Latest / District Territory / Why the Nationals depth and comeback wins should make them spend

Transcript

Why the Nationals depth and comeback wins should make them spend · District Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: How do you follow up back-to-back sweeps on the West Coast?
0:08
Speaker 1: How about a three-game sweep of the Angels at home,
0:11
Speaker 1: and the Nationals looked like a different animal in those
0:14
Speaker 1: second two games. Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast.
0:17
Speaker 1: I'm Eric Shellhouse from Bat Boys Baseball, and Spencer Nussbaum
0:20
Speaker 1: of The Athletic joins me today. Spencer, you were at
0:22
Speaker 1: the game yesterday. The Nationals victorious 6-5, took a late rally,
0:26
Speaker 1: but how about the pitching? throughout it and it got
0:29
Speaker 1: started with Riley Cornelio. We've seen him in the rotation. Well,
0:33
Speaker 1: we've seen him make starts this year. We've seen him
0:35
Speaker 1: come in out of the bullpen, but you had said
0:37
Speaker 1: that Blake Buterin, the post game mentioned he might have
0:40
Speaker 1: starter potential in his future. What'd you see from him
0:43
Speaker 1: on the mound yesterday?
0:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was a, it was a bunch
0:47
Speaker 2: of different things, right? Where we saw in basically his
0:51
Speaker 2: last two outings, him opening for another Uh, pitcher and
0:56
Speaker 2: we've seen, I mean, I guess I'd start with the slider, right?
0:59
Speaker 2: That pitch has been unbelievable for him. I think it's
1:02
Speaker 2: a pitch that, uh, has really, really nasty stuff. But candidly,
1:07
Speaker 2: when we look at what he had to go through
1:10
Speaker 2: early on in the big leagues, the command of that pitch,
1:12
Speaker 2: and he mentioned it too, really was not where it
1:15
Speaker 2: needed to be. Um, he has followed that up with
1:18
Speaker 2: having that, having a pretty dirty fastball and having a
1:23
Speaker 2: cutter that he's throwing more often, which. as I think
1:26
Speaker 2: we'll get into in a second, really bodes well for
1:30
Speaker 2: him down the road when we think about maybe his
1:32
Speaker 2: role in the future.
1:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess what was it that is, what is
1:37
Speaker 1: it that it's going to take for him to find
1:39
Speaker 1: himself in the rotation and to be able to go
1:42
Speaker 1: consistently for the team? Is it that cutter or is
1:45
Speaker 1: it something else?
1:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, we actually kind of asked him that same question, right?
1:51
Speaker 2: And I think it is interesting just to pull back
1:53
Speaker 2: the curtain a little bit. We did talk to Blake
1:56
Speaker 2: before the game and I, I kind of asked him
1:58
Speaker 2: straight up, you know, can Riley be a starter in
2:02
Speaker 2: the future? And he said, they are absolutely not closing
2:05
Speaker 2: the door on that. I then asked him and I
2:08
Speaker 2: asked Riley, is it the addition of that cutter? Because
2:11
Speaker 2: oftentimes if you're starting and going through a rotation multiple times,
2:15
Speaker 2: you need different weapons to throw.
2:17
Speaker 3: At a guy.
2:18
Speaker 2: And it's hard to do that with just two pitches and,
2:22
Speaker 2: Blake's answer was basically the stuff is so good that
2:26
Speaker 2: it might not need to be the deepest arsenal, but
2:30
Speaker 2: absolutely the cutter could have a factor there. Riley, on
2:34
Speaker 2: the other hand, I mean, obviously acknowledged that his stuff
2:37
Speaker 2: is good, but he said that cutter would be essential
2:39
Speaker 2: for him either in a relief role or getting stretched
2:43
Speaker 2: out in the future because it sets up that slider
2:46
Speaker 2: so well. And so without getting into all the machinations
2:48
Speaker 2: of like, Pitch sequencing and how all that stuff goes,
2:52
Speaker 2: I would say if he can keep throwing that slider
2:56
Speaker 2: in the zone or near the zone and the cutter
2:59
Speaker 2: is as reliable as it's looked the last two outings,
3:03
Speaker 2: I don't see any reason why he couldn't be a
3:04
Speaker 2: starter in the future, which is a very interesting development
3:08
Speaker 2: for the Nationals.
