LAKELAND, Fla. – Three-hour bus rides are less common in spring training now. But every once in a while, they pop up on the schedule to a collective groan from the clubhouse.

The Nationals have grown accustomed to playing a majority of their Grapefruit League games within a 45-minute drive of their West Palm Beach home over the past seven springs. But today they find themselves in Lakeland after a 6:45 a.m. bus departure and ahead of a three-hour trip back tonight.

These long trips usually bring a lot of minor league players, with veteran major leaguers able to stay back and get their work in at the home complex.

The Nats are essentially going with a bullpen game, even though most of today’s pitchers are being stretched out as starters. Chad Kuhl will start the game, with Thaddeus Ward, Anthony Banda, Jake Irvin and Jackson Rutledge set to follow, each scheduled to pitch about two innings.

“These guys are gonna get stretched out,” manager Davey Martinez said. “Irvin, I think, is gonna go two-plus. Rutledge, try to get two out of him, too. Kuhl will get two innings as well. These are guys I want to see, so it will be nice to get them out there and compete.”

JUPITER, Fla. – Things are starting to heat up at Nationals spring training as today is the first of 20 straight days with games before the end of camp.

With no more off-days before the team departs for D.C. and a handful of players away from camp over the next few weeks to participate in the World Baseball Classic, the Nationals need to start ramping up their regulars. That means less playing time for younger players who were longshots to make the team anyways.

The Nationals announced their first round of cuts this morning, removing 14 players from major league spring training.

Right-hander Joan Adon was optioned to Triple-A Rochester, and nine players were reassigned to minor league camp: right-handers Zach Brzykcy, Gerardo Carrillo, Anthony Castro, Tommy Romero and Jackson Tetreault; left-handers Alberto Baldonado, Evan Lee, Francisco Perez; catcher Brady Lindsly; infielders Lucius Fox and Erick Mejia; and outfielders Yasel Antuna, Donovan Casey and Derek Hill.

Brzykcy (forearm), Hill (hamstring) and Tetreault (scapula) are rehabbing injuries.

The second day of the 2022 MLB Draft is underway, with the Nationals set to make eight picks between the third and 10th rounds this afternoon.

They started this year’s draft by selecting 18-year-old outfielder Elijah Green out of IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. The son of former NFL tight end Eric Green, he is said to potentially be “an impactful superstar,” according to longtime assistant general manager and vice president of scouting operations Kris Kline.

In the second round, the Nats selected left-hander Jake Bennett out of the University of Oklahoma. They got their big starting pitcher in Bennett, who is listed as 6-foot-6 with a wingspan over 70 inches on the mound. The Nats previously drafted Bennett out of Bixby (Okla.) High School in the 39th round of the 2019 draft, but the southpaw decided to follow high school teammate and current top prospect Cade Cavalli to Norman. They are now reunited in the Nats farm system.

Then they turned their attention to the eight picks on Monday, and by the end of the afternoon, the Nats had eight more prospects for their minor league system.

“I thought it went really, really well," Kline said on a Zoom call with reporters after the conclusion of the 10th round. "It was one of those drafts where it was a position-player-heavy draft. And so the pitchers you wanted, you either got them or you didn't. You ID'd them early. Some of them were hurt. Some of them were healthy and got hurt. Some were hurt and got healthy. It was just one of those years.”