The full squad hasn’t even reported yet, but when Nationals manager Davey Martinez joined Grant & Danny on Friday, the vibe in Nationals camp was already palpable through the phone.
“It’s been great, man, full of energy, and I'm excited. These guys are getting ready to go this year; I know it's pitchers and catchers camp, but honestly, we got about 20 position players down here already, so it’s been a full day of working out and getting reacquainted,” Martinez said. “We have these meetings all winter long and talk about players we want and holes we need to fill, and I think Mike and his guys did a great job, and we’re very excited of what we have in camp.”
The Nationals are still looking for some bullpen pieces – Davey’s exact words, not ours – but there is a lot of opportunity to be had for veterans and youngsters alike up and down the roster.
“There's definitely opportunity, right? We’re still young, and we got a lot of guys that we had up last year that we think will help us this year, but then again, there's always these surprises out of spring training,” Davey said. “As I told these guys yesterday, there's plenty of opportunity here to go knock the door down, and let's see how this thing shapes up at the end of spring training.”
Here are a few tidbits on specific players or positions from Martinez:
On CJ Abrams reporting to camp early and his status after last year’s issues: “We talked when the incident happened, and I reached out to him in the offseason, and to me, it’s a done deal. And for him as well, it's a fresh start. I love the kid. I've always said that he's our starting shortstop and is going to lead off for us, and I'm excited about where he's at right now in camp. He's saying all the right things, he’s put on some muscle, and his work has been great so far, so I'm excited about what's to come with him. He was an All-Star last year, so my challenge to him is to be that All-Star throughout the whole year, and I think he can do that.”
On the depth in the rotation: “This is the first camp in a long time that we have depth, we really do. We possibly have 12 guys that could fill a void when something goes awry, but the guys we had last year, I’m very proud of. I think MacKenzie’s in a great spot right now already, and I think maturity will definitely help those guys. It’s all about consistency now; we saw some really bright spots last year with these guys, and I think they're only gonna get better. So far, they've looked really good.
On Dylan Crews’ role after his MLB debut last year: “I definitely think he’ll be in right field on opening day. It’s all on him and how he comes to spring training. Right now, he looks good. Last year, he got a taste of what it’s like to play in the major leagues, and I think he learned a lot about himself and, and, and, and the league. Part of it was to get him up here so that he could have some things to make adjustments on over the winter, and he did that., so I think good things will happen to him. It was by design, I think a little bit, to make sure that he has an opportunity to be the Rookie of the Year this year, because I think he really can, and I think he has a chance to win a Gold Glove. He's a student of the game, and the way he moves out there has been great."
On what to expect from James Wood in Year 2: “I think with him, it’s just about being consistent. Another guy that matured a lot since we saw him Day 1, and he put up some pretty good numbers for only having 300 at-bats in the major leagues. He got better, and he never played left field until he got up to the big leagues, so he worked every day diligently with (Gerardo) Parra, and towards the end of the year, he definitely got a lot better over there. So I'm looking for big things for him.”
Listen to Martinez’s entire visit above, which also includes thoughts on several other players, as well as lineup balance and more!