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While making a point to say every hitter on his roster will have his own strengths and weaknesses and individualized game plans, Matt Borgschulte does believe in an overarching philosophy as the Nationals’ new hitting coach. And it really gets to the entire point of the game of baseball.
“The goal of the offense is to score runs,” he said. “And we’re going to value every aspect of hitting that we can to maximize that run scoring potential of the offense. Whether that’s hitting the ball over the fence, in the gap and driving for extra bases, or whether that’s taking a good at-bat, taking our walks and really owning the zone.”
Officially hired last month, Borgschulte fits the basic profile of manager Blake Butera’s new coaching staff. Like so many others he’s now working with in the big leagues, he never actually played in the big leagues. And at 35, he’s still extremely young, potentially younger than one or more of his players if the Nats end up signing a veteran or two free agents before spring training.
But Borgschulte does have something Butera and many others on the staff do not have: Actual MLB coaching experience. He spent 2022-24 as the Orioles’ co-hitting coach with Ryan Fuller. Then he spent the 2025 season as the Twins’ hitting coach, losing that job after manager Rocco Baldelli was fired.
In Baltimore, he oversaw an incredibly young but talented lineup that included Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Jackson Holliday, one that ranked among the most productive units in baseball while winning 101 games in 2023 and 91 games in 2024.
In D.C., Borgschulte will already have an appreciation for the challenge these young hitters have in their first extended stretch in the majors.
“They’re trying to do it at the highest level, which makes it extremely difficult,” he said. “So learning about that process is something I’ll continue to take with me.”
The Nationals’ lineup, while often inconsistent, flashed plenty of potential last season. The club ranked 20th in the majors in runs, 21st in hits, 24th in homers, 25th in on-base percentage and 23rd in slugging percentage. James Wood enjoyed a titanic first half before slumping after his first career All-Star appearance. CJ Abrams also played like an All-Star early only to struggle late. Rookie Daylen Lile was a revelation down the stretch. Fellow rookies Dylan Crews and Brady House, meanwhile, did not live up to their elite potential.
Borgschulte has already been in touch with just about everyone on the roster, and he has come away with a positive impression of the group.
“A couple things that stick out are the competitiveness and the desire that these guys have, not just to be good players, but to continue to get better,” he said. “It’s really exciting for me to hear guys that are really interested in improving and wanting to be the best. Not just better, but the best. Those are the kind of players you want to work with.”
His two biggest challenges to elevate these young hitters to another level: Get them to hit more balls in the air instead of on the ground, and get them to chase fewer pitches out of the strike zone.
The Nationals actually hit the ball quite hard last season, ranking eighth in the majors with a 42.1 percent hard-hit rate. But they hit way too many of those well-struck balls on the ground, with an MLB-worst 9.9-degree average launch angle.
“We’re going to be developing player plans for each of these guys to help them improve in the areas they need to,” Borgschulte said. “Several of them will have an emphasis on trying to hit more balls on a line in the air to produce the results that we want.”
One tried-and-tried way to help create better contact in the air, of course, is to swing at better pitches. The Nationals chased 29 percent of pitches out of the zone last season, ranking 20th in the majors. Even more than laying off balls, Borgschulte wants them to focus on which strikes they swing at.
“We don’t want to attack the pitcher’s pitches on the corners,” he said. “Those are pitches that are going to be really challenging to put in play hard. As well as laying off those pitches, it sets us up to take the chase pitch and force them to the middle. We get into better counts. We make better decisions. And we have more guys on base, force the pitcher to make more pitches and so on and so forth to help the team offensively.”
