Washington Nationals news & notes: Josiah Gray and Jake Irvin on Saturday night in ST…

Notes and quotes from a split-squad Saturday in West Palm Beach…

OPENING DAY GRAY:

Josiah Gray’s seven-walk outing last week was not ideal, but he did manage to limit the Houston Astros to a run on five hits in five innings.

Gray told reporters after the start he was aware he should not be putting himself in those situations, although he had wriggled his way out of them in the past.

“I think every outing when I’m toeing that line … it’s kind of like: Here we go again,” Gray said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.

“I shouldn’t be putting myself in these positions.”

His manager suggested Gray might have been a bit over-amped after being named the Nationals’ 2024 Opening Day starter in advance of the outing.

“You could tell he started working a little faster. I told him: ‘Slow down. Just focus on one thing. Just focus on your direction. You’ve got to slow yourself down.’”

Gray acknowledged that though he did limit the damage, it was not an ideal, or acceptable, outcome overall:

“Not a pretty outing at all,” he said. “Kind of just laboring through things. Some of the walks, I felt like I was spraying the ball around. Some of the other walks, I felt like I was just missing them. I was lucky to only give up one today, but things could get a little different with that many runners on.”

“The shape of his pitches were really good,” Martinez said in assessing Gray’s next-to-last appearance of the spring:

“It’s his direction that gets a little wacky sometimes. I talked to him about it: ‘Your head has got to go to the catcher. When you do that, it’s really good … It’s just understanding what makes you that good, and it’s your direction.’”

Martinez has, however, seen enough growth from Gray over the last few seasons to name the 26-year-old right-hander the starter for the season opener.

“He’s matured so much since the first day I saw him,” Martinez said, as quoted by MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato:

“Even through the struggles of last year, he’s a lot different. Coming into camp, he’s been so much different as far as growth-wise. Understanding who he is, working on things he needs to work on, not trying to reinvent the wheel. … I’m proud of him. We asked him to do some things over the winter, and he’s done that. He’s come to camp in great shape and ready to go.”

Gray struggled in a rough second half of the 2023 campaign (with a 5.79 ERA, a 5.40 FIP, and a .252/.372/.392 line against in 37 ¹⁄₃ IP between July 16th-August 28th), but over the final month of the season he put up a 2.95 ERA, a 4.94 FIP, and .241/.322/.430 line against in four starts and 21 ¹⁄₃ IP, lowering his ERA to 3.91 on the year.

Gray wrapped up his spring last night with a four-inning outing in which he gave up a total of seven hits (two of them first inning home runs), one walk, and five earned runs, striking a total of seven batters out in a 5-3 loss to Miami’s Marlins.

He wrapped up the spring with a 6.61 ERA, 13 walks, 25 Ks, and a .288 BAA for the spring, though he said he was happy with the work he got done if not the numbers.

“Stat-wise, it wasn’t great,” Gray acknowledged, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman after the game:

“You kind of look at it that way. But I always break it down outing by outing. … I think it was an OK spring. The things I’ve worked on have helped me elevate my arsenal. But I think there’s a lot of leaps still to be made. I’m just excited to get back to work tomorrow and see where we can get better.”

IRVIN’S OUTING:

Jake Irvin made his first two appearances this spring in relief, but in the back-to-back starts which followed, the 27-year-old put nine scoreless innings up, striking out 10, and allowing just five hits, with no walks.

The 2018 4th Round pick held New York’s Mets to two hits in four scoreless, then limited the Miami Marlins to one hit in five scoreless, with 5 Ks in each start.

Irving credited his manager with getting him to focus on getting outs instead of working on things in competitive settings like he had early this spring.

“Work on the stuff you need to work on, but do it in the bullpen,” Martinez told the right-hander, as relayed by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.

“When you’re in the game, you’re here to compete. I need you to forget about everything and start getting some outs. And he took it to heart.”

“He kind of just got my focus back on competing, which was the kick in the ass that I needed,” Irvin said.

“I respect the hell out of him. His word goes a long way with me. It was good to hear that from him. I made the adjustment, and now it’s about competing.”

Irvin wrapped up his spring with another scoreless start, holding the St. Louis Cardinals to a single hit and two walks and striking out three batters in a 2-2 tie.

Irvin threw 46% four-seamers in the outing, averaging 94.2 MPH on his fastball, which he used to get 3 of 7 swinging strikes and 8 of 14 called strikes he collected on the day.

He mixed in his curve (22%, 2 swinging, 2 called strikes), sinkers (18%, 2 called strikes), and then cutters (14%, 2 CS), with Washington Post writer Spencer Nusbaum noting that cutter usage was around the average he threw in his three starts as he works it into the mix as an additional offering this spring:

“He’s worked all spring training to get better,” his manager said after the game, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman. “And he’s throwing the ball really well.”

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