Notes and quotes after an off-day for the Nationals in West Palm Beach…
OPENING GRAY:
Josiah Gray’s first outing after being named the Washington Nationals’ Opening Day starter was an “interesting” one, which saw the pitcher walk seven batters, strike out six, and give up just three hits and one earned run.
As the 26-year-old start acknowledged, he knows it is not in his best interest to continue to put himself in those sorts of tough situations, even if he has often been able to work his way out of the trouble.
“I think every outing when I’m toeing that line … it’s kind of like: Here we go again,” he said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman.
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“I shouldn’t be putting myself in these positions.”
“Kind of just laboring through things,” Gray said in assessing his outing. “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.”
His manager, Davey Martinez, said it was an issue with Gray’s direction towards the plate causing the Nats’ Opening Day starter trouble this time out:
“The shape of his pitches were really good,” Martinez [explained]. “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 suggested his starter might have been a little amped up the first time out after getting the Opening Day nod.
“I just remember my first big league camp being with the Dodgers and getting cut and thinking how that feeling was, and to say you’re going to be our first arm out of Spring Training going into the season is really cool and really surreal.” – Josiah Gray, Opening Day starter
— Jessica Camerato (@JessicaCamerato) March 17, 2024
“He sometimes gets quick, and this time it could’ve been that he’s so amped up, because he’s got the first game,” Martinez said.
“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’s first Opening Day start comes after he made his first All-Game last summer, as the young starter begins piling up big league accolades.
“A big moment for him last year was being in the All-Star Game. He got to pitch an inning and did really well,” Martinez said, as quoted by MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato after naming Gray his starter for the season opener.
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“So here’s the next step in his career, and I think he’s the right guy.”
Gray said he saw the assignment as an acknowledgment of the progress he’s made since he debuted in the majors in ‘21 and came over to the Nationals in the Max Scherzer/Trea Turner trade with the Dodgers later that summer.
“Getting named to an All-Star Game was something I can say, again, I never expected,” he said.
“But then to get the Opening Day nod, it shows the trust and the level of support I have from Davey, the front office, and everyone that I’ve made progress from where I was in 2021 as a rookie to here we are in 2024.”
Gray said he was excited not just about the Opening Day start but the whole season ahead and the opportunity to try to continue his progress.
Nationals’ GM and President of Baseball ops Mike Rizzo, in an MLB Network Radio interview over the weekend, said he’s looking forward to seeing Gray and the Nationals’ other young starters take the next step after big developmental seasons in 2023.
“We know that with all the training wheels off these guys are going to pitch every five days without innings limits or pitch limits or anything like that,” Rizzo told hosts Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette, “… so I think this will be an important year for those guys to really take the next step from becoming really good young pitchers to getting into an elite level of guys that you can really count on every fifth day to win you a baseball game.”
BIG SPENDING NEXT WINTER?:
Former Nationals’ GM Jim Bowden, now an MLB Network Radio host, told current Nats’ GM and President of Baseball Ops Mike Rizzo this past weekend he had sort of expected a big free agent signing by the club this winter similar to the Jayson Werth deal in 2010-11, which established Washington as a competitive team and a potential destination for other players.
While it didn’t happen for the Nationals this winter, Bowden asked, with Patrick Corbin’s contract coming off the books next year, the MASN settlement with the Orioles, and the potential for Baltimore’s sale to get the whole MASN situation fixed once and for all, will the current/future financial reality allow the club to add some big free agents next winter to supplement the talent they’ve assembled since they kicked off the organizational reboot back in 2021?
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“I never like to guess what finances are going to be available,” Rizzo said. “We’ve always had financial freedom here, when the goal is to put a product on the field that the D.C. fanbase can be proud of. That’s been our history — we’ve always, when the time comes to really accelerate and put your foot on the pedal — to go and start competing for playoff spots and competing for divisions, and then competing for world championships — I think that’s always been available to us here, and I don’t see that changing.”
“I know what we’re trying to do here,” he added. “I know what my marching orders are from ownership, and I feel comfortable and confident that this team is going in such the right direction that I think that the bright days are certainly well ahead of us and I think it could be quicker than people think.”