3:09
Speaker 4: Yeah.
3:10
Speaker 1: It was also curious for me to see Jake Irvin
3:12
Speaker 1: pitch out of the bullpen for the first time, and
3:14
Speaker 1: he actually did quite well. Um, was there anything that
3:18
Speaker 1: you noticed different from Jake in terms of what allowed
3:21
Speaker 1: him maybe to sell in better? Was it just as
3:23
Speaker 1: simple as, Oh, he didn't go through the lineup the
3:25
Speaker 1: first time. Um, but what did you see from him
3:28
Speaker 1: the other day?
3:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I honestly don't know if there's a whole lot
3:32
Speaker 2: to read into there. Um, obviously there were the two
3:35
Speaker 2: solo homers and limiting the damage to that is important. Um,
3:39
Speaker 2: six strikeouts in five innings is good and we've seen
3:41
Speaker 2: the strikeout rate, uh, improve for Jake this year. Um,
3:46
Speaker 2: I think the four walks, again, is something I still
3:47
Speaker 2: come back to, though, where if you are going to
3:51
Speaker 2: be a productive big leaguer, you need the strikeouts to
3:56
Speaker 2: outnumber the walks by quite a bit. He, at least
4:01
Speaker 2: as of late, has done an okay job at that,
4:04
Speaker 2: but I think any time the ERA is in the fives,
4:08
Speaker 2: you do wonder and worry a little bit. So I
4:10
Speaker 2: don't know if he solved anything in the last outing,
4:12
Speaker 2: but I do think it's interesting that... The Nats put
4:15
Speaker 2: yet another veteran behind an opener, and the results were
4:20
Speaker 2: decent in his last outing. Yeah.
4:24
Speaker 1: Let's talk about, I guess, the end of the game
4:26
Speaker 1: and how the Nationals rallied behind before we get into
4:28
Speaker 1: Saturday's game, which was kind of a similar story. But, man,
4:32
Speaker 1: Andrew Alvarez, we're going to have to dive into that.
4:35
Speaker 1: But the Nationals trailed in entering the bottom of the
4:39
Speaker 1: eighth inning after sort of what was, Really, frankly, a
4:42
Speaker 1: disastrous top of the eighth inning. The Angels did not
4:45
Speaker 1: earn some of those runs that they got across the plate.
4:47
Speaker 1: But then Dalen Lyle stepped up with a huge triple
4:51
Speaker 1: after a blue base hit by Yohani Morales leading off
4:55
Speaker 1: the eighth inning. Dalen is really hitting another gear here
4:58
Speaker 1: in September. But Nationals fans might hate me for saying this.
5:01
Speaker 1: There's a calmness about him that kind of reminds me
5:04
Speaker 1: of Anthony Rendon. And I don't know if that's how
5:07
Speaker 1: you would equate it, Spencer, but he really just has
5:11
Speaker 1: this relaxing presence even in these big moments. He's just
5:15
Speaker 1: a professional hitter. But what does it mean if the
5:18
Speaker 1: Nationals can get him going? We've talked about how meaningful
5:23
Speaker 1: he could be to the outfield if he can slot
5:26
Speaker 1: in there. But just the leadership is something I think
5:29
Speaker 1: I kind of want to sort through here today. Yeah.
