After earning promotion with bat, House impressing with glove

MILWAUKEE – Brady House’s bat helped him earn his first promotion to make his major league debut about a month ago. But it’s his glove at third base that’s impressed the most so far over his first 21 big league games.

House slashed .304/.353/.519 with an .873 OPS, 15 doubles, 13 home runs and 41 RBIs in 65 games with Triple-A Rochester before getting the call on June 16. And while the bat is slowly coming around at the major league level, his defense at the hot corner has been the best the Nationals have received at the hot corner this year.

“I'm feeling good. I'm just trying to attack everything that kind of comes my way,” House said before today’s game against the Brewers. “That's kind of helped out a little bit with that mindset. Just once it's hit, try to come up and get it, unless it's hit hard. But yeah, just trying to attack it and not let the ball attack me.”

The 22-year-old was a first-round pick out of high school in 2021, largely because he was scouted as one of, if not the, best prep bats in that draft class. A shortstop in school, many thought his 6-foot-4, 208-pound frame was a better fit at third base. And although he said he wished to stay at short after he was selected 11th overall, the Nationals quickly moved their top prospect over to be their third baseman of the future.

“He's special. He can play defense, and you can see that,” said interim manager Miguel Cairo. “Last year, when I first got here for my first year as the bench coach for the Nationals, the improvement from one year to another one has been amazing. He's still, what, 22, 23? He's still a young player. And he's elite. To me, he's an elite third baseman every day over there.”

In just 186 innings, House is already tied for fourth on the Nats with 2 Defensive Runs Saved, per FanGraphs, the most by anyone who has played third base for the team this year. His 1.3 Defensive Rating ranks fourth on the team, but of the three players ahead of him, only Jacob Young has played more innings. House has almost 100 more innings than Nasim Nuñez at short (1.8) and 76 more innings than Paul DeJong at third (2.1).

“It definitely feels a lot better,” House said of his defensive adjustment at the major league level. “I don't know … it just varies. But yeah, I'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable and trying to get adjusted the best that I can. Just take every day as it comes.”

Last night, House made two nifty plays at the hot corner that flashed his progress in the field. He made a nice backhanded grab and throw to get Christian Yelich out at first and end a scoreless first inning. Then he made a barehanded grab and throw for the out at first on Caleb Durbin’s bunt attempt leading off the fourth.

House said he has leaned on shortstop CJ Abrams and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe a lot to help with his defensive adjustments.

“It's been great, yeah,” he said. “Just talking with those guys and then being able to play in the same infield as them has been awesome. So I enjoy it. I enjoy getting out there every day and playing with them.”

* Dylan Crews took live batting practice on the field for the second straight day while working back from his oblique injury. He also participated in all fielding drills with the outfielders. But Cairo said the Nats are still being patient with him with no real update on the outfielder’s timeline.

“He hit on the field yesterday. He told me that he feels good,” the interim skipper said. “He threw. He's been working. Today he's gonna hit again. He's getting there. We just got to be patient and make sure. You don't want to go back or re-injure. That's kind of serious, the oblique and his lower back. We want to make sure he's 100 percent before he comes back.”

* Keibert Ruiz, back on the seven-day concussion injured list, has continued to work out and started hitting off a tee. But like Crews, Cairo didn’t have a specific timeline for the catcher’s return.

“He did his workout. He's feeling better,” Cairo said. “He started hitting off the tee. But we're gonna be careful. We're gonna be careful with him. When this is his career, his health is first. We're going to make sure that he's 100 percent, and make sure he's ready to go.”