I wish he does that better.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: It's, it's been phenomenal. And, um, there's a lot to
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: think about moving forward with him for sure.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just to catch you up, the season stats room
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: now hitting 262 with 33 home runs and 33 stolen bases.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: 35-35 is not completely out of the realm here going
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: into the final weekend against the Mets. And 103 RBIs.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: The first National to get to the 100 RBI mark
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: since the 2019 squad. This offense also just the third,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I believe, to reach the 800 run mark in the Nationals'
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: offensive history.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Just.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: An incredible season from an offensive perspective, and you hope
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: that that continues into 2027. And the pitching was also
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: something that stuck out to me on Tuesday. Riley Cornelio
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: coming as the opener, and he had two and two-thirds innings,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: just allowed one hit. He has been drastically different as
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: an opener this season, Spencer, rather than coming in out
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: of the bullpen in the late innings. Is it something
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: that the Nationals would want? really want to consider maybe
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: getting him into the rotation going forward, considering how much
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: success he has had in that role.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's at least been a thought there, right?
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: It is something that I think will continue to be
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: floated and kicked around. There are some caveats, right? He's
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: still walking a good number of batters, and that is
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: especially hard to do when you're a starting pitcher. There's
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: the caveat of kind of his struggles in high leverage, right,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: where we've seen him really good at the start of
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: the game, um, can be really good in the middle innings, but, um,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: those late innings are a different beast and one that
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: he might be able to tame next season, but you'd
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: kind of need to see a little bit of proof
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: of concept ahead of time. Um, I've been high on
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Riley since I'd say middle of last year, late last year. Um,
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: just again, given the stuff, given, um, how much that
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: just plays at the big league level. Um, But I
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: think he'll need to have to throw strikes and really
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: kind of hone in on that cutter for him to
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: be able to be in the same rotation. But I
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: think he's an interesting player. He is someone who can
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: be a part of this team's future. But to do that,
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: he'll obviously have to throw strikes, which I think is
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: a theme we've hit on a number of times this
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: year with a number of guys.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And I guess before Wednesday's victory, let's jump into
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Monday's game, which... Pitching was kind of what hindered the Nationals.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: 9-2 final, it was the return of DJ Hurst to
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: a big league mound. He just never really found his footing,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: only went four innings. But the bigger concern to me
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: here is Luis Perales, who got hit hard. Two innings
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: to his name, five earned runs. His ERA now up
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: to an 11.45 on the season. This is getting a
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: little concerning, in my opinion, Spencer, what we've seen out
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: of him in the bullpen. However, he was brought up
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: originally as a starting pitcher, and I guess I'm kind
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: of confused maybe why the Nationals haven't tried integrating him
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: back into that role. But what, I guess, for him,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: is it as simple as just finding command of the
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: fastball and the walks have been the issue?
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think that's like the big picture stuff, right?
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: And maybe it is that simple, and maybe I should
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: stop talking, but I think it could be a handful
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: of things, right? Where at times, especially in the minor leagues,
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: he would lean really heavily on that cutter per se,
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: and it would become predictable because it was the only
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: thing he could consistently locate in the zone. The fastball
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: up here has gotten hit. I don't know if it's
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: a shape issue per se or a sequencing issue, but
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: 99 to 100 generally isn't getting hit up in the
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: big leagues unless that is one of the two issues.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: And so... Yeah, I think there's a lot of threads
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: to pull on. I know they've talked him up as
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: being a starter in their future, and I don't think
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: they're closing a door on that, nor should they after,
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: you know, whatever it's going to be at the end
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: of the year, 15, 20, 10 big league innings. But
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: given what else they might have in the starting rotation,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: whether they'd add in free agency or anything like that,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: I don't know. It's hard to figure out what his
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: role is. You don't want to read too much into
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: the first 20 innings of a guy's big league career,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: especially when he's 23, barely pitched in the minor leagues.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: But the Nationals, if they want to be competitive next season,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: would really, really benefit from him either being a shutdown
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: high leverage guy or a starting pitcher who threw 99.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: And he hasn't proven either of those things yet. And
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: so I'm really kind of compelled to see hey, this
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: offseason in particular, can he focus on that command? Can
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: the fastball get less edible? And can he be a
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: real piece for the team?
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: As you mentioned, such a small sample size, too. Just
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: 11 innings. I probably shouldn't read too much into that.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: There's a lot to work on in the offseason. Let's
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: take a break. There was Nats history the other day
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: with Nassim Nunez and a lot of other good stuff
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: to talk about.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: So Jay, do you ever find yourself crashing in the afternoon,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: needing a boost, but not wanting to have caffeine that
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: you know is going to ruin your sleep?
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, definitely. I found myself on the golf course
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: a lot lately. And sometimes, you know, it can be
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: long days out there. So I reach in my golf bag.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: I keep the Ultra Focus Pouch right here with me,
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: keep it in my golf bag. And it's part of
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: my golf bag, as I said.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And so what are some of your favorite effects
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: of the Ultra Pouches?
