Washington Nationals

Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals have kicked off 2026 spring training, and it will be fun to see how the team ends up faring over the next several weeks. We have not yet seen the team in action outside of some social media clips and first-hand accounts from those close to the action, but this is always a fun time of the year.

In March, the Nationals will have two players competing in the tournament. Infielder Matt Mervis, 27, the Potomac, MD native, who the team signed this Winter to a minor-league deal, is competing for Team Israel, for which he is eligible through his Jewish parents and eligible for Israeli citizenship and to play for Team Israel and therefore can obtain Israeli citizenship.

This is the first time that TalkNats has published a separate part of this annual-ish guide for the coaching staff. But these are unusual times. The manager and all but one of his twelve coaches are entirely new to the Washington Nationals organization. All but one of them are younger than the oldest active MLB player. Some confusion, as we try to figure out who's who in the dugout, is understandable.

Throughout the majority of this offseason, the front office of the Washington Nationals has been busy. While I don't think you would find a Nationals fan out there that isn't frustrated with the team's lack of aggression on the free agent front heading into spring training, the club will certainly still look a lot different than the last time we saw this team take the field.

That feeling is primarily because pitchers and catchers are reporting in just a few days, however a solid amount of solid big league talent is still out there and could potentially be had for the Nationals. Whether or not they can convince any veteran to take either a cheap or short-term deal remains to be seen, and many free agents might just want to wait it out and wait for a competitive team to get desperate.

A starter earlier in his career, Pilkington moved to a relief role full time and saw his four-seamer clock in at a career-high 94.5 mph average. He logged an 11.6% swinging-strike rate in the majors, just north of the 11% league-average, and logged a gaudier 13.8% swinging-strike rate in Triple-A. Pilkington still has one minor league option year remaining, and while his overall track record in Triple-A isn't good, he notched a 2.59 ERA in 42 1/3 innings with Washington's top affiliate in Rochester this past season.

The Nationals have claimed left-hander Ken Waldichuk off waivers from the Rays, according to announcements from both clubs.

A turbulent offseason for the Nationals has seen a number of players depart, and yet, the team has still not signed on a hitter to a major league contract. It's a puzzling development; the Nats front office is forthcoming about its uncompetitiveness in 2026, but teams without playoff hopes still frequently sign players to one-year deals with the upside of flipping them to a contending team for prospects come the trade deadline if they perform well.

A third-round pick by the Padres in 2016, Thompson has pitched in parts of four big league seasons between the Friars and the Nationals. The 6'6″, 240-pound righty been tagged for a 5.21 ERA in 114 innings, with a gruesome 11.81 ERA (16 runs in 10 2/3 innings) this past season skewing that mark a bit. Though Thompson's 2025 performance was rocky to say the least - he also posted an ERA over 6.00 in 16 minor league frames -

Montes de Oca was drafted by the Mets in 2018, and a few years ago, he had the potential to be an elite Major League reliever. In AAA with the Mets in 2022, Montes de Oca posted a 3.44 ERA and struck out a whopping 56 batters in just 34 innings. The big right showcased that he had elite stuff that could get swings and misses from batters. However, Montes de Oca has had Tommy John surgery two times in the past three years.

Have you ever played the "blame game"? It's easy to point a finger at others, and when you do that - three fingers are usually pointing back at you. For some, it is difficult to choose accountability as you look into the mirror. After a firing of bosses, some use that as the excuse that the system was flawed - and maybe it was in partial terms. One bad apple shouldn't spoil the whole bunch.

The catcher began his journey through the minor leagues with the Dodgers, who signed him out of Venezuela in 2019. Valladares was one of a few Venezuelan catching prospects in the Dodgers' system alongside Diego Cartaya and Keibert Ruiz. Both Cartaya and Ruiz eventually left the Dodgers via trade, but Valladares remained with the Dodgers and trudged his way through L.A.'s farm system.

He made his long-awaited Major League debut just 364 days after the Nationals drafted him. He excelled in college at San Diego State University, where Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn coached him, and in his MLB debut, oh boy, did he shine. In just seven innings of work, he struck out 14 Pittsburgh Pirates, allowed two runs on four hits, and didn't walk an opposing batter. The anticipation for greatness built, and although injury cut his rookie season short,

The Washington Nationals have finally made a pivotal decision that fans had been waiting on for awhile now. No, they have not decided to trade All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams yet, although that could possibly be on the horizon despite President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni's most recent comments, but there was a big decision made. That decision actually did not come with anything related to

Before you read any of this, use this article for entertainment purposes because it discusses risky gambling in a hedge against buying tickets to see your Washington Nationals. This idea came from Twitter/X's, Crabcakes&Football, an account that frequently gets salty about the Nats. And that account certainly isn't alone in the growing pessimism. A discussion with constant curmudgeon, @dclandofnerds, led to an X.com discussion (see below) that led to this article.