PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Sean Doolittle's primary goal in his first game action of spring training was to focus on his secondary pitches.
For a guy who usually makes hay with an array of rising fastballs, challenging hitters to square up a pitch they know is coming at them, that can be a tall order - especially when he hasn't faced hitters in a game yet this spring.
"I have some different grips I'm trying," he said after throwing a scoreless inning, fanning a pair and allowing a hit in a 3-1...
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - The calendar has turned to March and Ryan Zimmerman's line on the stat sheet is not full of zeros.
Zimmerman made his spring debut Thursday night and played first base again yesterday. Today, he's back in the lineup for his first back-to-back assignments of spring, a steppingstone that didn't bypass manager Davey Martinez like a car ignoring the speed limit on Interstate 95.
"I got Zim four at-bats in February," Martinez deadpanned this morning. "We got to look it...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Growth can manifest itself in many forms, and sometimes it takes only a few inches to portend increased development of a young ballplayer.
A few days ago, Nationals manager Davey Martinez was eyeballing a live batting practice session when he noticed something in the way one of the club's top prospects, infielder Luis GarcÃa, was preparing to hit.
Batting against a changeup pitcher, GarcÃa took a fastball for a strike before subtly adjusting his stance.
"Before...
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - The Nationals hit the road for a second straight day, facing the Mets at Clover Park with AnÃbal Sánchez taking the mound for his second spring start.
Facing the Cardinals in Jupiter on Feb. 25, Sánchez worked two innings, surrendering one run on two hits with no walks and two strikeouts.
In his second start, Sánchez is likely to increase his workload to three innings and/or about 50 pitches.
Among those pitching in relief today will be closer Sean Doolittle,...
JUPITER, Fla. - When Nationals manager Davey Martinez outlined his desire to delay Patrick Corbin's first Grapefruit League start until the beginning of the second week of exhibition games, the left-hander took the one-week deferral in stride.
"I actually didn't think too much about it," Corbin said. "I was told the 29th was my first game, but it was good. I think it was smart, a smart move, just with how much a lot of us did throw last year. Max (Scherzer) wanted to throw Game 1, so he...
JUPITER, Fla. - The Nationals are about to start getting a better look at the three pitchers who will form the back end of their bullpen in 2020.
Closer Sean Doolittle and setup man Daniel Hudson, neither of whom has pitched in a Grapefruit League game this spring while manager Davey Martinez slow-plays them into action, are both nearing their debuts.
Doolittle, a left-hander, has progressed through a side session, will get today off and is scheduled to pitch Sunday when the Nationals travel to...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - In some ways, Ryne Harper is like the new kid in class. The proverbial new kid doesn't know where the library is, isn't sure who to sit with at lunch and stands alone at the bus stop.
Harper might be new to the Nationals, traded from the Twins on Jan. 29 in exchange for minor league right-hander Hunter McMahon, but the 30-year-old who reached the majors for the first time last season is not new to changing teams.
This is the third time he's done so in his career....
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Ever the routine-oriented pragmatist, Stephen Strasburg found both good and bad in his first Grapefruit League start - and he took both in stride.
The good: He retired the first four batters he faced in order, striking out three of them.
The bad: The next four batters reached base, and Vidal Bruján's two-run double to center gave the Rays a 3-1 lead in the second inning en route to an 8-1 victory.
Strasburg wasn't able to escape the second frame, manager Davey...
JUPITER, Fla. - And then there was one.
When Patrick Corbin toes the rubber at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium against the Cardinals this afternoon, he'll become the last of the Nationals starting pitchers to pitch in a Grapefruit League game.
Manager Davey Martinez held back Corbin and Stephen Strasburg, who started yesterday against the Rays in West Palm Beach, as a way to compensate for the exceedingly long postseason that went through Oct. 30 and the club's victory over the Astros in the...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Ryan Zimmerman came through his first Grapefruit League game Thursday night unscathed and Nationals manager Davey Martinez expects to have the veteran first baseman back in the lineup tomorrow when the club travels to Jupiter to play the Cardinals.
"Typical soreness," Martinez said, "but he said he made it through."
