Washington Nationals Banking On Young Core to Improve Next Season
The Washington Nationals were a surprisingly pesky team in 2024. That is, for those who have not been paying attention to the young core that they have built.
Much of that core is now on the Major League roster, with only Robert Hassell left to make the jump to MLB. James Wood and Dylan Crews both made their debuts in 2024, to varying levels of success. CJ Abrams has been a Major League player for a few years now and saw his biggest offensive improvement in 2024.
Wood had a fine showing in 2024, posting a 122 OPS+ across 336 plate appearances. His ceiling may be a 20-home run hitter, though, which is disappointing for an outfielder listed at 6-7, 234 pounds.
Crews struggled to find his footing after debuting in August. He did show flashes of what he is capable of down the stretch, but still only posted an 82 OPS+. A full year of MLB may see him with better offensive production.
Abrams combined to post an 89 OPS+ across 2022 and 2023, though he did improve from a 75 in 2022 to a 96 in 2023. In 2024, he performed above league average offensively for the first time in his career, with a 110 OPS+. Defensively, however, he graded out as the worst position player in all of baseball at every position. As a shortstop, that offensive production will need to be much closer to a 150 OPS+ to counter the atrocities seen on defense.
It is a solid core that Mike Rizzo has built for the organization, one that will see their rebuild not be as lengthy as those in the past. To this point in the offseason, however, instead of adding a proven veteran to bolster the roster, they have seemingly pushed their chips all in on this young core and expect more improvement in 2025.
The Nationals did sign Mike Soroka, who is all too familiar with the National League East as a former member of the Atlanta Braves. After missing both 2021 and 2022 with injuries, however, he has failed to be a viable Major League pitcher, posting a 5.22 ERA across 112 innings in 2023 and 2024.
There are options that are still available for the club to add that would further improve their outlook for 2025. Pete Alonso, Christian Walker, and Paul Goldschmidt would all be great additions to first base.
To this point in the offseason, the club has seemed more willing to rest on their laurels and hope that their young core takes another step forward in 2025.
