Four players clear waivers, come off 40-man roster

Four players clear waivers, come off 40-man roster
Four Nationals players with major league experience have cleared outright waivers and have been assigned to the Triple-A Fresno roster, the club announced this afternoon. Infielder Adrián Sanchez and right-handers Aaron Barrett, Paolo Espino and Austen Williams were placed on waivers and were not claimed by any other clubs. They'll remain in the Nationals organization but are now off the 40-man roster. Barrett and Espino appeared in a few games for the Nats this season. Sanchez and...

Updates on Adon, Cate, Wells, Bourque and Williams

Updates on Adon, Cate, Wells, Bourque and Williams
Here are some more updates on pitchers who were working at the alternate camp site in Fredericksburg, Va., during the regular season. A few of them have moved over to the instructional league in West Palm Beach, Fla., for the next month. This is third installment on pitchers who were working out in Fredericksburg. Top-rated prospects Cade Cavalli and Jackson Rutledge also were at the alternate site and have moved on to West Palm Beach. Right-hander Joan Adon is in Florida at instructional...

Solid spring, summer have helped Bourque build confidence

Solid spring, summer have helped Bourque build confidence
James Bourque started Saturday's sim game at Nats Park. It was good for the right-hander to get some work in, because the Nationals will have five days between their last game, against the Blue Jays, and their next matchup, Tuesday against the Mets. Bourque pitched an inning against the Yankees July 25 and then 1/3 of an inning July 28 against the Blue Jays. So he will go a minimum of seven days without game appearances. And he's not the only one. Saturday was an important opportunity for...

Austen Williams close to all the way back, preps now for 2020

Austen Williams close to all the way back, preps now for 2020
It was good to see Austen Williams back in the Nationals clubhouse during the Orioles series. The right-hander has missed 116 games on the injured list with a sprained right AC joint shoulder injury. He was originally put on the IL on April 19. The Texas State hurler appeared in two games against the Giants April 16-17 and got shelled, allowing six runs on five hits with just one out recorded. Incredibly, his ERA is listed at 162.00. After those games he felt significant shoulder soreness. The...

Adams is up, Williams to injured list; Doolittle could have night off

Adams is up, Williams to injured list; Doolittle could have night off
MIAMI - Nationals manager Davey Martinez said the Nats will not take the Marlins lightly despite their 4-15 start as they begin a three-game set indoors at Marlins Park. The Nats were 13-6 against thre Marlins last season. This is their first meeting in 2019. "We got to concentrate on today," Martinez said. "They understand that any given day we are facing a good opponent in Caleb Smith. So, we got to be ready to go. We got to play our kind of baseball. "Every game matters. Regardless of...

Williams is next man up in ever-changing bullpen

Williams is next man up in ever-changing bullpen
Austen Williams figured something was up when he was summoned out of Fresno's bullpen in the third inning of Friday night's game at Las Vegas. He knew he wasn't being called in to pitch that early in a game. Sure enough, Williams' hunch was correct. He was being called up to Washington, and now he had to race the clock (and the sun) to get to D.C. in time for today's 4:05 p.m. game against the Pirates. Williams' itinerary: A red-eye flight from Las Vegas to Chicago, then a connecting...

Game 13 lineups: Nats vs. Pirates

Game 13 lineups: Nats vs. Pirates
The sun is out, and it's going to be a warm afternoon here on South Capitol Street as the Nationals and Pirates return to action after last night's rainy (and frustrating, for the Nats) affair. They'll try to get back on track with Aníbal Sánchez on the mound, though, as we all know, the performance of the starter matters less than the performance of whichever relievers are summoned from the bullpen to replace said starter. On that front, the Nationals have a new face in the bullpen...

Williams and Sanchez optioned, Noll still on roster

Williams and Sanchez optioned, Noll still on roster
The Nationals optioned reliever Austen Williams and infielder Adrián Sanchez to Triple-A Fresno this morning, all but finalizing their opening day roster with only one final question left to answer: Has non-roster invitee Jake Noll made the club, or is there another outside acquisition pending to fill the last spot on the bench? The Williams and Sanchez moves leave the Nationals with 28 players officially on their spring training roster. Included on that roster, however, are three players...

Corbin changes things up, rebounds after rocky start to set tone

Corbin changes things up, rebounds after rocky start to set tone
JUPITER, Fla. - Take away the first five Cardinals batters faced by Nationals pitching - all reaching base via hit, erasing a 2-0 deficit - and Davey Martinez would have spent his postgame press briefing talking about a day filled with dominant mound efforts. As it was, the Nationals were still pretty good - even starter Patrick Corbin, whose brief struggle with locating his fastball in the first inning allowed the Cardinals to take the lead for good in a game that breezed by in 2 hours, 19...

Lacking in trusted options, Nats 'pen taking a pounding

Lacking in trusted options, Nats 'pen taking a pounding
The Nationals had 12 pitchers sitting in their bullpen Tuesday night, but that doesn't mean Davey Martinez had an abundance of appealing options when he needed to call down there for an arm. Of those 12 relievers, only two were on the club's opening day roster: Matt Grace and Sammy Solís. Only four of them have pitched in 30 or more games for the Nats this season: Grace and Solis, Justin Miller and Wander Suero. Tim Collins has made 27 appearances over two stints in Washington. Greg...

