Mark Zuckerman

We are 12 days into summer training at Nationals Park, and we're now only eight days from opening night against the Yankees. (Wow, that happened quick, didn't it?) Though they've accomplished a lot over these last 12 days, the Nationals still have a lot to straighten out before they're playing for real. That includes getting Juan Soto, Victor Robles and Howie Kendrick in camp for the first time. It includes lineup decisions, rotation decisions and 30-man roster decisions. I know it's been...

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Nats try out new extra-inning rule, get hitting coach back

July 14, 2020, 4:08pm

Nationals

Nats try out new extra-inning rule, get hitting coach back

Tonight's workout at Nationals Park featured a parade of relief pitchers, a trial run of baseball's new extra-inning rule and the return of a key member of the coaching staff. Rather than put two separate teams on the field that switched sides every half-inning like they did Monday, the Nationals mixed and matched their defensive players and batters throughout the hour-long intrasquad game. No starting pitchers participated because they need to build in a day between Max Scherzer (who starts...

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Catcher-umpire relationship faces new tests this season

July 14, 2020, 1:49pm

Nationals

Catcher-umpire relationship faces new tests this season

Baseball, more than most team sports, naturally creates social distance. There aren't many circumstances that bring people together in close quarters for more than a second or two during a specific play. With one major exception: The catcher and the plate umpire. For all the extensive changes and protocols Major League Baseball is putting in place to protect everyone on the field during a game, there isn't much that can be done about the need to have an umpire peering over the catcher's...

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Nats make their own intensity during quiet intrasquad game

July 13, 2020, 8:34pm

Nationals

Nats make their own intensity during quiet intrasquad game

They wore jerseys with names and numbers on them for the first time in four months, one team in red tops and gray pants, the other in all white. They played music between innings from a large speaker near the dugout. They sent two big league starters to the mound for this five-inning intrasquad matchup, but didn't have enough available position players to fill both lineups after one had to be scratched due to a "contact lens issue." So they were forced to use a minor league coach as the...

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Suero, ElÃas placed on IL for undisclosed reasons (updated)

July 13, 2020, 3:24pm

Nationals

Suero, ElÃas placed on IL for undisclosed reasons (updated)

The Nationals placed relievers Wander Suero and Roenis ElÃas on the injured list this evening, the first such transactions the club has made involving any of the eight players who had yet to be cleared to participate in summer training. No reason for Suero and ElÃas' placement on the IL was provided, but neither pitcher has been present through the first 11 days of at workouts at Nationals Park, both required to remain in quarantine. "I can't say anything about that," manager Davey...

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With family's blessing, Hudson sets out to duplicate 2019

July 13, 2020, 2:01pm

Nationals

With family's blessing, Hudson sets out to duplicate 2019

Daniel Hudson need not prove to anyone his commitment to family over baseball. This is the guy, of course, who missed Game 1 of last fall's National League Championship Series so he could fly home to Phoenix and be with his wife, Sara, as she gave birth to the couple's third daughter. So it should come as no surprise to learn that Daniel and Sara thought long and hard about their plan for the abbreviated 2020 season and whether it was worth the risk for the veteran reliever to leave the rest...

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Nats shift to evening workout schedule this week

July 12, 2020, 9:03pm

Nationals

Nats shift to evening workout schedule this week

The Nationals can't do anything about the scarcity of exhibition games permitted by Major League Baseball - only three per team - before opening night, so they're left to try to get more creative in creating game-like situations for players during the rest of summer training. So far, the most they've done is hold informal, intrasquad games each afternoon. Most of these have lasted only four innings, with fairly lax rules. They'll start to get more serious this week, though, with a change...

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Starters believe they'll be ready for 90-100 pitches by opener

July 12, 2020, 10:33am

Nationals

Starters believe they'll be ready for 90-100 pitches by opener

Max Scherzer threw 48 pitches over three innings on Wednesday. Stephen Strasburg and Erick Fedde followed Friday with three innings apiece. Patrick Corbin duplicated that feat Saturday afternoon. And today, AnÃbal SÃ¡nchez topped everybody by totaling 65 pitches over four mostly sparkling innings in an intrasquad game at Nationals Park. It's impossible to know how any of that will translate to actual performance once the actual games begin late next week. But for now, the simple fact all...

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Taking a crack at a 30-man opening day roster

July 11, 2020, 7:17pm

Nationals

Taking a crack at a 30-man opening day roster

It's hard to believe the Nationals open the 2020 season in 11 days, but here we are. Barring a calamitous event - and, unfortunately, calamity must remain within the realm of possibility - Max Scherzer and company are going to take the field shortly after 7 p.m. on July 23 to face the Yankees and kick off this unprecedented baseball season. And there's a whole lot the Nats still need to figure out between now and then. Like who's going to make the opening night roster. Keep in mind, all...

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Nats preparing for opener with or without missing regulars

July 11, 2020, 11:27am

Nationals

Nats preparing for opener with or without missing regulars

As each day passes with no change in the status of several prominent Nationals players who have not yet been cleared to participate in summer training, the club moves a step closer to confronting a dilemma that may pale in comparison to matters of greater significance in the world right now but does matter to the defending World Series champs. What happens if Juan Soto, Victor Robles and Howie Kendrick aren't ready for opening night? It's a delicate subject, because the health of those three...