5:32
Speaker 2: Um, I think that, that calmness pieces is absolutely something
5:36
Speaker 2: you nailed, right. Where, um, I'd say, especially over the
5:39
Speaker 2: last month and a half, right. He has looks like
5:41
Speaker 2: a different hitter at the plate because he is going
5:43
Speaker 2: up there simple, focused on his approach and not focused
5:47
Speaker 2: on his swing. Um, obviously we've seen the results follow. Uh,
5:51
Speaker 2: I would say from a work ethic standpoint, um, I
5:53
Speaker 2: did not cover Rendon. So I wouldn't want to cast
5:55
Speaker 2: dispersions there, but based on what's been reported, um, Dalen
5:59
Speaker 2: Lyle obviously has a, uh, different level of passion for
6:04
Speaker 2: the sport. But yeah, I guess beyond that, and when
6:07
Speaker 2: we talk about Galen in particular and the depth of
6:11
Speaker 2: the Nationals offense as a whole, and this is something
6:13
Speaker 2: I actually wrote about this morning for The Athletic, is
6:19
Speaker 2: they go into next season with probably about 10 hitters
6:24
Speaker 2: who you can, I wouldn't even say squint at, I
6:26
Speaker 2: would say you can say with relative confidence are at
6:30
Speaker 2: least interesting going into next year, where you're at the
6:34
Speaker 2: point where even if you see some regression from, you know,
6:39
Speaker 2: a couple of players, let's say, and a couple of
6:42
Speaker 2: players backslide, you are still in a spot where you
6:47
Speaker 2: are very comfortable with where the offense is at, which
6:50
Speaker 2: is to say that this is an offense that's worth
6:52
Speaker 2: supporting going into next year with acquisitions on the pitching side, right?
6:58
Speaker 2: I don't know if the Nationals will finish third in
7:00
Speaker 2: offense heading into, or I should say in 2027, but
7:06
Speaker 2: they have since the All-Star break without basically their top
7:10
Speaker 2: four hitters in the first half producing, they've still been
7:13
Speaker 2: the sixth best offense in baseball. That is something that
7:17
Speaker 2: I don't think is worth scoffing at. I think you
7:19
Speaker 2: think about Dalen, Dylan, Jacob Young, Brady House, all these
7:23
Speaker 2: guys who have trended in the right direction in the
7:26
Speaker 2: second half too. Um, I think there's a really compelling
7:30
Speaker 2: case to be made that they are, uh, as stable
7:33
Speaker 2: of an offense going into next season as any team
7:35
Speaker 2: in baseball. And, um, yeah, I think Dalen is a
7:38
Speaker 2: huge part of that.
7:39
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well drop some comments down below about 2027 or,
7:43
Speaker 1: you know, anything you have nationals related. We didn't get
7:46
Speaker 1: any in the last video, but I'm looking for some
7:48
Speaker 1: fan questions to dive into. Um, they're always a lot
7:51
Speaker 1: of fun. Let's take a quick break. We come back
7:53
Speaker 1: more about the nationals successful weekend.
7:56
Speaker 4: People, life is expensive. So you should start looking at
7:59
Speaker 4: things that are unnecessarily expensive, like your phone bill and say,
8:04
Speaker 4: is there a better option?
8:05
Speaker 3: Mint Mobile is a better option than if you have
8:07
Speaker 3: other companies, especially when you have kids like me and
8:09
Speaker 3: you have everybody and their brother on your family plan.
8:13
Speaker 3: Mint Mobile will give you a cheaper option with the
8:15
Speaker 3: same coverage.
8:16
Speaker 1: Yes.
8:17
Speaker 4: And some wireless bills are crazy with the bogus fees
8:19
Speaker 4: and the free perks. They are not free perks. They
8:23
Speaker 4: cost you more in the long run. So Just go
8:26
Speaker 4: to Mint Mobile, check out what they have to offer.
8:29
Speaker 4: All plans come with high-speed data and unlimited talk and
8:32
Speaker 4: text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. If you
8:35
Speaker 4: like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans
8:37
Speaker 4: at mintmobile.com slash territory. That's mintmobile.com slash territory. Upfront payment
8:44
Speaker 4: of $ 45 for three-month, five-gigabyte plan required, equivalent to 15
8:48
Speaker 4: bucks a month. New customer offer for first three months only,
8:51
Speaker 4: then full-price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See
8:55
Speaker 4: Mint Mobile for details.
