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The Washington Nationals are opting to look at the positives from the West Coast swing with the 4-2 record outweighing the eight-run meltdown on Wednesday to close the series against San Francisco. They'll do so with a chance to return home where the Nationals are just 12-20 so far this season, but they'll also do so against the Seattle Mariners for the first time this season.
It also marks the first meeting between the two teams since the offseason trade that send closer Jose Ferrer to Seattle in exchange for a pair of prospects, notably catcher Harry Ford.
Ford arrived as the prize of the return haul with the offseason hope that he would dethrone Keibert Ruiz for the starting catcher job, but that was an aspiration that didn't materialize coming out of spring training after posting a .214 batting average and just two RBIs across 14 at bats and seven games.
Ford was among the final batch of players to be sent down to Triple A Rochester as Paul Toboni and Blake Butera finalized the 40-man roster, where he's been struggled to return to form so far. Ford heads into mid-June with a .203 batting average with one home run, 11 RBIs and 49 strikeouts in over 150 at bats across 41 games.
It's far from the early performance that the Nationals were looking to see out of Ford, who co-captained Team Great Britain at the World Baseball Classic ahead of spring training. While power and eye discipline were questions for Ford's offensive game, he's shown flashes of what he can be after cutting his whiff rate to 23% and increased his zone-contact rate to 88.6% in May.
Could Ford eventually see time at catcher instead of Ruiz? Maybe not this season, but for now, he's part of the long-term outlook at catcher. Ruiz, meanwhile, sits third on the team with a .274 batting average, fourth with a .489 slugging and fifth with a .785 OPS with a five-game hit streak heading into the weekend series at Nationals Park.
Right handed relief pitcher Isaac Lyon, son of former MLB pitcher Brandon Lyon, was the second prospect in the trade where he's notched a 3.86 ERA and 1.34 WHIP across 12 appearances and 39.2 innings in Double A.
As for Ferrer, he's split closing duties with Andres Munoz this season where the former National has tallied three saves, 26 strikeouts and a 2.1 ERA across 30 innings pitched. Whether he proves to be a thorn for the Nationals this weekend will be a question Butera and the Nationals will look to avoid with a chance to start to even the home record beginning on Friday night.
Nationals Roundtable also offers a fan community. We’d love to have you join us to talk all things Nationals. Click the “Join” button at the top of the page to join our free community and follow for all of our coverage, analysis and more!
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It also marks the first meeting between the two teams since the offseason trade that send closer Jose Ferrer to Seattle in exchange for a pair of prospects, notably catcher Harry Ford.
Ford arrived as the prize of the return haul with the offseason hope that he would dethrone Keibert Ruiz for the starting catcher job, but that was an aspiration that didn't materialize coming out of spring training after posting a .214 batting average and just two RBIs across 14 at bats and seven games.
Ford was among the final batch of players to be sent down to Triple A Rochester as Paul Toboni and Blake Butera finalized the 40-man roster, where he's been struggled to return to form so far. Ford heads into mid-June with a .203 batting average with one home run, 11 RBIs and 49 strikeouts in over 150 at bats across 41 games.
It's far from the early performance that the Nationals were looking to see out of Ford, who co-captained Team Great Britain at the World Baseball Classic ahead of spring training. While power and eye discipline were questions for Ford's offensive game, he's shown flashes of what he can be after cutting his whiff rate to 23% and increased his zone-contact rate to 88.6% in May.
Could Ford eventually see time at catcher instead of Ruiz? Maybe not this season, but for now, he's part of the long-term outlook at catcher. Ruiz, meanwhile, sits third on the team with a .274 batting average, fourth with a .489 slugging and fifth with a .785 OPS with a five-game hit streak heading into the weekend series at Nationals Park.
Right handed relief pitcher Isaac Lyon, son of former MLB pitcher Brandon Lyon, was the second prospect in the trade where he's notched a 3.86 ERA and 1.34 WHIP across 12 appearances and 39.2 innings in Double A.
As for Ferrer, he's split closing duties with Andres Munoz this season where the former National has tallied three saves, 26 strikeouts and a 2.1 ERA across 30 innings pitched. Whether he proves to be a thorn for the Nationals this weekend will be a question Butera and the Nationals will look to avoid with a chance to start to even the home record beginning on Friday night.
Nationals Roundtable also offers a fan community. We’d love to have you join us to talk all things Nationals. Click the “Join” button at the top of the page to join our free community and follow for all of our coverage, analysis and more!
Continue reading...
