The Washington Nationals have one of the youngest rosters in baseball. But this past week, they got younger not once, but twice.
Prime prospect Robert Hassell III made his major league debut two months after putting the team on notice as a spring training sensation (Hassell posted a team-high 17 hits while batting .370 over 21 exhibitions) and went 2-5 with two runs scored. He singled on his first pitch of the night, becoming the fourth prospect in the Juan Soto trade to help the team win at the MLB level.
Jarlin Susana, when do we see your arm (don’t hold your breath as he’s still at AA Harrisburg)? Hassell was joined by Daylen Lile later in the week as the 2021 second-round pick reached the show as well. Their presence was made necessary due to injuries to Dylan Crews and Jacob Young, two guys who were the new kids in town not too long ago (Crews’ MLB debut was last August, while Young made his first appearance in August 2023).
Their stay will hinge on how soon Crews and Young get healthy, as well as how well Hassell and Lile perform during their understudy stint. Until then, everybody’s talking about the new kids in town.
Digesting the Division: Philadelphia (34-19) overtook the New York Mets (32-21) by winning five of six, with Bryce Harper playing the rare role of third fiddle this year behind Kyle Schwarber (team-high 18 homers and 40 RBI) and Trea Turner (team-best .310 batting average and 14 steals), but the slugger is on pace for his first 100-RBI season since 2019.
The Mets haven’t fallen apart by any means, but they are 11-11 in May. Atlanta (25-27) lost both games in Washington (24-29) last week to slip back under .500 and face Philadelphia this week. Miami (21-30) brings up the rear, and one only wonders where they’d be minus former Oriole Kyle Stowers, who couldn’t crack the lineup in Baltimore (67 games played over two-and-a-half seasons). He is leading the Marlins in all three triple crown categories (.309 batting average, 10 home runs and 31 RBIs).
O’s Woes: Baltimore (18-34) bounced back from getting swept by the Nationals, wrapping up their first full post-Brandon Hyde week with three wins in five games. Their previous three wins took place over 17 games. On the bright side, Jackson Holliday seems to have found his groove in May (batting .265 with 13 RBI in the first 20 games of the month). They still have 110 games left on their schedule to turn things around, and to reach the 86 wins that would have resulted in a playoff berth last year, they’d need to play .618 ball the rest of the way.
Diamonds Direct Diamond King: Jake Irvin tossed eight scoreless innings in Saturday’s win over San Francisco. And while he doesn’t lead the team (or league) in strikeouts like MacKenzie Gore, Irvin is off to a 4-1 start this year with an ERA of 3.42, improvements over last season.
Last Week’s Heroes: Gore didn’t post a win, but did strike out nine over six innings of one-run ball in his lone start. Brad Lord tossed 3.1 scoreless frames while Jorge Lopez posted two holds and his first save of the season. Lopez currently leads the staff with six wins out of the bullpen. James Wood hit .333 with a homer and six RBI. And Keibert Ruiz batted .278 with three RBI, plus his parents flew in from Venezuela to see him play for the first time in the big leagues.
Last Week’s Humbled: Alex Call hit .154 while Josh Bell batted 1 for 9. The designated hitter has just a pair of RBIs this month. Trevor Williams allowed five runs over 3.2 innings of work while reliever Zach Brzykcy surrendered two runs over one inning.
Game to Watch: On Friday, the Nationals begin a series at Arizona (they took two of three against the Diamondbacks in April) and face Merrill Kelly (5-2, 3.52 ERA), whose turn did not come up in D.C. Irvin tries to win his third straight start for the first time since last June.
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