8:58
Speaker 1: Spencer, as I mentioned earlier, Andrew Alvarez was just terrific
9:02
Speaker 1: in Saturday's game. Seven innings pitched, one hit allowed. He
9:05
Speaker 1: took a no-hit bid pretty deep into this game. He
9:08
Speaker 1: did allow four walks, but man, this was just a
9:10
Speaker 1: statement sort of outing for him. 3.38 ERA on the
9:15
Speaker 1: season now. He has solidified himself as a staple, it
9:20
Speaker 1: seems like, in this rotation going into 2027. It's been
9:23
Speaker 1: Really an incredible development to watch over the course of
9:26
Speaker 1: the season when you think about how he was coming
9:28
Speaker 1: in out of the bullpen. He was just clicking on Saturday.
9:34
Speaker 1: What does he need to do to look like that
9:36
Speaker 1: every single time he goes out?
9:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a really interesting quandary and something
9:43
Speaker 2: I've spent a lot of time thinking about where, again,
9:45
Speaker 2: we've seen all this progress this season between leaning heavier
9:49
Speaker 2: on the breaking balls, striking out more hitters, keeping that
9:53
Speaker 2: ERA in the threes, controlling his demeanor when he's on
9:59
Speaker 2: the mound. at the same time as I think Blake
10:02
Speaker 2: has mentioned 20 times as you could say Andrew has
10:08
Speaker 2: mentioned 20 times at this point the walk rate is
10:11
Speaker 2: much higher than he'd want it to be and what
10:14
Speaker 2: compels me or at least interests me in the future
10:16
Speaker 2: is the fact that I I think he's been able
10:19
Speaker 2: to survive and thrive in part because he is staying
10:24
Speaker 2: outside of the zone, which is kind of an odd
10:26
Speaker 2: thing to say for an organization and just a baseball
10:29
Speaker 2: philosophy that is preached so often about getting ahead of
10:33
Speaker 2: hitters early and staying in the zone. And I do
10:35
Speaker 2: think he does need to get ahead of hitters early regardless.
10:40
Speaker 2: But he gets so much of his, his whiff from
10:44
Speaker 2: and his success from pitches that are outside the zone
10:46
Speaker 2: that where he has one of the highest like in
10:49
Speaker 2: zone contact rates against in baseball, just to maybe simplify
10:54
Speaker 2: this and stop rambling for people. I think it's, it's
10:57
Speaker 2: really fascinating how much success he's been able to have
11:01
Speaker 2: while living outside the zone. And so I wonder, do
11:03
Speaker 2: they try to get him more next year? Or do
11:06
Speaker 2: they say, Hey, this can make you a productive big
11:09
Speaker 2: league pitcher. And maybe we can walk, we could limit
11:11
Speaker 2: the walks a little bit. But I don't know if
11:14
Speaker 2: there's a, you know, a push to maybe fundamentally change
11:17
Speaker 2: who he is as a pitcher because he just carried
11:19
Speaker 2: a no hit bid against the team that he grew
11:21
Speaker 2: up rooting for, which is, you know, pretty impressive in
11:24
Speaker 2: the big leagues. Yeah.
11:26
Speaker 1: I mean, he just looked like a dog the other
11:29
Speaker 1: day and has over this last stretch. I mean, him
11:32
Speaker 1: and Cade Cavalli, frankly, have anchored down this rotation during
11:36
Speaker 1: a pretty difficult stretch. And it's just been exciting to
11:40
Speaker 1: watch him thrive over the last few weeks and Yeah,
11:44
Speaker 1: if I was the Nationals, I would say don't mess
11:46
Speaker 1: with this thing after the outing that you saw yesterday.
11:49
Speaker 1: It was just phenomenal. The Nationals, unfortunately, in Saturday's game
11:55
Speaker 1: did blow their own record. The flown save record continues
11:58
Speaker 1: to increase their 39th of the season, but they rallied
12:02
Speaker 1: behind in the ninth and then walked it off in
12:04
Speaker 1: the 10th on a fielding error by Zach Netto at shortstop.