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More than one factor to consider in No. 5 starter choice

July 10, 2020, 8:09pm

Nationals

More than one factor to consider in No. 5 starter choice

The Nationals' chances for success in a 60-game season would seem to be bolstered by their top-of-the-line rotation. It's the backbone upon which they built a championship last year and how they've always intended to make a run at another title this year, no matter the length of the schedule. And in Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin and AnÃbal SÃ¡nchez, they've got as good a starting quartet as there is in the majors. They, of course, won't be making it through this...

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Nats try to make most of limited games, MLB releases test results

July 10, 2020, 9:50am

Nationals

Nats try to make most of limited games, MLB releases test results

With only three true exhibition games on their schedule, the Nationals aren't going to get much of an opportunity to build themselves up into regular season shape before opening night arrives July 23. They have to make the most of whatever game-like situations they can draw up in the meantime, such as today's four-inning intrasquad contest at Nationals Park. "I don't feel like these guys are not going to be ready or not be prepared for what's to come," manager Davey Martinez said. "I...

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Entering "uncharted waters," Strasburg seeks healthy 2020

July 09, 2020, 9:06pm

Nationals

Entering "uncharted waters," Strasburg seeks healthy 2020

Stephen Strasburg had spent the better part of a decade learning how best to prepare for - and then thrive in - a 162-game baseball season. And after years of fine-tuning and injuries and hopeful stretches following by disappointing conclusions, he figured it out at last. Strasburg's 2019 season was the perfect culmination of a career spent tinkering. He led the league in innings pitched. He led the league in wins. And he put together one of the great postseason runs of all-time, earning World...

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Castro joins camp, Nats thinking about piping in crowd noise

July 09, 2020, 1:27pm

Nationals

Castro joins camp, Nats thinking about piping in crowd noise

The Nationals got one of their key absent regulars into camp today, encouraged to see Starlin Castro in person at last while still waiting for several others to be cleared to participate in summer training. Castro, projected to be the club's new second baseman and potentially No. 3 hitter, hadn't been allowed to come to Nationals Park upon first arriving from the Dominican Republic. Team officials have not been able to provide specific details related to players' absences during the first...

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2021 schedule announced, Nats to host Mets in opener

July 09, 2020, 9:30am

Nationals Orioles

2021 schedule announced, Nats to host Mets in opener

They aren't 100 percent sure they'll be able to start and complete the 2020 season yet, but Major League Baseball is already moving forward with plans for the 2021 season, releasing next year's schedule two weeks before this unprecedented campaign is set to begin. The Nationals are scheduled to host the Mets on opening day, which falls on April 1. Their opening homestand features three games apiece with division rivals New York and Atlanta. The Nats then hit the road and will serve as the...

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Extended break gave Kieboom chance to fix some glitches

July 08, 2020, 8:10pm

Nationals

Extended break gave Kieboom chance to fix some glitches

When last we saw him on a baseball field, nearly four long months ago, Carter Kieboom was under an intense spotlight. And feeling the heat more often than not. The Nationals' top hitting prospect, Kieboom was trying to prove he was ready to replace Anthony Rendon as the club's starting third baseman, despite precious little experience at the position. His performances through one month of spring training, both in exhibition games and on back fields, suggested he was far from comfortable at...

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At least three Nats pitchers not cleared for workouts yet

July 08, 2020, 11:40am

Nationals

At least three Nats pitchers not cleared for workouts yet

Three Nationals pitchers were confirmed today as having not participated in summer training yet, joining a group of five position players who have not yet been seen by reporters on the field through the first four workouts at Nationals Park. Pitchers Wander Suero, Roenis ElÃas and Joan Adon have not been cleared to join the rest of the club for summer training at Nationals Park, Davey Martinez acknowledged today, though the manager added each has tested negative for COVID-19. Suero and Adon...

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60-game schedule won't produce fair pennant race

July 07, 2020, 8:40pm

Nationals

60-game schedule won't produce fair pennant race

A 162-game season separates the great teams from the good teams, the good teams from the average teams, the average teams from the bad teams, the bad teams from the truly wretched teams. A 60-game season in which everybody's playing different schedules? Probably not. As foolish as it may be right now to look ahead three months and try to deduce how a season as tenuous as this one is might play out, it's worth at least a little bit of examination. Because even though Major League Baseball will...

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Work ramps up in D.C. as second camp opens in Fredericksburg

July 07, 2020, 12:58pm

Nationals

Work ramps up in D.C. as second camp opens in Fredericksburg

As the regular season creeps closer - opening night versus the Yankees is 16 days away - the Nationals are starting to ramp up baseball activities following an initial period of light individual work to begin summer training. This morning, all available position players were on the field together for the first time since March 12. With multiple players at each position, they ran through the kind of defensive fundamental drills that are a daily staple of spring training but stand out right now...

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Nats return to work, still waiting for several players to be cleared

July 07, 2020, 10:08am

Nationals

Nats return to work, still waiting for several players to be cleared

The Nationals returned to work today, and they did so in a manner we hadn't yet seen during these first days of summer training. Every available position player was on the field at Nationals Park at the same time this morning, coaches hitting balls to various outfielders so they could work on relay throws. At the same time, a few pitchers were throwing in the bullpen. It looked, for all intents and purposes, like a normal workout day. "It was a good day, it really was," manager Davey...