Going on their 4th straight year of a below league average offense, it’s time to stop letting the coaching staff ruin the Nats’ young bats with their bad advice
The Nationals’ offensive struggles in June have been well documented, but it hasn’t just been a month-long or even season-long struggle for them to score; it’s an issue that stems back several years now. 2021 was the last time the Nats ranked in the top half of the league in offense, with them being on their way to their 4th straight bottom 10 finish this season, as their 94 wRC+ ranks 22nd in baseball.
Despite numerous offseason additions meant to strengthen the lineup in 2025, such as Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Bell, they’ve only improved the team’s wRC+ by 2 points from 2024. So, what is the issue? In a word, coaching.
The raw talent is present on the roster, evident by their 89.7 average exit velocity (12th in MLB) and 105.4 90th percentile exit velocity (9th in MLB), but isn’t being fully utilized as they are being taught all the wrong things. Here are 3 specific examples of things the Nats’ bats are doing that are minimizing their success.
Too Many Groundballs
No one beats the ball into the group as a collective in baseball more than the Nationals, as their average launch angle of 8.4 degrees is 2.6 degrees lower than the 2nd lowest in baseball. Their 1.5 GB/FB ratio is easily the highest in baseball this year, with the only other team close in the past 4 years being the 2024 Marlins (who finished 2024 27th in MLB with an 86 wRC+).
The best offenses in baseball understand that the key to scoring runs is to put the ball in the air, but the Nats have refused to adapt this philosophy and continue to rank at or near the bottom in launch angle year after year.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that 3 of the Nats’ 4 hitters with the lowest GB%, CJ Abrams, Alex Call, and Luis Garcia Jr., are also 3 of the better hitters on the team by wRC+ in 2025. Alternatively, many of those with the highest GB%, such as Jacob Young and Josh Bell, have been some of the worst hitters on the roster in 2025.
Swinging At Everything
Fans have voiced their dismay over the inconsistent and wacky plate approaches of players such as Keibert Ruiz and Luis Garcia Jr. plenty, but the truth is it is an organization-wide issue. The Nats’ 7.7% BB% is 25th in baseball, tracking to be their 4th straight season in the bottom 10. It should come as no surprise that the last time the Nats’ offense was above league average, it was when they were taking their walks, as they ranked 8th in baseball with a 9.4% BB% in 2021.
It’s been over 20 years since the Moneyball Athletics figured out a walk is as good as a hit, yet here we are in 2025 watching a team whose plate approach is to swing out of their shoes. One reason the Nationals’ offense is so streaky is that when things go bad for lineups that are patient, they at least have their plate approaches to fall back on and get some baserunners. For the free-swinging Nats, cold streaks at the plate mean practically no baserunners for them.
Their team BABIP of .280, which ranks 26th in baseball, may seem like just bad luck at first glance until you account for the fact that their approach leads to lots of soft contact and ground balls. This isn’t just a major league level issue either, as no other organization walks as little as the Nationals do across all minor league levels.
Not Pulling Fly Balls
There are lots of statistics out there that back up the fact that the best way to hit for more power is to pull fly balls. Unless you are James Wood and can easily deposit a ball into the seats anywhere in the park, hitters should be looking to do their damage to their pull side. As you can probably guess, the Nats do this as little as anyone, with their dead last FB% and their Pull% of 38.5% ranking 25th in baseball. It is so hard to consistently hit for power with an approach as bad as theirs, and it is part of the reason the lineup gets so cold at times.
CJ Abrams is the best on the Nats roster at both consistently pulling the ball and consistently putting it in the air, so it should come as no surprise that he is the second-best hitter in the Nats lineup by a wide margin, trailing only the otherworldly talent James Wood. Some hitters do one thing well but not the other, such as Keibert Ruiz having the 2nd-best Pull% on the roster but the 3rd-worst FB%, limiting their offensive output.
The Solution
So, how do they go about fixing things? Well, for starters, it is well past time to cut ties with hitting coach Darnell Coles, who has yet to produce a non-bottom 10 offense in DC in his 4-year tenure. Next, they would be wise to poach staff from an organization who understands the importance of plate discipline and pulling the ball in the air, such as the Yankees (1st in BB%, 7th in FB%, 10th in Pull%) or the Dodgers (2nd in BB%, 8th in FB%, 8th in Pull%).
After that, they need to work with the players both at the major league and minor league levels and help them unlearn the bad habits that have been ingrained in them by the old regime, a process that will take time. The longer they wait, the more damage they may end up doing to their current players and prospects, such as those who will be joining the organization in July from the MLB Draft.