Led by Abrams and Wood, the Nationals offense showed how special it can be and why it can be so frustrating when they struggle
Now this is the Washington Nationals offense we want to see. After a recent malaise, the Nats offense woke up in a big way this weekend against the O’s. They scored 24 runs in their three game sweep of the Orioles, including 20 in the last two games.
Yes, it does come with the caveat that the Baltimore Orioles pitching staff is a disaster, but seeing that offensive output makes you dream of what is to come. The big guns really went to work in those last two games. CJ Abrams is now hitting .312 with a .942 OPS after his Sunday explosion, where he had three extra base hits.
James Wood also has an OPS over .900 and has been a constant threat all season. While those guys have been clicking all year, they also got production from other guys, which has been a struggle. Luis Garcia Jr., Josh Bell and Dylan Crews all homered yesterday, which was massive.
Those are three guys the Nats were really counting on heading into the season, and they have all struggled. Getting those guys hot, as well as Nathaniel Lowe, would make this lineup extremely dangerous. We know these guys have some talent, they just haven’t shown much of it this season, especially those first three. Lowe was good in March and April, but has really slumped in May.
First and foremost, the Nationals need to prove this series was not a fluke where they punished a bad pitching staff. The team had been ice cold offensively entering this series, getting nothing from the non Wood and Abrams parts of the lineup.
They will get a chance to prove themselves against premium pitching this week. The Braves have Spencer Strider, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Chris Sale lined up to face them this week. It does not get much tougher than that.
While the offense has been wildly inconsistent, the end product is actually a middle of the pack unit, an improvement from last year. They are 16th in OPS, 13th in runs, 16th in slugging and tied for 14th in home runs. While a lot of that has come in bunches with dry spells in between, it is still a big improvement.
However, they need to continue this offensive production and get it from more guys. Wood and Abrams are having All-Star level seasons, but the rest of the Nats most used starters are OPS’ing below .700.
We know a guy like Nathaniel Lowe is capable of much more than a .221 average and .697 OPS. He showed us that in April and throughout his Rangers career. However, he needs to get hot. The Nats are counting on him to be that third big guy in the lineup behind Wood and Abrams.
Luis Garcia Jr. also needs to heat up and I think he is about to turn a corner. His swings have been a lot better lately and he is also vastly underperforming his expected numbers. He showed off his dad strength, hitting a homer in his second game off the paternity list, so maybe that could be a turning point for him.
The Washington Nationals offense has two stars at the top, but the rest of the lineup has a lot of questions. If they can perform, this can be a potent unit. We saw that against the Orioles. However, we have also seen those guys struggle mightily and it has led to some offensive struggles.
All of this also makes the Nationals lack of spending this offseason even more frustrating. This offense really does feel like it is an Alex Bregman away from being one of the better units in the league. However, even as currently constructed, the offense has explosive upside. They just need to show that upside on a more consistent basis. This weekend, they showed what they can be. Now they have to perform to that level, or something close to it on a regular basis.