12:08
Speaker 1: Harry Ford delivered the walk off after a shaky touchdown.
12:12
Speaker 1: you know, his wrist was shaking up the day before.
12:15
Speaker 1: It was just the National's second walk off of the season,
12:18
Speaker 1: but what were the vibes like following that comeback, Spencer?
12:22
Speaker 1: Things could have gotten away from them quickly there.
12:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the comment following basically all three comeback wins,
12:30
Speaker 2: because they did it three times in a row against
12:31
Speaker 2: the Angels, is that it kind of just felt good
12:35
Speaker 2: for them to see one go through the hoop, right,
12:37
Speaker 2: is how they put it. Like, They've had a great
12:39
Speaker 2: offense all year, but those clutch hitting situations haven't been great.
12:43
Speaker 2: We could bemoan the argument about how much that stat
12:49
Speaker 2: changes year over year and whether there's truth to the
12:52
Speaker 2: quality of clutch hitting or not, et cetera, et cetera.
12:56
Speaker 2: I do think it was bound to have some positive aggression.
12:59
Speaker 2: And beyond that, I think it was bound for a
13:02
Speaker 2: young team that's hit really well to finally figure out
13:05
Speaker 2: how to step up, take their walks, have quality at
13:10
Speaker 2: bats in the later innings. And that's, that's also why
13:12
Speaker 2: I think that heading into next year, the Nats are
13:14
Speaker 2: in a really good spot because so many of their
13:17
Speaker 2: young hitters, obviously, as you mentioned, the vibes are great
13:22
Speaker 2: right now in terms of what they are producing and providing.
13:26
Speaker 2: But beyond that, I think they're just so comfortable in
13:28
Speaker 2: these spots and bound to maybe not necessarily all improve.
13:33
Speaker 2: Like I don't think all 10 of those hitters who
13:35
Speaker 2: I said are interesting will be better next year. But
13:38
Speaker 2: I think there's a case to be made that a
13:40
Speaker 2: lot of them still have room to grow, um, in
13:43
Speaker 2: these late game situations or otherwise. And that's to me that,
13:46
Speaker 2: that portends well for, for the future and for the last,
13:50
Speaker 2: you know, two weeks of the season. Yeah.
13:53
Speaker 1: Uh, this is how September is supposed to be done
13:56
Speaker 1: and the nationals are, are doing it their way. And
13:59
Speaker 1: I think this has been pretty good. No knocks, uh,
14:02
Speaker 1: from my end. Really quickly, we got Richard Lovelady back
14:05
Speaker 1: the other day. There were a couple of transactions from
14:08
Speaker 1: a pitching perspective. Richard Lovelady reactivated from the 60-day IL.
14:12
Speaker 1: We have not seen him in a game yet. And
14:14
Speaker 1: the Nationals also went back to the Yankee system, claiming
14:17
Speaker 1: Chase Hampton off of waivers and option to double-A Harrisburg. Spencer,
14:23
Speaker 1: what does the addition to Chase Hampton mean, I guess?
14:25
Speaker 1: What kind of stuff does he bring to the organization
14:29
Speaker 1: and the versatility that I'm just excited to see the
14:32
Speaker 1: emotion out of Richard Lovelady again soon. He hasn't pitched yet,
14:35
Speaker 1: but man, when he does, he'll be going to the show.
14:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess I'll start with Richard. Just a quick
14:41
Speaker 2: comment he made when we talked to him the other day.
14:44
Speaker 2: As with basically any pitcher between the ages of, let's say,
14:48
Speaker 2: 28 and 32 this year that has pitched for the Nationals,
14:53
Speaker 2: he was shocked that he's a vet on this team,
14:57
Speaker 2: but said he enjoys offering that perspective to either the
15:01
Speaker 2: guys he was rehabbing with, Connolly early in particular, or
15:05
Speaker 2: the guys who are up here right now. Yeah, still
15:08
Speaker 2: kind of TBD on what his end of season will
15:12
Speaker 2: look like. I would say in terms of Hampton, just
15:17
Speaker 2: to give people a rundown, a former top 100 prospect
15:20
Speaker 2: who underwent a number of injuries in, I think, 2024
15:25
Speaker 2: it was. And he just hasn't been able to get
15:27
Speaker 2: his velocity back since I think that's something where the
15:30
Speaker 2: nationals believe they can kind of give him that leash
15:33
Speaker 2: and help him refine some of that stuff in command.
