Nationals select pitcher Jackson Rutledge with No. 17 pick

Nationals select pitcher Jackson Rutledge with No. 17 pick
The Nationals selected Texas junior college right-hander Jackson Rutledge with the No. 17 selection in the first round of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft. The 6-foot-8, 250-lb. Rutledge is rated as the No. 12 prospect in MLBPipeline.com's Top 200 prospects list. Rutledge features a 94-97 mph fastball that touches 99 mph, has a wipeout slider and a curveball with the classic 12-to-6 drop. Rutledge verbally committed to the University of Kentucky for baseball and hails from a suburb of St....

Nationals offense major part of recent 7-2 run

Nationals offense major part of recent 7-2 run
CINCINNATI - The Nationals are in their best groove so far this season, winning seven of their last nine games. They have won three series in a row for the first time this season: 3-1 versus the Marlins, 2-0 against the Braves and 2-1 versus the Reds. The Dodgers beat the Phillies again, so the Nats, at 26-33, are seven games back in the National League East. The Nats still have a significant mountain to climb, because the Braves and Mets are not going away either, but Washington has to be...

Scherzer grunts his way to a vintage 15-strikeout win

Scherzer grunts his way to a vintage 15-strikeout win
CINCINNATI - Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer started off well Sunday, striking out five in a row at one point, holding the Reds without a base hit through three innings. Then he finished in another world. Scherzer ended up firing eight strong innings, grunting all the way and punching out a season-high 15 batters in a start where he threw a season-high 120 pitches as the Nationals won the series by beating the Reds 4-1. Scherzer put on a vintage performance, allowing only one walk on three...

Martinez on Scherzer, Rodney, Taylor and more (Nats win 4-1)

Martinez on Scherzer, Rodney, Taylor and more (Nats win 4-1)
CINCINNATI - Right-hander Max Scherzer is 4-1 versus the Reds in his career and 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two career starts at Great American Ball Park. But the Nationals are 2-10 in his starts this season. Nationals manager Davey Martinez does not read too much into these trends for Scherzer, good or bad. "It's an anomaly in baseball," Martinez said. "One thing I know about Scherzer, he goes out there and competes every outing, so I'm 100 percent guaranteed that's what he's going to do...

Game 59 lineups: Nats at Reds (Rodney inks minors deal)

Game 59 lineups: Nats at Reds (Rodney inks minors deal)
CINCINNATI - The Nationals have agreed to terms on a minor league deal with veteran reliever Fernando Rodney, who began the season with the A's, according to broadcast reports. Rodney will report to Triple-A Fresno. Craig Mish of FNTSY Sports Radio was first to announce the signing. Rodney, 42, struggled to an 0-2 record with a 9.42 ERA in 17 games with the A's, but Oakland manager Bob Melvin believes the hurler still has something left in the tank. "He's still throwing upwards of 95...

Parra proving to be valuable mentor for Soto and Robles

Parra proving to be valuable mentor for Soto and Robles
CINCINNATI - It was a great scene caught by the MASN cameras during the Atlanta series at SunTrust Park earlier this week. Eleven-year veteran Gerardo Parra was seen sitting on the top bench of the visitors dugout during the Nationals' matchup with the Braves, having a conversation with second-year outfielder Juan Soto. Parra has gladly taken on the responsibility of mentoring Latin teammates Soto and Victor Robles: talking baseball, their young lives in the game, and focusing on outfield...

Tanner beats Tanner as Nats right the series with 5-2 win over Reds

Tanner beats Tanner as Nats right the series with 5-2 win over Reds
CINCINNATI - Tanner had a big influence in deciding the Nationals' 5-2 win over the Reds Saturday at Great American Ball Park. Both of them. In December of 2018, the Nationals traded starting pitcher Tanner Roark to the Reds for reliever Tanner Rainey. Saturday in Cincinnati they played against each other on the same field. Gerardo Parra cranked a three-run homer and Matt Adams slammed a solo shot off Roark (4-4), who spent six seasons with the Nats. The pair came in with excellent splits...

News on Fedde, Zimmerman, Rosenthal and Adams (Nats win 5-2)

News on Fedde, Zimmerman, Rosenthal and Adams (Nats win 5-2)
CINCINNATI - Nationals manager Davey Martinez is looking for right-hander Erick Fedde to continue to build off his last two outings today in the Queen City in his first-ever start against the Reds. Fedde threw 83 pitches over five innings May 26 in earning his first win of the season, a 9-6 victory over the Marlins. In that game, the former UNLV standout scattered four hits over five shutout innings with three walks and four strikeouts. He also went five innings May 21 and allowed only one run...

Game 58 lineups: Nats at Reds

Game 58 lineups: Nats at Reds
CINCINNATI - The amazing run of Juan Soto continues. Even in a 9-3 series-opening loss against the Reds Friday night, Soto delivered with a single, a double and a homer, finishing with two of the Nationals' three RBIs. The left fielder is hitting .533 (16-for-30) with three doubles, one triple, three homers, eight RBIs, six walks and 13 runs scored in his last eight games. "He works on not only hitting but his overall game," said Nationals manager Davey Martinez. "He's getting better. I...

More on Turner's finger, Corbin's slider and the Nats bullpen

More on Turner's finger, Corbin's slider and the Nats bullpen
CINCINNATI - Trace the Nationals' season back to before shortstop Trea Turner broke his right index finger. Turner broke the finger when getting hit by a pitch in the first inning of the fourth game of the season on a pitch by Phillies right-hander Zach Eflin. Prior to that play, Turner was setting himself up for a very good season. He may still be able to get to that great season with more than 100 games to play, but that moment certainly placed an unfortunate detour on an incredibly positive...

