The offensive defense

[varoadking]

Except improvement is continuous.

My point...drills should not be reactionary...they should be proactive...

This is something that wouldn't have happened a year ago

...and you can thank dimwit dave for that...

[Slateman]

My point...drills should not be reactionary...they should be proactive...

...and you can thank dimwit dave for that...

All training is reactionary.

We are deficient at X, therefore we should do A, B, &C

[PowerBoater69]

Jayson Werth wasn't a fan of infield drills, he didn't even play infield, but he helped chase Riggleman out over the drills.

https://www.federalbaseball.com/2011/10/9/2479227/the-washington-nationals-jayson-werth-and-practice-infield-and

[English Natsie]

Kaizen Nationals...

[Smithian]

I believe major league players should take infield routinely. Reality is they hate it and think as professionals they don't need to do so. I remember back in 2009 reading in astonishments the Nats defense got better by moving Dunn to 1B and the team started taking infield.

I don't think we're to the point of moving players (Abrams to 2B), but infield is a bare minimum. This team has earned Butera treating them like he did the Charleston RiverDogs.

Coaching alone won't fix this. You can improve guys on the margins, but after thousands of games from childhood to their more formative years to the minors, players are mostly who they are. They may be disappoint, but they rarely surprise. You can't be a good defensive team starfting Vivas, Garcia, and Abrams in the infield. They can be better than they are right now, but to be better in the future will require personnel changes.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I know time, effort, and concentration are limited in life and in any profession, so I get why players might rather spend prep on hitting and loosening their arms, but seeing balls come off bats, picking them up, and throwing helps real game reactions, and practicing specific plays like covering bases, how to deal with double steals, etc... makes for less panic in games.

[aspenbubba]

.

Coaching alone won't fix this. You can improve guys on the margins, but after thousands of games from childhood to their more formative years to the minors, players are mostly who they are. They may be disappoint, but they rarely surprise. You can't be a good defensive team starfting Vivas, Garcia, and Abrams in the infield. They can be better than they are right now, but to be better in the future will require personnel changes.

You nailed it. The games in MiLB should focus not only hitting but defense and base running . The problem is the minor league teams don't have enough coaches per team. I'm sure the emphasis is scoring and wins and not how the team performed.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

You nailed it. The games in MiLB should focus not only hitting but defense and base running . The problem is the minor league teams don't have enough coaches per team. I'm sure the emphasis is scoring and wins and not how the team performed.

Coaching shortage is no longer an issue in the minors. They've hired like crazy.

This is now a development focused organization. They're spending on coaches and tools at all levels (cynically,  it's cheaper than free agents). It's just this org was so poor on resources to help with skills that there's going to be some bad play as things catch up.

[Slateman]

Honestly, I don't know that there is much that can be done to improve fielding at the MLB level. Even rushing guys up like we have, they've been fielding their positions for hundreds of games. It's why I'm miffed over CJ continuing to play shortstop. No one who trades for him is going to look at him as a shortstop unless they literally have no one else. They're trading for his bat and they'll plug him in at 2B.

[Smithian]

You nailed it. The games in MiLB should focus not only hitting but defense and base running . The problem is the minor league teams don't have enough coaches per team. I'm sure the emphasis is scoring and wins and not how the team performed.

Coaching shortage is no longer an issue in the minors. They've hired like crazy.

This is now a development focused organization. They're spending on coaches and tools at all levels (cynically,  it's cheaper than free agents). It's just this org was so poor on resources to help with skills that there's going to be some bad play as things catch up.

The good news is, as JCA pointed out, the organization has been staffed up. I have a post a couple months back comparing the Red Wings and FredNats staff announcements in 2026 vs 2025 and you can really see a big increase in number of bodies.

I wonder how much of the lack of staffing was cost-based versus just attention based. I am open to the idea that the upper echelons of Nats hierarchy in the 2020's, off a World Series win and a decade where the system cranked out all stars and Hall of Fame talents, didn't care enough to really get in the weeds of updating the minor league system. The whole organization it feels forgot to evolve until it was too late.

Even with more staffing, I just generally feel the organization hasn't prioritized pitching and defense in recent years. The best young defenders we have are Jacob Young, who was college trained, and Nasim Nunez, who came up with the Marlins. Brady House, Daylen Lile, James Wood all came up as at least average defenders and have not been as advertised in the field.

I have to think that culture of overlooking gloves has contributed to some real pitching development weakness in recent years.

[aspenbubba]

Coaching shortage is no longer an issue in the minors. They've hired like crazy.