15:36
Speaker 2: And more than that, they're trying to take a chance
15:39
Speaker 2: on having guys who will one day help the team
15:43
Speaker 2: down the road, which is maybe a dumb way to
15:44
Speaker 2: put it because every org is looking to do that.
15:46
Speaker 2: But the nationals are targeting guys, you know, on the
15:50
Speaker 2: margins of other franchises who they believe, you know, they
15:54
Speaker 2: have a tweak that other teams don't have. There hasn't
15:56
Speaker 2: been a, ton of success on that front right we
16:00
Speaker 2: look at a lot of the guys in the Nationals
16:01
Speaker 2: bullpen right now and they were acquired either via trade
16:06
Speaker 2: or developed in-house whereas a lot of the like waiver
16:10
Speaker 2: claims that they have gone through haven't necessarily panned out
16:14
Speaker 2: but I do think that this one is interesting in
16:16
Speaker 2: part because I mean I don't think he's going to
16:19
Speaker 2: pitch for the Nationals this year but he will have
16:21
Speaker 2: an off season to develop for them and yeah so
16:24
Speaker 2: I think this is just them kind of taking another
16:26
Speaker 2: shot on a guy that they believe in. Yeah.
16:30
Speaker 1: Let's take another quick break. When we come back a
16:32
Speaker 1: little down on the farm report, Eli will, it's excelling
16:35
Speaker 1: at double a already and some other exciting moves or,
16:38
Speaker 1: or news from down there.
16:40
Speaker 4: It's getting hot out there. People let's talk Mack Weldon
16:43
Speaker 4: fashion show real quick. AJ has got the Pima crew
16:46
Speaker 4: neck t-shirt froth. Heather is frost.
16:49
Speaker 3: Heather's got, it's got little pieces of gray Heather in there. Uh,
16:52
Speaker 3: it's nice.
16:53
Speaker 1: It's soft.
16:54
Speaker 3: It fits really well. It's great for summer down here
16:57
Speaker 3: in Florida. And I got a couple of linen shirts
17:00
Speaker 3: and linen pants that are going to look nice when
17:02
Speaker 3: I go to Europe here in a couple of weeks.
17:03
Speaker 1: Very nice.
17:04
Speaker 2: Yeah.
17:04
Speaker 4: It's very smooth, very thin. I'm wearing the 18 hour
17:08
Speaker 4: Jersey short and Heather gray. I'll leave that down here
17:11
Speaker 4: for you. And the Pima short sleeve Henley, the color
17:14
Speaker 4: on mine is desert spring, but it really resonates. It
17:18
Speaker 4: fits and, Kind of matches with everything in the wardrobe, too.
17:23
Speaker 4: It's the classic look. They know what they're doing here.
17:25
Speaker 4: So check it out. We've got the code for you, too.
17:28
Speaker 4: Get moving with Mack Weldon.
17:29
Speaker 2: Comfortable anywhere.
17:30
Speaker 4: Go to MackWeldon.com. Get 20% off your first order of
17:33
Speaker 4: $ 125 or more with promo code FOUL. That's M-A-C-K-W-E-L-D-O-N.com. Code F-O-U-L.
17:41
Speaker 1: Don't forget to subscribe to the district territory podcast on
17:44
Speaker 1: YouTube or Apple Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, wherever
17:47
Speaker 1: you're listening, make sure to subscribe. You don't want to
17:49
Speaker 1: miss the Eli Willits signed baseball card giveaway. Once we
17:52
Speaker 1: get to a thousand subscribers to tell your friends, tell
17:55
Speaker 1: your other Nats fans to tune in. We're pushing for it.