Zimmerman has come a long way as a first basemen, learning the position from former teammate Adam LaRoche during spring training 2014 in Viera and taking...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The scruffy five o'clock shadow Jake Noll wore as a rookie has morphed into a full, flowing beard. It's noticeable because the chair at Noll's locker stall in the Nationals clubhouse faces outward, affording him a view of the room.
Last year's camp phenom looks a lot more comfortable in his second spring training with the major league club. He knows the routine, understands what's expected of him and no longer has the appearance of a deer caught in the...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Stephen Strasburg gets his first start of Grapefruit League play this afternoon, and you'll be able to watch the right-hander battle the Rays on MASN at 1 p.m.
Given that it's about a three-hour trek from the Rays' spring home in Port Charlotte on the state's west coast, there will only be a few major leaguers in the lineup facing Strasburg. So the first couple of innings will be the best chance to gauge Strasburg's effectiveness against actual major league...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - For his second Grapefruit League start, Max Scherer had simple goals. He wanted to build up his pitch count, and succeeded, throwing 49 pitches over three innings. He hoped to display better glove-side location with his fastball, something he and catcher Kurt Suzuki had talked about between starts.
Those were the things Scherzer could plan for. It was what he couldn't have anticipated - and what looked like a momentary loss of command during a top of the first that...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Ryan Zimmerman makes his Grapefruit League debut for the Nationals tonight, playing first base and hitting fifth against the Astros.
"I was scratching my head about it, but I talked to him and he said he'd like to play today, which is nice," said manager Davey Martinez, who is well aware of the veteran's penchant for delaying his spring debut as long as possible. "We'll see three innings and hopefully get him two at-bats."
Zimmerman came to Martinez a couple of...
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Right-hander Stephen Strasburg will make his first Grapefruit League start at home against the Rays on Friday, and lefty Patrick Corbin will take his first spring turn on Saturday when the Nationals travel to Jupiter to face the Cardinals.
Manager Davey Martinez has been slow-playing his veteran starters in the early portion of the exhibition schedule and said he expects both pitchers to go about two innings or 30 pitches in their first game action.
While Strasburg and...
Spring training is only 33 percent complete at this point. Two weeks have passed since pitchers and catchers reported to West Palm Beach. Four weeks remain until the Nationals face the Mets at Citi Field and officially begin their title defense.
So it's probably unfair to start drawing any conclusions yet. But it's not unfair to point out some things that appear to be going well at Nats camp and some things that appear not to be going so well.
With that in mind - and since I'm writing this...
TAMPA, Fla. - Joe Ross could be forgiven if he was feeling a bit antsy before taking the mound at Steinbrenner Field this afternoon for his long-awaited spring debut.
He thought he was going to pitch last weekend in West Palm Beach, and even warmed up to relieve Max Scherzer in the Grapefruit League opener, but watched the heavens open up and force the cancellation of the game. That led to an extra four days' wait before his turn came up again this afternoon.
But in order to pitch today, Ross...
TAMPA, Fla. - Davey Martinez has been talking about it much of the winter and through the first two weeks of the spring. Today the Nationals manager will finally see his unconventional lineup idea in action: Trea Turner is batting third against the Yankees.
It's not a perfect way to evaluate this lineup wrinkle, because only three players guaranteed to be in the opening day lineup (Turner, Victor Robles, Starlin Castro) made the 3 1/2-hour trip from West Palm Beach for today's exhibition...
TAMPA - The Nationals' spring relocation from Viera to West Palm Beach three years ago dramatically reduced the amount of time players have to spend on buses traveling to road games. But it didn't completely eliminate long trips from the Grapefruit League schedule.
Today the Nats make their longest trek of the spring, a full 204-mile jaunt across the state of Florida to Tampa, where they are scheduled to face the Yankees this afternoon. Scheduled, that is, weather permitting. There's rain...
JUPITER, Fla. - It was a home run off a minor league reliever on Feb. 25. It's not going to make Juan Soto any money or help the Nationals win any games that actually matter.
And yet it was impossible to watch Soto's blast off Cardinals right-hander Seth Elledge during Tuesday's 9-6 exhibition win and not react with the same astonishment and approval that accompanies any gargantuan blast by the 21-year-old star slugger.
Soto's homer, the first by a Nationals batter so far this spring, came...



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