The Washington Nationals entered the 2023 season with realistic ambitions: to let a young roster get some big-league experience and see where they are in their rebuild. And along that ride, the Nats have been on a bit of a rollercoaster with highs and lows and a 26-39 record after seven losses in their last eight games.
"You're gonna have spurts where you play extremely well and you win five out of seven and then you're gonna have parts of the season where you lose five out of seven, that's just the way the game is," Nationals general manager Mike 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.
"Until you put yourself in a position where you're running a guy out on the mound every day five days in a row with your rotation that's a guy that gives you a chance to win, that's what happens. That's how these long winning streaks are put together," Rizzo told the Junkies. "You got yourself a five-man rotation that can go out there and give you opportunities to win
multiple games in a row.
"And I think you're seeing snippets of that. I think you're seeing where we get five, six good starts in a row, but another part of the roster will fail, be it the bullpen, be it offense, that type of thing. But that's what learning how to win these close games is all about."
Speaking after the Nationals let a 2-1 deficit in the later innings balloon into a 6-1 defeat against the Houston Astros on Tuesday, the GM spoke about the need to keep games tight to give the team a chance to overturn small deficits and win games in the latter innings.
"We have to play the game right, we have little margin for error when you're playing these really good, playoff-bound teams. And just have to play clean baseball," Rizzo added. "And we've shown that we can do it, we've done it over short periods of time, we have to be more consistent about focusing on and learning how to win these close games. I think that's part of the rebuilding process, it's a part of the winning culture process. We've done it before."
Rizzo added that he does see some "light at the end of the tunnel," especially when he is allowing himself a moment to look back at the 2019 World Series win as the club makes its first trip back to Houston.
Related
The Junks opened the conversation by talking about Joey Meneses' home run hitting – or the lack of it, despite what Eric Bickel protested ("He's gotta hit some!").
"Well, he's hit home runs in the past," Rizzo said. "And I know he's working on lifting the ball a little bit more often.
Menesses has two on the year and only two expected home runs, per Statcast. Overall the Nats' DH is in the 75th percentile in hard-hit percentage (46.7 percent), but his .411 expected slugging percentage is in the 24th percentile in baseball and his 7.7 barrel percentage is the 28th percentile.
"Right now he's hitting the ball well, he's staying in the middle of the field, and getting his RBIs on base hits," Rizzo added. "I think it's a good bet, I think he's going to continue to hit home runs, and like I said he's working on a lot of things, but when you're hitting .300 and getting the base hits and that kinda thing, the one thing I know he's working on is getting the ball in the air.
And Menesses' average launch angle of 8.2 ranks him 136th out of 160 qualified MLB batters. But the Nationals' general manager is right to point out his production in other ways, as his 77 hits and .302 average are both sixth-best in the National League.
"The thing that we try and pound into the hitters' head is barrel the ball up, hit it hard, try and stay in the middle of the field and put a good at-bat every time up and the home runs will come," Rizzo told The Junks.
Follow @BenKrimmel for more.
Keep up with 106.7 The Fan via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Related
Related