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: Definitely gives me a little bit of focus, that little
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: bit of energy that I'm looking for, and obviously not
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: having any caffeine in it is always a plus for me,
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: so I enjoy those things. Ultra is the ultimate guilt-free pouch,
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• 9:16
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• 9:18
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• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Wednesday was the cherry on top of the road trip.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: The Nationals got a 4-2 win. It was a bullpen game,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: and Nassim Nunez set a National single-season stolen base record. Spencer,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: as you're tweeting out, he sets the record at 48.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: He immediately goes and swipes third base for number 49.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: You talked to him in the postgame, and he had
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: a pretty entertaining quote from there. But what did it
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: mean for him to– I guess, set the record and
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: how has his speed been able to influence the offense
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: this season?
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he was kind of conflicted, but leaned on. I
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: forget someone, I think in his family or someone around
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: him gave advice uh, that he should appreciate accomplishments more. Um,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: and so he was like, yeah, I feel a little conflicted, but, um,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: ultimately he said he was happy and would look up
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: and say, Hey, I'm the national single season stolen base
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: record holder. And that, that is pretty cool and is
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: deservingly so right. Um, that isn't to say that he like,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: fully leaned on that. I think Nassim is unbelievably transparent
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: in how he feels. And I think, you know, we
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: obviously appreciate that as a beat. I think fans should
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: appreciate that as well. As you mentioned, he gave that
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: really good quote about how pitchers are, you know, looking
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: over more at him this year and said, you know,
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: I just told my coach and one of my friends,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: it's like, if you're trying to steal candy at the
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: candy store and the clerk is watching you, you can't
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: steal the candy. So you got to be sneaky. And
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: then he said, I'm not telling any kids to steal candy,
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: but Um, yeah, he's, you know, obviously he's been watched
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: more over there this season and, um, yeah, there, there is, um, again,
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: a lot to think about with Nassim, with his future
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: on the team. Um, he has been candid in admitting, um,
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: the offense is not good enough. He has a good
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: eye at the plate too. So he thinks a lot
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: of it goes back to getting more juice in his bat. Um,
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: he's not sure if that will come from backspin or
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: bat speed or, um, strengthening up. Those are all things
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: he'll figure out this off season, but, um, yeah, he knows, uh,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: and even set a goal before the season to steal
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: 80 bases. Um, he thinks that that is realistic if
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: he gets on base more, which given what we've seen
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: in the season, stealing 49 with a, uh, on base
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: percentage under 30%. Um, yeah, there's, there's no reason, well,
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: I shouldn't say there's no reason, um, 80 bases a lot, but, um,
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: it is, it is, uh, something where he is holding
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: himself to a higher standard than this but also tying
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: to appreciate it given given what it's uh you know
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: meant to him.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: This season yeah if he stays healthy and can get
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: that on base percentage and find himself down at first
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: base a little bit more often there's no question uh
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: or like you said 80 is a lot of stolen
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: bases but he would seem to be the type of
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: caliber player to pull it off i remember speaking to
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: him at the start of the year too and he
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: said him and Chandler Simpson were just in a competition
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: to see who would finish with more stolen bases at
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: the end of the season. When you're leading the league,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: you're probably going to win that competition. So hopefully he
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: holds on here for the next three days, and congrats
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: to him on setting the Nationals record. And in that game,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Yohani Morales also hit a home run, his second of
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: the series, his second two-run blast of the series. This
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: guy has come up and made a serious impact, Spencer,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: and it's clear that his bout will play against big
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: league pitching.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, again, with Yoandi in particular, he's kind of another
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: one who has a lot of self-awareness, right? Which again,
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: as the media, as fans, always great to appreciate. As
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: a player, it's one of the most important things you
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: can have, right? Where he is confident. I would not
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: sway that at all. But he, when we ask him
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: after the game about what's made his season successful, he
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: talks so much about consistency, right? And how that was
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: something he struggled to find in the past. I followed
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: up by asking him, you know, you hit over 20
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: homers in AAA, you've hit four and 40 at-bats in
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: the big leagues. Like, how is that, is that not
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: consistent enough? And he was like, well, obviously, you know,
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: that's been pretty good, but you can't just like rest
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: on your laurels and do it for one year. And
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: even beyond that, he knows he has things he can prove,
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: whether it's the chase rate, whether it's the contact rate,
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: those two things in particular, if he got those to
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: even be a little bit better, he really starts to
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: look like, hey, is this an everyday corner infielder? And
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: that's what he wants to be, right? I think every
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: big leaguer wants to be an everyday player. I think
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: Yowandi also will be working on some third base defense
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: this winter, which should potentially help his versatility. But yeah,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: I'll be the first to admit that the contact rate
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: and the chase rate kind of scared me a little
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: bit where I said, I don't know exactly how that'll
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: play in the big leagues. Um, he struggled against velocity
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: and AAA, which I usually don't read into, um, because
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: just the, the caliber of arms down there is so different. Um,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: but that was like another thing, obviously he, you know,
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: they were thinking about at the very least, um, he
