While watching the first five Nationals games of the season, it’s hard not to notice how impressive a team is. The Nats give all the offseasons a boost, and batsmen seem willing to exchange some contacts to hit for more power. This is a great trade-off, but for now the strikeout is slightly out of control.
It’s a small sample size, but Leading baseball with strikeout rate32.8 k%, a jarring 32.8 k%. This is especially true last year, as the 20.4 k% baseball had the sixth lowest strikeout rate.
In the Nationals’ first five games, they attacked at least nine times in all five games, of which they went into double digits in four games. This is odd for teams that have been very focused on playing ball in recent years. Honestly, I like the fact that NAT is willing to strike out more in exchange for power.
This year was even more powerful. Yesterday was not a home run for the first time this season. Also, 18 of the 37 Nationals hits this season are seeking additional bases. Last year, the NAT had to put together a sustained rally to run on the board, but this year has been a much faster strike attack so far.
Despite being positive, strikeouts must go down. Josh Bell, Nathaniel Lowe, James Wood, Dylan Crew and Paul DeJohn are all Strike out At least a third. It is not a sustainable model for good attacks.
For people like Lowe, Wood and Crew, they feel very passive on the plate. They are constantly behind in the count very quickly with two strikes. The crew doesn’t seem to be hit, but patience is a big part of the Wood and Low game. There are fine lines between the patient and the passive, and these people need to find them. Wood in particular has started to appear to be looking at it too often. He’s young so I think he’ll find a way to improve his approach with two strikes.
Last year, the Nationals hit Homer, the second-least in baseball. It feels like Mike Rizzo, Davey Martinez and Darnell Coles are focusing on this offseason revision. The public not only brought power bats, but also changed their approach with the plate. They’re trying to deal damage rather than hitting singles. But there’s a trade-off that comes with this and we’re now seeing it in all the strikeouts.
It’s still very early in the season, so strikeouts inevitably come down. However, I think this damage-first approach will remain here. Compared to last season, we think we’ll see an increase in NAT strikeouts. I think the trade-offs are worth it in the long run, but NAT cannot play more than 30% of the time as a team in the future.