This is now a development focused organization. They're spending on coaches and tools at all levels (cynically,  it's cheaper than free agents). It's just this org was so poor on resources to help with skills that there's going to be some bad play as things catch up.

The issue remains as SOME of our present position players came up in our system (House, Garcia,Lile) and are some of the most egregious offenders.  Did I miss anyone? Perhaps the others were just marginally average defensive players and the brief time they spent in our minors they were not able to be coached up due to emphasis in other areas or they were just who they were.

[imref]

Ultimately the biggest issue is that we just have poor defenders. Abrams has consistently been the worst, if not among the worst, shortstops in baseball. Garcia Jr. got moved out of the SS position because he couldn't field. Kiebert is awful. House has struggled at 3rd. Lile and Wood are at best average defenders.

We don't fix the defensive issues without getting better players.

[Elvir Ovcina]

The issue remains as SOME of our present position players came up in our system (House, Garcia,Lile) and are some of the most egregious offenders.  Did I miss anyone? Perhaps the others were just marginally average defensive players and the brief time they spent in our minors they were not able to be coached up due to emphasis in other areas or they were just who they were.

House is 22 and didn't play 3B until 2023.  If he's still booting them like this a year from now, I'll worry.

Garcia isn't a long-term issue.  He probably shouldn't be on a major league roster now and I can't imagine he will be next year.

Lile was always going to be a bit of an issue defensively with his arm.  He looks playable in LF to me, and again, they also wasted some time in the minors (and even MLB) with him having him play positions he was plainly not going to be able to handle at the MLB level.

If they didn't care about egos or trade value, they should just switch Nunez and Abrams and solve two problems at once (Abrams can't really play SS, and Nunez can't hit enough to play anywhere but SS).

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I'm still shocked they offered arb to Garcia. I don't know what they saw that led them to think he had a 1st base bat and he'd field the spot like Keith Hernandez

Absolutely correct to say many of the dogs on d are system guys. Maybe they thought a year of coaching could help athletic poor fielders

[varoadking]

Maybe they thought a year of coaching could help athletic poor fielders

But Buttera has already conceded they haven't coached defense in a meaningful manner to this point.  Besides...it's simply too late for that...they are what they are...

[Slateman]

But Buttera has already conceded they haven't coached defense in a meaningful manner to this point.  Besides...it's simply too late for that...they are what they are...

Except Buttera didn't and we've already seen improvement in some fielders, mainly Lile and Wood.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I would love to see the Nats bring in the 3rd base coach from Cora's staff who was let go. He's an outstanding outfield coach. Abreu and Rafaela love him as do the rest. He's a hot commodity. If you don't want to change Butera's staff, make him system overlord of OF defense.

[varoadking]

I would love to see the Nats bring in the 3rd base coach from Cora's staff who was let go. He's an outstanding outfield coach. Abreu and Rafaela love him as do the rest. He's a hot commodity. If you don't want to change Butera's staff, make him system overlord of OF defense.

He probably makes more than Buttera...

[IanRubbish]

I'm still shocked they offered arb to Garcia

I usually get their play-the-contract or make someone a trade piece approach, but this one really makes no sense.  They pay him more than just about anyone else on the team to OPS .600 at 1B with a bad glove.  I'd rather see Chapparo, Yo-Yo, anyone else there. 

Only thing I can think of is he saved one of the Lerners' lives, has dirt on Paul Toboni, or has compromising photos of Screech.

[imref]

Nusbaum says they did defensive drills five hours before today's game.

[varoadking]

Nusbaum says they did defensive drills five hours before today's game.

Did House gat a hall pass?

[JCA-CrystalCity]

While CJ and House have received a lot of our criticism, it's also fair to point out that the Mead/ Garcia platoon has been another major under-performing position.

Using the statcast fielding runs above average measure on Fangraphs for teams by position, the ranks are:

2B 5 (4th)
CF 3 (8th)
C 1 FRV (15th)
RF 0 (15th)
LF -1 (19th)
3B -2 (22nd)
1B -4 (27th)
SS -7 (30th)

 A further look at Chappy, Garcia, and Mead individually says all that -4 is due to Mead. That just one measure, but OAA has him -5 and Garcia just -1. Garcia has played more innings, 199 vs 160. It's 2 guys new to the position, but they were infielders before the move.

[English Natsie]

Reds booth crew described our 2026 Nationals as 'The Defence Of Demise...' 

[Squab]

your SS -> 1B combo being bad is probably like the worst two position combo platter of doodoo

[Smithian]

Not good.