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Nats Hook Marlins; First Cuts Announced

A three-run 6th erased a 2-1 deficit as the Nats held on to hook the Marlins, 5-3, on Tuesday afternoon.

MacKenzie Gore stretched to three innings in his third spring start. He allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits, walked one, and struck out one.

Despite being a road game, none of the watchlist players were in the starting lineup. Here’s how the four that did appear in the game fared while coming off the bench in the 7th:

  • Jeter Downs replaced C.J. Abrams at SS and went hitless Forrest Gump pause again
  • Jeremy De La Rosa subbed for Victor Robles in CF and led off the 9th with a single, stole second, and eventually scored on a sac fly
  • Drew Millas was the second backstop after Riley Adams and singled to push De La Rosa to third base in the 9th
  • Armando Cruz replaced Luis García at 2B and was hit by a pitch in the 9th

Washington heads to Lakeland this afternoon to visit the Tigers. Chad Kuhl is slated to make his first start and third appearance. The game will be broadcast on MLB.tv and MLB Audio with …wait for it… the Detroit feeds.

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Prior to the game, RHP Joan Adon was optioned to Rochester while the following pitchers and players were reassigned to minor-league camp (watchlisters in italics):

  • RHPs Jackson Tetreault, Anthony Castro, Zach Brzykcy, Gerardo Carrillo, and Tommy Romero
  • LHPs Alberto Baldonado, Evan Lee, and Francisco Perez
  • C Brady Lindsly
  • IFs Lucius Fox and Erick Mejia
  • OFs Yasel Antuna, Donovan Casey, and Derek Hill

As WaPo’s Andrew Golden noted, all of last November’s Rule 5 additions are still with the team.

6 Commments

  1. It’s hard to believe that Antuna is coming up on just his age-23 season. Of course his fellow bonus baby Garcia has already been in the majors for a while. Is there still hope for Antuna? Our friend FredMD keeps touting his swing. I’m quite skeptical that he’ll really make it, but age argues that he’s still got a couple of years to figure things out. As a corner outfielder now, that will require big power that has yet to show itself.

    One thing that perplexes me about Antuna’s stats is his perpetually low BABIP. He stole 27 bases last summer, so it’s not because he’s slow. Does he just not make enough hard contact on a regular basis? I don’t know.

    Anyway, here’s hoping that now that he’s out of the spotlight of being on the 40-man, Antuna can relax a little and have the game come to him.

    1. The strange thing to me about Antuna is his walk rate from last year. 89 walks in 125 games. That’s, like, good. Seems like a skill that he and his coaches can build from.
      A .353 OBP with a .215 BA is impressive, but it also means he hit .215.

  2. Any rumblings about Alu picking up an injury? He hasn’t played in either of the last two games. I was starting to worry it was because he was in the first cut, but that proved to not be true. It’s especially puzzling as others have noted that Candelario’s temporary departure to the WBC (I still don’t understand how he made it onto the DR’s insanely stacked line up that already includes Devers and Machado) might free up playing time at 3B for Alu.

    1. It’s rather frightening that Chavis is starting ahead of Alu today, and that Downs is playing at all. Chavis was released by the one team in baseball even more desperate for talent than the Nats. He had a .265 OPB last season and struck out 30% of the time, both of which were actually improvements on this previous two seasons. Downs hasn’t had a season BA over .200 since before COVID. In 41 MLB plate appearances he struck out 21 times.

      As I’ve said several times, I have no idea whether Alu can play at the MLB level. But I can guarantee you that his chances of at least making contact are better than those of Chavis and Downs.

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