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I don't think it's a bad idea to move Young to the 4th outfielder spot if that's the best way to construct the roster with the players on the team, but I'll be a bit annoyed if the Nats are benching a 2-3 WAR player while sub-replacement level players are starting every day (*cough* Ruiz *cough*).
Yes. Don't go out and replace Jacob Young until you figure out how to approach C, 1B, 3B, and DH. Yepez is promising but needs to finish strong before we pencil him in for Opening Day '25, catcher is a mess, DH is wide open, and 3B is a bunch of intriguing minor league options who haven't done anything yet in the maors.You replace someone like Jacob Young if a prospect like RHIII pops, otherwise put resources to more lacking spots.
so extend Young
If James Wood and Dylan Crews are who we hope they are, Jacob Young can be carried in CF and hitting #9.If you have a player in the minors who pops or you see a value in the trade market, you make a move to replace Young. But I'm not expending resources replace a cost controlled CF who with minor offensive improvement could be a 3 to 4 WAR player., especially when DH and 3B are holes and you're not sure you if you have options at C and 1B.
I think it may come down to playing Wood wherever he's most comfortable. If he truly is better in right than left, then Crews has to play center, which pushes Young back down to 4th OF. You should be able to get a corner outfielder who can bop so you may have a situation where you have the .800+ OPS guy.Who knows - Maybe there's a team with a big hitting corner OF looking for a great defensive CF and willing to deal?
See, I look at Crews and Wood and feel like, between them, you have above average to good defense in CF and RF. Which means you can leverage LF for a bat, and use young as a late game defensive replacement, and maybe platoon option against LHP.To me it depends on what the difference is between Young and Crews' defense. I have a really hard time believing that Young is so much better that he makes up for not having an .800+ OPS in LF
Jacob Young, NationalsYoung isn’t just having a strong defensive season, he’s having an elite one, leading the Major Leagues in Outs Above Average – making him highly likely to become just the 18th player to win a Gold Glove as a rookie. This, after not even making the Opening Day roster, as the Nationals chose to go with the defensively limited Eddie Rosario as a surprise center fielder.It’s not with elite and crisp routes, that’s for sure – Washington’s rookie outfielder rates dead last in route-running, believe it or not. But he has the quickest reactions (feet covered in the first 1.5 seconds), and 97th percentile Sprint Speed, and ultimately he gets off to the best jumps in baseball (feet covered in the right direction in the first three seconds), just ahead of Varsho and Kevin Kiermaier – who we argued last summer was legitimately one of the best outfield defenders to ever live.It’s all reminiscent of Jackie Bradley Jr., himself a long-time elite defender, who also prioritized outstanding reactions over line-perfect routes on his way to becoming one of the best defenders of his generation.
The one highlight from last night - another notch in the case for a gold glove (and great job with the commentary):https://x.com/awfulannouncing/status/1824265406133178447
Among Baseball Savant’s outfield defense metrics is “Jump,” or how much ground a defender travels in the right direction the first three seconds after contact. Young gets 3.8 more feet of a jump than the average outfielder, which is the best figure in baseball. This stat has three components: Reaction, burst, and route. Reaction is the distance covered in any direction in the first 1.5 seconds; burst is distance covered in the 1.5 seconds after that. Route debits the fielder for running more than the distance prescribed by a direct route.Young is actually not a good route-runner, and his “burst” speed is above average but not league leading. The entire ballgame is in that first 1.5 seconds, in which Young travels 4.6 feet more than the average defender. Nobody else in the entire league is more than 2.4 feet above average.......Young is basically league average in terms of actually running for 1.5 seconds. That means he’s making up all that ground and then some by being decisive.
With his recent hot streak he's up to 2.7 fWAR. 10th amongst all major league CFers. Probably the best 4th outfielder in baseball.
I didn't have the feel that he's been doing this well 2d half, but that kind of offense can play any day with his D. I've felt his personal breakeven on offense is a .320 OBP. His ISO is way up to .139 over this stretch, so he's Kiermaier with a better OBP.
He would be great on a team with lots of pop. On the Nationals not so much. Time will tell.
Young is doing fine. Look to improve 3B, 1B, the bullpen, and find a starting pitcher who is more like an ace than Gore...and find another, whether in-house ouit of Susana, Sykora, or externally.IYoung in CF is the least to be worried about.