Mistakes aplenty in Nats' 11-8 loss to Cards (updated)

Mistakes aplenty in Nats' 11-8 loss to Cards (updated)
In this summer of extremes for the Nationals, tonight's 11-8 loss to the Cardinals somehow felt appropriate. The Nats pitching staff posted zeros in six different innings during this game, often in impressive fashion. The lineup posted a four-spot in the bottom of the fifth with an impressive rally, then scored three times in the bottom of the ninth and brought the tying run to the plate. Unfortunately, the top of the second, sixth and ninth also counted in this contest, so the 11 combined...

Hellickson progresses to throwing curveballs (plus other notes)

Hellickson progresses to throwing curveballs (plus other notes)
Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson threw another bullpen session Saturday afternoon, this time integrating his curveball for the first time since going on the disabled list with a right wrist sprain. "Felt good," he said. "Threw about 45, 60 (pitches). I threw some curveballs. It felt fine." Hellickson said after a 30-pitch bullpen Wednesday in Philadelphia that he has shied away from throwing curveballs off the mound because it still hurt to throw the pitch. But he's been throwing a few...

Game 136 lineups: Nats vs. Brewers

Game 136 lineups: Nats vs. Brewers
The Nationals will send Stephen Strasburg to the hill this evening trying to even up their series with the Brewers and hoping the right-hander can continue to progress after being activated off the disabled list last month. Since returning a month on the DL with a cervical nerve impingement, Strasburg has twice faced the Phillies, working four innings in an 8-7 home win on Aug. 22 and six innings in a 5-3 triumph where he posted his seventh victory on Aug. 27 at Citizens Bank Park (his only win...

Nats prospects spotlight: Bacus, Williams and Gushue

Nats prospects spotlight: Bacus, Williams and Gushue
We have more insight from Mesa Solar Sox pitching coach Michael Tejera on the battery of Nationals pitchers and catchers employed in the Arizona Fall League this season. Right-hander Dakota Bacus appeared in eight games and 10 1/3 innings for the Solar Sox. Although he logged a 5.23 ERA in Arizona, he had an amazing year through two levels for the Nationals. Bacus combined to go 2-2 with a 1.80 ERA with five saves between high Single-A Potomac and Double-A Harrisburg over 23 games. He struck...

Astros hurler Brad Peacock began career with Nats (plus AFL update)

Astros hurler Brad Peacock began career with Nats (plus AFL update)
Right-hander Brad Peacock made a big splash in the World Series in Game 3, recording a save with 3 2/3 scoreless innings. He also appeared in the dramatic Game 5 last night, allowing two runs on three hits in 1 1/3 innings. If the name sounded familiar, you are correct. Peacock was a 41st-round draft pick of the Nationals in 2006. He pitched for the Nats in 2011 and went 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA. He has pitched 91 games with the Astros since 2013. Peacock remembered how the Nationals treated him...

Soto with big day, AFL roster set for Nats prospects

Soto with big day, AFL roster set for Nats prospects
Outfielder Juan Soto continued his rehab from hamate bone surgery with an outstanding performance with the Gulf Coast Nationals. Soto is a Top 100 prospect, and has put together his first professional five-hit performance by going 5-for-5 with a double, a triple, three RBIs and two runs scored in a game on September 2. Soto hit second and played right field in the GCL Nationals' 13-9 loss to GCL Cardinals. Soto is now considered the No. 2 overall prospect for the Nationals. Even with the loss,...

Luke Erickson: Checking out some early-season surprises on the farm

Luke Erickson: Checking out some early-season surprises on the farm
We're roughly three weeks into the minor league seasons - still in small sample size territory, but large enough to use as a story peg take notice. Before you start champing at the bit for these guys to get promoted, remember two things: The entire league hasn't seen them yet, and there has to be a space for him at the next level. At Single-A Hagerstown, Daniel Johnson caught my eye last season by racking up nine assists and four errors last summer in 62 games for short-season Single-A...

Instructional league work paying dividends now in cold January days

Instructional league work paying dividends now in cold January days
The progress the young pitchers in the Nationals system make during this offseason began with October and early November instructional league workouts and games. The fruits of that labor are not seen by fans right now. The work these players are doing right now is fortified by what they learned at instructional league this year. Thirty pitchers descended on the Nationals' Florida training facility at the end of the 2015 campaign and were given specific offseason regimens and points of emphasis...

Marmolejos, Voth and Williams take home organizational honors

Marmolejos, Voth and Williams take home organizational honors
The Nationals have named first baseman Jose Marmolejos-Diaz their organization player of the year, right-hander Austin Voth pitcher of the year and right-hander Austen Williams received the Bob Boone Award, MASNsports.com has learned. Low Single-A Hagerstown lefty-hitting first baseman Marmolejos-Diaz had a breakout season for the Suns. The 22-year-old Dominican Marmolejos-Diaz hit .310 in 124 games with 39 doubles, five triples, 11 homers and 87 RBIs. His on-base percentage was .363 and his...