Joey Meneses hits lots of things. It is a year since he took Washington by storm, and he is still hitting lots of things. In fact, you can make the case that he has hit more things this year, as he's got 49 RBIs right now and will pass 100 hits this week. Because of the way WAR works, last season was better for Meneses because he struck out less and his more home runs, but Meneses can still hit for power, contact and multiple bases, and considering that he still plays for the Washington Nationals, this is a very good thing.
Though...one of the Nationals' best all-around hitters is a 31-year-old sophomore who's already paling in comparison to his rookie year.
That's really the thing about the Nats, they have great players but they all have these goofy asterisks attached to them that hold the team back from feeling legitimate. Their two best players are kind of immune from this, Lane Thomas and Jeimer Candelario, they're imperfect but are making this team somewhat respectable. But like, you get all these young breaths of fresh air in the lineup and they all turn out to be in their late 20s. Alex Call is great, he's good for the team, but he's already spent enough time in the minors, he's 28 right now. Stone Garrett has some punch, he's 27 and a sophomore.
I think the biggest thing about this team is that it consists of so many high ranking prospects. Keibert Ruiz, Josiah Gray, MacKenzie Gore, C.J. Abrams, Michael Chavis, Jeter Downs, Derek Hill...Stephen Strasburg I guess. But the first bunch of them, were all high ranking prospects in their own systems, and were all let go to make room for bigger options. Abrams and Gore got traded because the Padres had proven options both at shortstop and in the rotation. Chavis got dealt to make room for Trevor Story. Ruiz was parted with because Will Smith wasn't going anywhere. And so they're all trying to make it work here, even if they're all clearly not worth it enough to still be on the teams that developed them. Thomas coming here for Jon Lester was a rare foresight by a team dealing with the Nats. Everything else, they probably knew what they were doing.
And so that's where this team is at. People who could have been stars in other markets doing alright in this one. Dom Smith only has 6 home runs, clearly Pete Alonso blocking him in Queens wasn't the problem. C.J. Abrams has 16 steals and 36 RBIs but still isn't the defender we thought he'd be. Ruiz, after a great full-year in Washington last year, is dangerously okay. And all they have to play this week is disappointing teams that are, at the very least, better than them.
I don't know...what this means for the Nats' eventual development. I don't know when this team will be able to compete again. If the Reds are any indication, it could happen at any moment, but the Nats don't have the farm system the Reds do. Though...they do have that Wood guy they got for Soto, so who knows.
Coming Tomorrow- Only in Kansas City can someone I've literally never heard of completely outdo an entire team of people paid to play good baseball.
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