Nats want Young to keep running in spite of decreased rate of success

LOS ANGELES – It’s easy to overlook now, because of the ultimately lopsided nature of Sunday’s game, but the Nationals and Dodgers were actually engaged in a tight, closely played contest into the seventh inning.

Even after Jose A. Ferrer served up Max Muncy’s grand slam in the bottom of the sixth, the Nats only trailed 4-3, with plenty of opportunity left to make up that slim deficit. And when Jacob Young drew a one-out walk in the top of the seventh, with the top of the lineup now due to bat, they looked like they might be in business.

What transpired next was unfortunately the latest in a growing list of baserunning gaffes by the Nationals. Young took off for second, hoping to steal the base and put himself in scoring position for CJ Abrams. And he beat Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing’s throw and shortstop Mookie Betts’ tag.

Except for one key point: Young overslid the bag, and because Betts held the tag throughout the entire process, Young was called out, killing the Nats’ positive momentum at a crucial point in the game.

The speedy center fielder (who scraped up his right hand but was able to finish the game) defended his decision to run against Los Angeles lefty Anthony Banda in that spot but conceded his mistake at the end of the play.

“There’s nothing wrong with the decision there: He picked over twice, I got a great jump, beat the throw by plenty,” he said. “Just hard ground, and I wasn’t able to catch the base on my slide.”

Young noted that the infield dirt at Dodger Stadium is harder than in most ballparks, and that’s especially true during afternoon games when the sun beats down on the field and dries everything out.

“Day games, you’ve got to be better about sticking the bag,” he said. “They have hard a surface anyway, and it doesn’t help when it’s super-hot outside and it dries up.”

Davey Martinez likewise defended the stolen base attempt trailing 4-3 in the seventh inning, with the top of the lineup coming up to bat.

“I want him to steal in that spot, down a run,” the manager said. “But I also want him to stay on the base. He had the base stolen easy. He just overslid.”

This has become something of a recurring problem for Young, though. He has failed to keep contact with the base several times on recent attempts, and that has left him with some unsightly numbers to consider.

When he first came up to the big leagues late in the 2023 season, Young quickly showed off not only his elite speed but also his smart baserunning, allowing him to go a perfect 25-for-25 on stolen base attempts to begin his career.

Since then, it’s become a real problem. Young is now just 26 for his last 44, a success rate of only 59 percent. The leaguewide average is 77 percent.

He’s now only 5-for-13 this season, unsuccessful on each of his last five tries dating back more than a month.

Young believes his recent struggles have involved oversliding situations comparable to what happened Sunday: “It doesn’t have anything to do with the throw, or me getting a bad jump.” But he does acknowledge that wasn’t the case for a long stretch prior to that, when he was getting thrown out far too many times.

“I thought there was something to be said about my jumps early (in the season). I don’t think they were great,” he said. “So I started to work on that and took a harder look into that. But recently, I don’t think it’s been the jump at all. I’ve got to be able to find a way to stick on the bag. You’ve got to finish the play through like that.”

At some point, you’d think the Nationals would just put up the stop sign and not even give Young the option of running. But they still believe his natural speed and prior track record of success are worth using to their advantage, and so the green light will remain for him in most situations.

“I’m going to keep on going,” Young said. “It’s part of my game, and I believe I can steal off anybody with a good jump. Keep on going, and just find a way to stick on the bag.”