The Nationals won their first championship in 2019, and after stumbling to a losing record in 2020, they began rebuilding. They traded Trea Turner and Max Scherzer in 2021, and Juan Soto in 2022. That brought several years of bad baseball, as the team struggled to develop good players. But the prospects from those trades are starting to bear fruit – three of them are in the regular starting lineup for this year’s Nationals – and the team is enjoying a winning season.
Kansas City Royals (29-43) vs. Washington Nationals (37-35) at Nationals Park, Washington, DC
Royals: 4.00 runs scored/game (29th in MLB), 4.68 runs allowed/game (20th)
Nationals: 5.44 runs scored/game (1st), 5.26 runs allowed/game (29th)
The Nationals have scored the most runs in baseball, with three games this month where they have scored 10+ runs. Only five teams have hit more home runs, and only the Marlins have stolen more bases. James Wood broke through last year with a 31-home run season and an All-Star appearances. He leads the National League in runs scored (66) and walks (58) this year, and is tied for fourth in MLB in home runs (20). Daylen Lile is hitting .333/.400/.511 in 12 games this month. Catcher Keibert Ruiz is hitting .366/.386/.648 at home. CJ Abrams is hitting .297/.395/.555 against lefties.
Jacob Young is fifth in baseball in taking called strikes at 22.8 percent. Nasim Nuñez leads the National League with 25 steals and has only been caught three times. The Nats lead all of baseball in most outs on the bases. Young grades as one of the best defenders in baseball, by Outs Above Average, while Abrams rates as one of the worst.
The Royals have announced Mitch Spence will be called up to start Monday to replace Seth Lugo, who is on the 7-day IL with a concussion. He’ll face Andrew Alvarez, who has made seven career MLB starts. Alvarez walked five, but allowed just two runs in four innings in his last start against the Giants. He had a 5.29 ERA in seven starts for Triple-A Rochester. He throws mostly breaking balls and has a 54 percent groundball rate.
Former Royals first round pick Foster Griffin went to Japan and has returned to become an effective MLB starter. He has given up just five runs in 22 innings (2.05) over his last four starts. Lefties are hitting .172/.250/.322 against him. He throws his cutter 30 percent of the time, and gets by with a 91 mph fastball, but his sweeper has a 32.5 percent whiff rate.
Zack Littell had a 3.3 rWAR season last year, but found few free agent offers and signed with the Nationals. He retired just 5 of the 10 hitters he faced in his last start, giving up five runs, including a home run to the Mariners. Opponents are hitting .315 against his 91 mph fastball, but he throws his slider 28.6 percent of the time.
Nationals relievers have a 4.69 ERA with the lowest strikeout rate of any bullpen. Gus Varland and Clayton Beeter have each gotten closing duties this year. Nationals relievers allow 43 percent of inherited runners to score, most in baseball. Former Royals reliever Richard Lovelady has a reverse split, with lefties hitting .333/.433/.431 against him.
The National score a lot of runs, but allow a lot of runs. The Royals have won their last two series against the Nationals, including a sweep in DC in 2024. With a decimated roster, they’ll need to raise their game against an improved Nats squad this week.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.royalsreview.com ’
