We’ve talked a lot about how the Nationals need pitching and help at first base. One position we haven’t really talked about yet, though, is DH. For most of last season, Josh Bell was the DH, while Nathaniel Lowe played first base. What will the Nats do now that both guys are gone?
Well, it looks like the Nats won’t be bringing in a full-time DH like they did last year. Instead, the Nats get a rotation at the position. This makes a lot of sense and it was what the team did after Nathaniel Lowe was let go in August.
Teams have figured out that unless you have an elite masher at DH like Kyle Schwarber or Shohei Ohtani, it’s smart to rotate. This allows you to rest players without taking them out of the lineup. It also helps you play the matchups.
Mark Zuckerman reported that the new regime led by Paul Toboni seems to favor this rotation strategy. With the Nationals’ abundance of outfielders, this makes a lot of sense. The Nats have a lot of bodies and rotating the DH position will get these young guys more playing time.
With that in mind, who are some potential candidates for this DH rotation? Well, the first is James Wood. He really played 33 games at DH last year and should do something like that again. Wood does not great defensive outfielder, but he’s also not bad enough to make a full-time DH. With his athleticism, he should work on improving in the outfield, but playing DH once or twice a week wouldn’t be a bad thing either.
Daylen Lile is another outfielder who could spend time at DH. Like Wood, he is a good athlete, but not a good defender. Both Wood and Lile should get the occasional DH day to get a defensive specialist like Jacob Young into the lineup. Lile plays a big role in the Nats’ future, so keeping him fresh is a positive. However, improving his defense should also be a big goal this year.
Whoever the Nats bring in to play first base will most likely get the occasional DH day as well. Considering first base is at the bottom of the defensive pyramid, that only makes sense. The Nats also have Luis Garcia Jr., who has been working on playing first base.
Speaking of Garcia, he’s another candidate for DH. As of now, he is the Nats’ starting second baseman. However, he is a poor defender and is said to be playing more at first base this season. Why not put him at DH too?
There will probably be days where Blake Butera wants Nasim Nunez’s defense and just puts Garcia at DH. It will be interesting to see if they would ever experiment with playing Nunez at shortstop and CJ Abrams at second base on those days. Toboni and Butera have made it clear that they view Abrams as a shortstop, but giving him some defensive versatility could be interesting.
Whenever Nunez played second and Abrams played shortstop last year, I had to chuckle a little because Nunez is so much better as a defensive shortstop. It was clear that the organization was prioritizing Abrams, but it still made me chuckle.
Since the DH came to the National League, the Nats have had a full-time DH. Whether it was Nelson Cruz, Joey Meneses, Jesse Winker or Josh Bell, the Nats usually had someone playing DH every day. Like so many other things, that will change in the Paul Toboni era.
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