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NEW YORK – Two rehabbing Nationals took important steps in their respective recoveries yesterday at Citi Field.
Derek Law, recovering from right forearm inflammation, threw a 25-pitch simulated game, with Paul DeJong, recovering from a fractured nose after being hit in the face with a fastball, stepping into the batter’s box against him. Law’s fastball topped out at 93 mph, while he also mixed in his slider and changeup, per manager Davey Martinez.
It was the first time Law has thrown a simulated game against live hitters since spring training, when he was shut down near the end of camp when he felt that his body wasn’t recovering as it would normally. Speaking in front of his locker this morning, the right-handed reliever said he feels good the day after throwing off the mound.
“It was great. For me, the main thing was the recovery aspect,” he said before today’s finale against the Mets. “That was the issue in spring. It wasn't necessarily ramping up. I could always get there. But after those first couple of ones in spring, I needed every bit of, probably, three days to recover. And that was kind of the main issue. Moving forward today, I feel great. The bounceback was there, which, obviously, you need that as a reliever. So I was just really happy with that, mostly. The stuff was there. I need a little bit of fine tuning, probably. But I still have a couple of lives to go, and probably two, maybe three rehab games. I don't know, depending on how I feel. But yeah, everything is good. Recovery is good.”
This injury popped up in March after Law pitched to a 2.80 ERA and 1.178 WHIP in 90 innings over 75 appearances in 2024, by far the most he’s pitched in a single season in his eight-year career, in terms of both innings and games. That workload might have taken a toll on the 34-year-old, as his body failed to recover properly while he was getting ready for this season, a sensation that he finds difficult to put into words.
“It's hard to explain,” Law said. “I was trying to think of a good way to explain it. But as a reliever, you just kind of know how your body reacts. And especially like in the offseason stuff, the buildup process and to get where you need to get to, where you want to be used every day. And again, it's kind of hard to explain. You kind of just wake up and you know I could throw today. In spring, when I was throwing, I was waking up and I was like, there's absolutely no chance. Like, there's no chance. And I was getting up and doing it and trying to do it, and it was miserable. But I thought maybe I could get over the hump, possibly, with the staff. But they've been great, the training staff. But yeah, I woke up today and I was like, 'Oh man, we're back!' Like, 'We're good, we're good!' So that was kind of refreshing to wake up and not necessarily feel the aches and pains that I was feeling, which was awesome.”
Law will throw two more sim games on Saturday and Tuesday back at Nationals Park, still aiming to throw 20-25 pitches in each. If those go well, he hopes to then pitch in two or three minor league rehab assignments before determining if he’s finally ready to join the major league club for the first time this season.
“I think it's still a little bit revving up,” Law said of his goals in the upcoming sim games. “Obviously, I want to see how I recover. But I think going forward, after that first one, it should be good. I don't think there's gonna be a setback with that. It doesn't seem like it. So now it's like more focusing on my movements there. My pitch shapes are there. It's just kind of fine tuning where I want to throw it, where I need to throw it and finishing my pitches. Stuff like that. I'm a little rusty with that on a couple of them. The cutter was great. So I kind of just shut that down mid-live BP. I was like, 'Oh, that's good. We got that.' So I was just kind of throwing everything else and seeing where that was at. But it was good. It was good to have a hitter in there and feel like a baseball player again.”
Law has always been the type of pitcher that wants to pitch every day. He has joked with Martinez about being able to start games if needed, with the skipper joking he sometimes has to physically hold Law back from taking the mound on his scheduled off-days.
So it’s no surprise that the waiting has been one of the hardest parts during this process for Law.
“I've been at that point for a while now. The patience was running thin,” he said. “It's tough. You watch these guys go out there, especially the energy here. Like that first game is like, man, you just get the itch you want to play. There's good games going on in Seattle. Any time there's a close, good game, you're like, man, I just want to get back in there and get in the swing of things. It's been longer than I thought, of course. But I can kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel, which is really nice.”
As for DeJong, he recently was able to take swings in a batting cage, while using a new face protector flap on his batting helmet. But yesterday was the first time he stepped in a box to face an actual pitcher.
“It was good,” he said. “I got some views on some pitchers. I had the new protective helmet, which, honestly, I didn't even notice. So I felt that was a positive experience for me overall.”
DeJong was hit in the face by a fastball from Pirates pitcher Mitch Keller on April 15 and he hadn’t faced a live pitch since. Was there an initial shock to get over while stepping into the box again for the first time?
“I think it was pretty close to normal, just because of the way the setting was,” he said. “Like this was, two o'clock, no one's around, in a controlled environment. I think that was probably the best way for me to step in and see a pitch coming at me. And trusting Derek Law was throwing everything with a cut, or like a slider or cutter, so everything's going away from me.”
Like Law, the third baseman can see the light at the end of the tunnel. After another live batting practice, he would still need to get clearance from a doctor. But he has started building his body up more than he had since the injury.
“Hopefully, another live BP, and then I just gotta talk with the doctor again just to make sure that I'm cleared,” DeJong said. “But other than that, I'm just focused on building my body up every day with more and more physical activity that will replicate what I gotta do in the game.”
