After a rough start to the 2023 season, the Washington Nationals have six wins in their last 11 games, including a series win over the Minnesota Twins and New York Mets. Is general manager Mike Rizzo pleased about the progress of his club?
"I am! We're seeing good, incremental progress on the process, the developmental side of it is going well," Rizzo said on Wednesday during his weekly appearance with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office.
"I think you see some growth with the two young pitchers that we have (Josiah Gray and MacKenzie Gore) and a handful of young position players that we have, and we're looking at substantial growth in the farm system with the players that are soon to be in the big leagues," Rizzo told The Junkies. "I see a lot of progress. I'm happy with the progression of some of our young players. And hopefully, it translates into winning more big league games and getting us the core group of guys to take us to the next level."
One of the players who started off slow, but has come on in recent weeks is shortstop CJ Abrams, who had three hits in Tuesday's 4-1 win. The 22-year-old is now slashing .242/.308/.389 for a 95 OPS+.
"I think he's got a little bit of sneaky power," Rizzo said when asked what Nats fans can expect from the youngster. "He's growing into his body still, extremely athletic... he's played terrific defense for us. We see him as a guy that will lock down the defense, he has already shown periods of that. I think that at the end of the day, he hits at the top of the lineup, he can steal a bunch of bases and he's a terrific all-around player that is athletic and plays in the middle of the field. We've got high expectations for him and you're starting to see the talent level that this guy possesses and the skillset that he has. It's impressive."
For Wednesday night's game against the Chicago Cubs, the Nationals will hand 26-year-old Jake Irvin the ball for his MLB debut
"He's a big, physical pitcher," Rizzo said of the 6-foot-6 right-hander, "he's got good stuff. Really been hampered developmentally, he had Tommy John surgery which cost him a year, the Covid season cost him another year, he's really had... little professional experience. But he's progressed to the point where started off the season in Triple-A, he's got a big fastball in the mid-90s, and slider, change and we wanna see him attack the strike zone today... makes the Cubs put the ball in play and let the defense do their thing. The defense has been doing well behind our pitchers."
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