17:59
Speaker 1: As I mentioned before the break, Eli Willits with his
18:01
Speaker 1: first home run at double a Devin Fitzgerald Homer for
18:05
Speaker 1: the seventh time in the last month and triple a
18:08
Speaker 1: Rochester in a playoff hunt. Spencer, Talk about really quickly,
18:12
Speaker 1: I guess, just down on the farm, like we've seen
18:14
Speaker 1: success across every single level. And DFG is on a
18:18
Speaker 1: tear lately and has been all season. He has been
18:22
Speaker 1: an exciting name to start paying attention to this season.
18:26
Speaker 1: But Eli doing it at double A now with a
18:29
Speaker 1: home run at just 18 years old. It's the youth
18:32
Speaker 1: movement is really exciting. I think when you continue to
18:35
Speaker 1: peel back layers of the onion and look down at
18:37
Speaker 1: the farm system.
18:39
Speaker 4: It is.
18:39
Speaker 2: And I have a story coming out on this, I
18:42
Speaker 2: think later this week, just about an inside look at
18:46
Speaker 2: how the Nationals have actually done this on the farm.
18:50
Speaker 2: So I will maybe save some of that for a
18:52
Speaker 2: later episode. What I can say about Devin Fitzgerald in
18:56
Speaker 2: particular is he has not had, you know, obviously the
19:01
Speaker 2: easiest season he, as I think we covered in a
19:05
Speaker 2: previous episode, Um, his mom was diagnosed with brain cancer.
19:09
Speaker 2: And so that's something that, um, he and his family, uh,
19:13
Speaker 2: have had to deal with and it has absolutely taken
19:15
Speaker 2: a toll on him. Um, but he has, he has persevered. Um,
19:20
Speaker 2: he has gotten through probably a down month and a half,
19:23
Speaker 2: and he has followed this up with an incredibly strong
19:26
Speaker 2: finish to the year. And he is someone who, um, again,
19:29
Speaker 2: I think when we think about who was the future
19:32
Speaker 2: middle infield of the nationals, Devin Fitzgerald, It feels like
19:36
Speaker 2: he slots so easily into that with his superb swing decisions,
19:40
Speaker 2: with the bat-to-ball contact, with the budding power, and it
19:45
Speaker 2: really looks like Eli Willits is probably going to be
19:48
Speaker 2: the other half of that, right? Where it's basically everything
19:52
Speaker 2: I just said on top of, you know, 60-grade defense,
19:56
Speaker 2: 70-grade defense. He is in AA at 18 years old, which,
20:02
Speaker 2: for those of you who don't know, doesn't really happen. And, yeah,
20:06
Speaker 2: I mean, it's... really compelling to think about what a
20:10
Speaker 2: middle infield future of those two could be, or just frankly,
20:13
Speaker 2: what a big league roster with those two could be.
20:15
Speaker 2: Because I don't want to say they'll both be up
20:18
Speaker 2: in 2027 at some point. I think it's too early
20:21
Speaker 2: to make some sort of definitive claim like that. But
20:24
Speaker 2: they are progressing a lot quicker than their age says
20:26
Speaker 2: they should. And it's because of all the work that
20:30
Speaker 2: they put in.
20:32
Speaker 1: Well, we will be following their development with great interest
20:36
Speaker 1: and seeing tracking that eta ticker to the big leagues
20:39
Speaker 1: the final transaction from down on the farm i want
20:41
Speaker 1: to get into is jarlin susana posted on his instagram
20:44
Speaker 1: that he has been promoted to triple a rochester every
20:47
Speaker 1: time i see some film of this guy i start
20:49
Speaker 1: to get really excited spencer is this promotion any sort
20:53
Speaker 1: of indication that he might actually be in the big
20:55
Speaker 1: leagues in the next couple of weeks or is this
20:58
Speaker 1: more so just working him through the steps but man
21:01
Speaker 1: he the phrase you use that I love to steal
21:04
Speaker 1: is there's a lot to dream on there when there's
21:06
Speaker 1: a hundred mile per hour in the starting roading starting rotation.
