Notes and quotes on the Nationals’ series win over the Yankees this week …
TAKING 2 OF 3 NOT NOTHING:
With the debut of 2023 1st Round pick (No. 2 overall) Dylan Crews this week, another piece of the core of the next competitive Nationals’ roster is in the majors, playing and learning alongside several other highly-regarded, young prospects Washington has assembled since kicking off their organizational reboot at the trade deadline in 2021.
Washington Post writer Spencer Nusbaum noted before Wednesday’s game, the average age for the Nats’ lineup in the series finale with the New York Yankees, was 24.3 years old.
“That’s who we are right now – we’re a team that’s young and trying to establish the core for our next championship run,” GM and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo said in an interview with the Sports Junkies this week.
Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images
“You’ve seen this slow pace and piecing this together, and I think you’re looking at a lineup that is very young, but very talented.
“We’ll make our fair share of mistakes, but we’ll learn and be better for it.”
Manager Davey Martinez and his staff are tasked with teaching in the majors, trying to help the newcomers adjust as the top prospects in the Nationals’ system learn about what it’s like to go through the grind of a full, 162-game season.
“They’re starting to learn how to play together, play up here,” Martinez said after his club took 2 of 3 from the postseason-bound Yankees.
“Getting Dylan here is another big piece for us. They’re playing together, and it’s fun to watch them.
“They’re going to grow together, we’re going to do some really good things, and a lot faster than people think.”
Seeing how advanced some of the future stars in the organization are has the manager excited about what’s ahead for the Nationals in the near future.
See. You. Later!
Dylan Crews hits his first career MLB home run! pic.twitter.com/III4McuHau
— MLB (@MLB) August 28, 2024
“We’ve got guys that understand the game,” he said.
“We got some young players that really do understand the game. We’ve got some guys that have been here that are starting to understand the game, Luis [García, Jr.] being one of them. Luis shows up every day, and does everything right, and I’m proud of him. Took a minute, but he’s getting it.”
MacKenzie Gore, 25, talked after a strong start against the Yankees about the identity of the team right now, with a number of the core members in the big leagues now.
“I think we all understand that we’re talented, to be honest with you,” Gore said.
“But it’s kind of one of those — either you do it, or you don’t. This is where we’re at. We don’t want to just be like, ‘Oh, we’re going to be good in a couple years,’ as a player and a team.
“It’s our job to be good right now.”
[ed. note – “We basically wrote two versions of the article above, one for publication here at FBB, and one as a blurb for our sister site with the SB Nation, Bleed Cubbie Blue, with them Cubs in D.C. for the next three days. Since we’re coming off an off-day, we figured we’d just include both versions here, for fun. Some of the same quotes form the basis of each, and it is the same overall theme: The future is now in the Nationals’ organization.”]
BCB BLURB:
Earlier this week, a Nationals’ roster with a 21-year-old James Wood, a 22-year-old Dylan Crews, 23-year-olds Josè Tena and CJ Abrams, a 24-year-old Luis García, Jr., a 25-year-old MacKenzie Gore, and a 26-year-old Keibert Ruiz, took 2 of 3 from the postseason-bound New York Yankees in D.C.
“That’s who we are right now – we’re a team that’s young and trying to establish the core for our next championship run,” Nationals’ GM and President of Baseball Ops Mike Rizzo said in an interview with a local radio show in the nation’s capital. [ed. note – “It was Audacy’s The Sports Junkies he talked to.”].
Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images
Three-plus years into the organizational reboot they started in 2021, Rizzo & Co. in the front office in Washington really think they have built a club of their own high draft picks, other teams’ high-end prospects acquired in trades, and smart pickups and signings, which is going to be making waves in the near future and once again competing for postseason opportunities.
“You’ve seen this slow pace and piecing this together, and I think you’re looking at a lineup that is very young but very talented,” Rizzo explained.
“We’ll make our fair share of mistakes, but we’ll learn and be better for it.”
Crews, the No. 2 overall pick in 2023, got called up this past Monday, and now he and Wood (one of five prospects in the Juan Soto/Josh Bell trade with the Padres in 2022 — along with Abrams, Gore, hard-throwing young right-hander Jarlin Susana, and a hard-hitting young OF bat, Robert Hassell III), are playing in the big leagues together after crossing paths on the way up last year and again this year in Double- and then Triple-A.
“[Crews] is going to fit in wonderfully with this good young group of guys that kind of cut their teeth together in the minors, and are now trying to transcend into the core of that big league club,” Rizzo added.
Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
“They’re playing together, and it’s fun to watch them,” manager Davey Martinez said after the finale with the Yankees.
“They’re going to grow together, we’re going to do some really good things, and a lot faster than people think.”
Let’s hope so, because Nationals fans have watched a lot of losses since 2019 (that magical season). But at least this club is fun to watch now …