The lack of a plan at the plate cost the Washington Nationals in their loss last night
The Washington Nationals offense showcased one of their biggest flaws last night in their 4-3 loss against the Braves. Too many hitters came to the plate without much of a plan. They were helping out Braves pitchers too much by expanding the zone and not using their count leverage.
I was listening to Nats Chat, and they talked about this for a bit. They highlighted all the times Nationals hitters got ahead in counts either 2-0 or 3-1, yet they still chased breaking balls in those spots. It seemed like Braves pitchers had a plan to force Nats hitters into their swing happy tendencies and did not deviate from that even when they fell behind in the count.
The most notable example of this was CJ Abrams at bat in the top of the 8th with two on and nobody out. Abrams got five pitches, none in the zone. After two balls, he chased a slider at his ankles. Then in a 3-1 count, he expanded again, grounding into a double play on a slider in the zone.
I do not want to pick on CJ because he has been one of the Nats best players this season and he has shown some improvement in his plate discipline. However, his swing happy nature got the best of him in this at bat, turning a walk into a double play.
He is far from the only guy to have this issue. The Nationals approach as a team has not been great. They have the 8th highest chase rate in the league, while swinging at pitches in the zone at the second lowest rate of any team. That is not a great combination to have and it has been costing them in this offensive slump.
After showing some potential, the Nats offense has really struggled this week. That lack of an approach is a big reason why the offense can be so streaky. The Nationals have scored six runs in their last four games while facing Erick Fedde, Andre Pallante, Miles Mikolas, and Grant Holmes.
Some of this falls on hitting coach Darnell Coles. Throughout his tenure as hitting coach, the teams approach at the plate has left a lot to be desired. They have also consistently ranked at the top of the league in ground ball rate.
Not all of this is on him though. The Nationals hitters are big leaguers and need to be smarter. Abrams needs to find a way to lay off of 2-0 and 3-1 sliders below the zone. Nats hitters can’t constantly be letting Grant Holmes back into counts by chasing his junk.
You can blame whoever you want, but it is clear that Nationals hitters need a better approach at the plate. They need to draw more walks and do a better job finding quality pitches to hit.
I think bringing in a new voice to be a hitting coach would help, but it would not solve everything. It is on the players themselves to be smarter and do some of their own planning. Teams know that Nationals hitters will chase breaking balls, even when they are ahead in counts. They will continue to use this approach until Nats hitters can show teams it does not work.
The fact that opponents are counting on Nats hitters to make bad swing decisions even when the hitters have count leverage is not good. It just shows the lack of discipline that many of our hitters have. Outside of James Wood, Alex Call, and Nathaniel Lowe, guys just aren’t generating walks. However, even more concerning than the lack of walks is the lack of a plan. The Nationals are going to have to fix that if the offense is to get back on track.