Stone Cold

 

As we speak, the Nationals are playing the Phillies in the annual Little League Classic in Williamsport. I always love this whenever they do it, I love the interactions between the MLBers and the little leaguers. Seeing Garrett Stubbs and Dom Smith hanging out with little leaguers from around the country, that is why you do it. Even better that the Yankees get to do it next season, though I don't blame the MLB brass for not picking Tampa.

Among the many Nats having a good time right now is Stone Garrett. Garrett, as well as being a strong outfield bat and fun player to watch, has been one of the moral backbones of this team. The Nats this year aren't...GOOD, but in a number of places they are fun. Here more than anywhere else, you get the sense that it's just this mad assortment of players that have wound up here, and they've gotta do what they can to keep at it for another month, so they might as well have a good time. You get guys like Garrett, Dom Smith, Josiah Gray and Joey Meneses who may not have a starring role in other situations but are making the most of it here, and are enjoying every last second.

Garrett especially was having trouble finding a place to get reps in. Drafted by the Marlins, Garrett struggled to do anything in the minors, and was hampered even further by the minor league stoppage of 2020. After that non-season, Garrett was cut, picked up by the Diamondbacks, improved in Amarillo and Reno, and managed to crack the majors last year at 26. In 27 games last year, Garrett hit .276 with 4 homers and 10 RBIs. It was a decent showing, but with Jake McCarthy, Alek Thomas, Corbin Carroll, Pavin Smith and Lourdes Gurriel looking at OF spots going into 2023, there was no room for Garrett, as good as he was. Hence him landing in Washington this year.

Thankfully, the Nats had a much more open outfield scenario, and Garrett worked his way into a starting spot eventually. This year he's been a perfectly capable OF option with great contact ability, hitting .279 with 40 RBIs and 9 homers, as well as the lead in OPS with .825 for the team. Even when he was working off the bench in Phoenix, Garrett always had this fun, 'look what he can do' sort of factor to him, and he still wields that sort of unpredictable x-factor. Somebody like Dom Smith or even C.J. Abrams has slightly less of that, so the Nats building up their team with guys like that is a good plan for the future, even if many of them are temporary options.

The big twist of this year for Washington is that they're within a game or so of overtaking the Mets for 4th place. In a year where the Mets were gonna go all the way, them potentially sitting in last as the Nats move up to fourth is an insane development. Even more insane, the Nats have approached 'good' stats lately, and they're 11-6 since August began. This is a year where the Washington Nationals, with Patrick Corbin as the ace, are 11-6 in August and the Yankees can barely win 5 games. And I kinda love that the Nats are going there, and that they have people like Lane Thomas, Josiah Gray and, again, Stone Garrett, who can push them over the edge.

And so, even when the name of the game is being fun, like in Williamsport, the Nats will still be leaving this series as a fun, relatively watchable option, despite having zero chance of advancing.

Coming Tomorrow- He was getting nothing done in Arlington, then he found a place that really needed starting innings.