Washington Nationals Dave Martinez Speaks on Team’s Offensive Struggles

Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez offered some words on his team's recent struggles at the plate.

Sep 12, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez (4) walks to the pitcher's mound to make a pitching change against the Miami Marlins during the seventh inning at Nationals Park. / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The end of the 2024 season has not gone as well as the Washington Nationals were hoping that it would.

Despite being eliminated from the postseason, they had a chance to still impact the playoff race in the National League. After finishing their series with the Miami Marlins, their last 13 games of the season were against teams with winning records in the playoff hunt.

It was an opportunity for a young team to take part in games that had something on the line. But, if this is a sign of how things are going to be with a little pressure, there are a lot of changes that need to be made.

The Nationals have been getting destroyed by the playoff teams who are a few tiers above them. They have lost eight of their last nine games, scoring a grand total of 14 runs and being shut out four times, including three in a row.

Their entire lineup has gone cold at once, scoreless in 31 consecutive innings. Manger Dave Martinez believes that his young team is pressing too much and they just need to get back to basics.

“I think they’re pressing, for sure,” Davey Martinez explained, via Patrick Reddington of Federal Baseball. “We’ve just got to go out there relaxed tomorrow and just get a good pitch to hit. Once again, we put ourselves in bad situations, one, by taking early fastballs and then chasing. We got to be ready to hit early. We’re fouling a lot of balls off we should be hitting. We got to start putting those balls in play.”

On an encouraging note, it is nice to see that the players haven’t stopped trying. This drought isn’t from a lack of effort, as they give it their all on the field, something is just not clicking.

The absence of All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams, who was demoted last weekend for disciplinary reasons, could certainly play a part. This is also a young team with a few players getting their first taste of the Big Leagues; maybe they are a little tired in the last week of the regular season.

“Nobody’s given up here, I know that,” Martinez said. “It’s just — when you got guys on base and we’re not scoring runs, they’re just going up there and trying to be that guy, which is what happens, especially with young guys. They just got to go up there, relax, and like I said just try to hit the ball hard. You can’t guide it, so just go up there and put a good swing on it and try to hit the ball hard.”

While the results aren’t there, this is a good learning experience for a young team. It also gives the front office a chance to access things and see where improvements need to be made this offseason.