Corbin's off day helps Reds roll up big first inning, drop Nats 9-3

Corbin's off day helps Reds roll up big first inning, drop Nats 9-3
CINCINNATI - It took one game for left-hander Patrick Corbin to go from his best start of the season to his worst. On May 25 at Nats Park, Corbin tossed a complete-game, four-hit shutout in a 5-0 Nationals dispatch of the Marlins. It was his fifth win out of seven decisions. He struck out five and walked one. But Friday night at Great American Ball Park, the Reds were not going for Corbin's patented slider and rolled to eight runs in the first three innings to coast to a 9-3 win over the...

Roark excited about chance to face old team Saturday (Nats fall 9-3)

Roark excited about chance to face old team Saturday (Nats fall 9-3)
CINCINNATI - On Wednesday, former Braves starter Aníbal Sánchez pitched for his new team, the Nationals, in a 14-4 win in Atlanta. Sánchez tossed 5 1/3 perfect innings to earn his first victory of the season. On Saturday afternoon here, the tables will be turned, as former Nationals starter Tanner Roark gets the chance to pitch against Washington for the first time since he was traded in the offseason. Roark went to the Reds in exchange for reliever Tanner Rainey Dec. 12. "It's going...

Game 57 lineups: Nats at Reds

Game 57 lineups: Nats at Reds
CINCINNATI - After a day off, the Nationals arrive in Cincinnati for three games in a weekend series at the Great American Ballpark. The Nats swept the Atlanta Braves at SunTrust Park 5-4 and 14-4 to improve to 24-32, and have now won five of their last six games. It is the first time since April 10 the Nats have won two series in a row. At the start of play today, the Nats are nine games in back of the first-place Phillies in the National League East and six games out of a wild-card...

Denaburg doing well, but starting point for summer yet to be announced

Denaburg doing well, but starting point for summer yet to be announced
With the season two months old, the Nationals No. 1 selection from last season, Mason Denaburg, is continuing to make good progress in West Palm Beach, Fla. The right-hander told me in March that he is 100 percent healthy. Nationals director of player development Mark Scialabba said that all systems are go for Denaburg. "He's in Florida pitching in our extended spring training camp and progressing well," Scialabba said. The latest update for Denaburg, 19, has him at full strength and...

With No. 17 pick in draft, Nats might move away from selecting a pitcher

With No. 17 pick in draft, Nats might move away from selecting a pitcher
Last year, the Nationals selected high school pitcher Mason Denaburg with the 27th overall selection in the First-Year Player Draft. The two-sport right-hander came into the draft recovering from biceps tendinitis, but hit the ground running in spring training. He was making very good progress and was healthy and strong in March. I sat down with him to talk about his experiences during first spring training experience. So would the Nationals go to a high school pitcher again with the 17th...

Notes on Bourque, Parra, Scherzer, Grace and Soto

Notes on Bourque, Parra, Scherzer, Grace and Soto
Nationals right-hander James Bourque had a day to think about his major league debut Sunday in the 9-6 win over the Marlins. He did allow a three-run double but also induced a 4-6-3 double play. He wished it had gone a bit better but was happy the Nats won the game. "I wasn't as nervous as I thought I'd be. I'm sure I looked it during the outing. Once I got on the mound and saw it was 60 feet, six inches away and the catcher and a plate, that was same thing. Just was getting a little rushed...

Two unearned runs late deny Scherzer the win again in 3-2 loss

Two unearned runs late deny Scherzer the win again in 3-2 loss
Right-hander Max Scherzer did his job again, keeping the Marlins from a big inning, but two unearned runs late were the deciding factor in a 3-2 Nationals loss on Memorial Day at Nats Park. It was too bad for Scherzer, because he was able to rebound from the last time he took on the Marlins in Miami, on April 20. The 9-3 loss that day was his worst outing of the season, in which he allowed seven runs (six earned) on 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings. This time the Marlins saw him well early on again,...

Marlins see Scherzer well early on again (Nats fall 3-2)

Marlins see Scherzer well early on again (Nats fall 3-2)
The Marlins have been able to see Nationals right-handed starter Max Scherzer fairly well to begin, connecting on five hits in the first three frames, with at least one single in each inning. Miami did the same thing to Scherzer in the teams' first meeting April 20 at Marlins Park, scoring three runs on six hits in the first three frames. The Marlins won that game 9-3. On Memorial Day, Neil Walker was 2-for-2 with an RBI single to score Garrett Cooper in the top of the third. Scherzer has...

Updates on Sánchez, Zimmerman, Doolittle and Rosenthal

Updates on Sánchez, Zimmerman, Doolittle and Rosenthal
One uncomfortable theme early in the season for the Nationals has been their inability to win when Max Scherzer starts, going 2-9 in those games. Scherzer has allowed two or fewer earned runs in six of those 11 starts, three or fewer earned runs in nine of those starts. In his first meeting with the Marlins April 20, Scherzer allowed a season-high seven runs (six earned) on 11 hits in a 9-3 loss. Manager Davey Martinez addressed the importance of playing well for Scherzer today as the club...

Game 54 lineups: Nats vs. Marlins

Game 54 lineups: Nats vs. Marlins
With Sunday's 9-6 win over the Miami Marlins, the Nationals have an opportunity for their first four-game series sweep of the season and their first four-game series winner since May 10-13, 2018 at Arizona. The last four-game sweep at home was April 30-May 3, 2018 over the Pirates. The last time the Nats swept a four-game set versus a divisional opponent was April 11-14, 2016 over the Braves. Outfielder Juan Soto continued his hitting run with another single in the ninth inning Sunday. His...