Nationals Futures Game:
“We are extremely grateful to our Washington, D.C. fans for their continued support and can’t wait for them to see some of the players who will make up our next championship roster,” Baseball Operations said. & the president said. GM Mike Rizzo had this to say in a press release about today’s Nationals Futures game between players still on the major league roster and top prospects in the organization. “Players like James Wood, Dylan Cruz, Brady House, Robert Hassell. [III] It’s certainly garnered a lot of attention, and once fans get a chance to see the full lineup of young players in our system, there’s even more reason to be optimistic about where we’re headed. Dew. ”
“People think they know our prospects by name and stuff,” Rizzo told reporters this winter.
“But they know some of the more popular ones. We have a good, deep system with exciting players who are going to thrive there, it’s going to be fun for them to play and we It’s going to be fun to sit back and watch, and it’s going to be great for fans to finally have a name on a face and be able to track something all season long in the minor leagues. is.”
Davey Martinez said he was excited for fans in the nation’s capital to see all of the club’s top players in person on a major league stage.
“I think it’s fun for myself, the coaching staff and even the fans to catch young prospects.
“We caught a lot, so I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” the manager explained.
“I think it’s going to be a fun match,” Rizzo added. “I think it’s going to be great for the fans, that’s why I was so committed to it. I think the fans love to see young players like everyone has read about, and I think they love to see them in a major league ballpark, in a major league ballpark.” I think it’s going to be fun to watch them play against each other and I think it’s going to be great interaction between the new players and the veterans. It’s going to be good for them. I think it’s a win-win for everyone. I think it’s going to be an exciting day.”
Rizzo, Martinez, and the rest of the club’s coaches and scouts closely watched every prospect in major league camp this spring as they played out the Grapefruit League game schedule, and D.C.’s GM and captain were impressed with the results. It is said that he received it. They saw the growth they saw from the top young prospects in the system like Wood and Crews.
“There’s no panic in their system at all. Nothing is too big for them,” GM and Director of Baseball Mike Rizzo said of either or both of the top prospects leaving the club for the last time in spring training. When asked about the possibility of getting out, he said: Over the weekend, both were assigned to minor league camp, and this week Wood and Crews were assigned to Triple-A and Double-A, respectively.
“The most important thing in my mind is,” Rizzo explained when speaking with MLB Network Radio hosts Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette. Or the amount of velocity there is.
“They have a really calming presence. They really have a major league routine already and that’s important and they’ve performed really well.”
“They’re not afraid of big moments and they stay in the moment,” Martinez told reporters. Quoted by MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato after the game.:
“They were both very calm, they knew what they had to do there, and they did a great job.”
Wood, Cruz and the Nats’ top prospects will gather at Nationals Park today to face the expected opening day clubs (though some things are still to be determined).
It all starts at 12:05 PM ET.
Also:
Every year around this time, we are asked to preview a season or two for our fellow SB Nation site managers. This time it was the Good Fight (Phillies) people.
We’ll be answering questions about the 2024 Nationals and posting them today.
At the moment we have one Q and one A. We will post a link to the entire exchange once it is published on the site.
Q: The Nationals are rebuilding, but they still have some interesting players on the team, including CJ Abrams. He made swing changes that saved his season last year. What else does Abrams need to do to take another step forward in growth?
A: Was it a move to the leadoff position? There he was more comfortable and responded to the responsibility, staying in the plane, staying on top of the ball with his swing, narrowing the strike zone and not forcing it out of the so-called “.” “Happy Zone”, would you like to catch up on a fastball or catch a breaking ball? Was last year the moment he realized this was his team and he was going to be the leader of the next generation of Nationals? All of the above?
Abrams made a huge leap forward over the course of last summer. If he can continue to improve his strike zone discipline, he can continue to grow as a defender (I think he got more comfortable at shortstop last year as well), and if he can continue to steal bases and stir things up at the top. Hopefully, with a change in the lineup, he could have an even bigger impact than he did last season. And since he’s only 23 years old, there’s reason to think he’s still developing into the player he ultimately becomes. As we all know in Philadelphia (love Trea, right?), the Padres did both teams a great service by trading shortstops. ”