21:11
Speaker 1: But we're not going to see in this season, are we?
21:15
Speaker 2: I don't think so. I hate to say this before,
21:19
Speaker 2: like I've reported it out per se. But what I
21:23
Speaker 2: will say is there's a pretty strong case against bringing
21:26
Speaker 2: them up to the major leagues this year. And it
21:28
Speaker 2: doesn't have to do with, 40-man time or anything like that.
21:31
Speaker 2: I think it just has to do with going through
21:33
Speaker 2: the steps of a pitcher's development where you think about
21:39
Speaker 2: what Harleen Susana has come up as. It is as
21:43
Speaker 2: a starter. And if he were rushed to the big
21:47
Speaker 2: leagues or pushed to the big leagues, could he theoretically
21:52
Speaker 2: start games? I guess. But there really wouldn't be much
21:57
Speaker 2: of a case to put him in the bullpen given
22:00
Speaker 2: the stress that would go on his arm, which, again,
22:03
Speaker 2: he is still recovering from an injury from last season.
22:07
Speaker 2: He is someone who, again, I think still needs to
22:10
Speaker 2: work on his command and maybe sharpen the control of
22:16
Speaker 2: some pitches for sure. And so I think, yeah, there's
22:19
Speaker 2: a case to maybe give him a taste of the
22:20
Speaker 2: big leagues in a relief role or something like that.
22:23
Speaker 2: But I wouldn't mess with a guy's plan And I
22:26
Speaker 2: also don't think if they don't have to throw him
22:29
Speaker 2: in before he's ready.
22:30
Speaker 3: I.
22:32
Speaker 2: Don't really see the case for it. But again, I'll
22:36
Speaker 2: probably dive into this in a story at some point
22:38
Speaker 2: in the near future. All right.
22:42
Speaker 1: Well, final segments or thoughts, I guess, from today. The
22:45
Speaker 1: Nationals have an off day today, an off day Thursday,
22:48
Speaker 1: and an off day next Thursday after it just seemed
22:50
Speaker 1: like there were no off days there. resuming after the
22:53
Speaker 1: all-star break but it's a funky two-game set against the
22:56
Speaker 1: Phillies and then they go off on the road take
22:58
Speaker 1: on the Cardinals and the Tigers in Detroit final thoughts
23:02
Speaker 1: I guess is I hope everyone's fantasy season is off
23:05
Speaker 1: to a better start than mine I know this is
23:07
Speaker 1: a baseball podcast but there's nothing worse I feel like
23:09
Speaker 1: than waking up or getting into the four o'clock games
23:12
Speaker 1: on Sunday and you already don't have a chance Spencer
23:15
Speaker 1: did you have a solid first week is it still
23:17
Speaker 1: up in the air tonight.
23:19
Speaker 2: No, I'm, I'm always awful at fantasy, but I would,
23:21
Speaker 2: I would point our viewers back to a, uh, quote
23:24
Speaker 2: from Juan Uribe from, I think about a decade ago, uh, as,
23:28
Speaker 2: as was tweeted out by my editor, Mark Corrig, who
23:30
Speaker 2: was a reporter at the time. Um, I don't know
23:33
Speaker 2: if I can say explicitly what Uribe said on air.
23:36
Speaker 2: I would just, uh, I would recommend folks to look
23:38
Speaker 2: up Juan Uribe, uh, football, and you will, uh, you
23:42
Speaker 2: will maybe find a lot of players, uh, thoughts on
23:45
Speaker 2: this part of the season, although many of them were, uh,
23:47
Speaker 2: tuned into their fantasy teams after yesterday's game.
23:51
Speaker 1: Well, we will be back a later episode this week.
23:55
Speaker 1: Until then, take care of yourselves, everyone, and drop those
23:57
Speaker 1: questions down below. I want to see what you all
24:00
Speaker 1: are thinking about the Nationals and we can go through
24:02
Speaker 1: those thoughts. Until then, take care of yourselves.
24:04
Speaker 2: Peace.