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: has answered just about every question. And so if the
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: idea is, Hey, he's going to get even better at
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: these things that are hard to improve next year. Um, he,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: he looks like a, a big leaguer and, um, Yeah,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: when you go 420 the other way, just trying to
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: put your bat on the ball, it looks like a
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: big leaguer. I'll leave it at that.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm excited to see what 162 might look from
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: him next season. Like you said, work on the defense
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: in the offseason. He could play a really big role
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: on this team at either corner going into next season.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: I'll remind all of our listeners and viewers really quickly
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: to subscribe to the District Territory podcast on YouTube or
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: wherever you get your If you're listening on Spotify or
• 15:06
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• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Zion Bowman first later on in the offseason. You don't
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: want to miss that. Let's jump back really quickly to
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Monday's pitching box score, because I forgot to mention Josiah
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Gray coming in in the final two innings, although the
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: game was kind of out of hand at that point.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: He looked good, and it has been an encouraging return
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: for him to the rotation. I just want to give
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: him some flowers. What looked good, I guess, from him
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: on Monday and Sunday it's expected that he'll continue to
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: pitch out of the bullpen, but I would love to
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: see him again here in this weekend against the Mets.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It wasn't quite up to 94, if I'm remembering correctly,
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: like it was in his return, but he's still pitching well. He,
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's just, it's candidly like a great story
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: that he's back. And yeah, I don't, I feel like
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: I don't have a whole lot to add here just
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: because like the, the story itself, feels so much more, um,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: valuable for lack of a better word than like me
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: spouting off as I usually do about, Oh, he throws 94. Oh, he,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: you know, his spin rate is this, his horizontal break
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: is that, um, it's, it's really nice to see him
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: back in the clubhouse. Um, seeing him chat with, uh,
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: just DJ before DJ start the other day, um, two
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: guys who were in that clubhouse in 24, uh, at
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: different times, but, um, you know, who, because they've been
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: on the team for more than two years, are some
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: of the longest tenured players on the team, which is
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: bizarre to think about. It's just, it's cool to see
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: him back in the clubhouse talking to people he has
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: either never seen before or, you know, reconnecting with those,
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: you know, Cade, et cetera, K-Bear, who he kind of
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: came up with. And yeah, I honestly think like heading
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: into 2027, right, if the Nationals need potentially a bullpen
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: arm or a leader, however you want to slice it.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: It's not something to discount, right? Because of what he
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: could potentially bring to that room. And yeah, really interested
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: to see kind of what lays ahead for him.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: The other thing I wanted to hit on before we
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: wrap up today's show was following that Monday loss, I
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: believe it was, Cole Henry was announced to be waived
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: by the Nationals coming into the season. This was a
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: guy that you were thinking, hey, maybe, closer late inning
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: back end stuff. And that just wasn't the case. You
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: acknowledge the team maybe just didn't put them in the
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: best situations to succeed this season, but ultimately choosing to, uh,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: our ways here and, and move along.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Um, so I think Cole Henry was probably going
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: to be designated for assignment, um, regardless, given the results
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: this year, um, he has to be released for those
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: who don't know, um, because he's on the injured list.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: And so, um, that's why the nationals had to part ways.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: All that being said, um, yeah, I don't think the
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: nationals in the best position to succeed this year. Um,
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: where he was really good in high leverage spots, uh,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: last season, kind of their eighth inning guy, especially in
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: that first half. Um, yeah, you can talk about the
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: FIP and like, I don't think I can discount that stuff. Um,
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: but coming into this season, right? Like sure. Maybe he's
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: not your eighth inning guy anymore. That's fine. Um, but
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: I do think he was one of a number of
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: people who, between getting shuttled back and forth between AAA
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: and the major leagues, between having to throw a multi-inning
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: role where, you know, he's never done that before. He's
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: not doing it in AAA and he's throwing 45 pitches
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: at a time. That didn't serve him well, something that
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Blake Gutierrez even admitted earlier this season. And so I
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: think that, For someone whose stuff is so good, who
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: needs to work in his command, but it's not, I
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: don't think, going to kill his big league career, right?
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: It'd be really nice to see him kind of latch
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: on with another team because he feels like a guy
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: who could maybe succeed in another situation. And given everything
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: he's been through, I think he has the mentality to
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: figure it out somewhere else. So yeah, this is one
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: of those cases where I think we've talked a lot
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: about the thing the Nationals have done right this year.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: This is maybe one area where I look at a
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: guy who was a higher leverage reliever last year who
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: couldn't figure it out this year. And I say some
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: of that is volatility and some of that is probably
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: a little bit of mismanagement.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Well, we will see what the future holds for him.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: The Nationals, just three games left in this regular season
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: of 2026. It's hard to believe we are already here.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: I think that's going to conclude it. Next episode, we'll
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: be doing some playoff comparisons to the squads that were
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: able to make it there. I'll just encourage everyone to
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: keep on reading Spencer's stories and everyone's stories over the athletic.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Keep watching Bat Boys Baseball and stay tuned to the
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Foul Territory Network. We'll see you in the next episode, everybody.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: See you later.