After an exciting May, the Nationals offense has been in a deep malaise since the calendar turned to June
The Washington Nationals offense showed some exciting flashed in May. However, all that optimism has come crumbling down in June. The offense has been absolutely feeble and has hit some stunning lows. If things don’t pick up fast, a new voice as hitting coach should come. A funk of this magnitude is unacceptable.
The Washington Nationals offense has scored 15 runs in 9 games this month. They have been shutout twice and have only scored more than two runs twice. The whole lineup has suddenly gotten freezing cold. Even James Wood has struggled this month. A crazy stat I saw was that the Mets have hit 23 homers in June while the Nats have scored just 15 runs.
The Mets have 23 homers in June. The Nats have 15 total runs in June.
— Spencer Nusbaum (@spencernusbaum_) June 12, 2025
It is hard to call this anything other than embarrassing. Having a rough series offensively is not the end of the world, but it is June 12th and the Nats only have 15 runs all month. The teams triple slash for the month is .194/.236/.294 for a .530 OPS.
During May, the offense looked exciting and fresh. They were hitting the ball in the air more and did a good job of hitting for more power while avoiding strikeouts. Not every night was pretty, but there were more good nights than bad nights. In May, the team had a slash line of .250/.324/.409 for a .733 OPS. If a single player put those numbers up, that would be solid production.
So what has changed? A lot of it is the Nationals reverting back to their worst tendencies. If you watched the 2024 Nats, you would know what those are. Constant ground outs, no plan at the plate, a lack of extra base power and giving away outs on the bases.
They did all of those things yesterday. David Peterson got 13 ground outs to just three fly outs. The Nationals also drew zero walks against the Mets southpaw. While they got six hits, only one of them went for extra bases. The Mets only had one more hit, but they made there hits count, with five extra base hits.
What we have been seeing this month is Darnell Coles ball at it’s finest. The fact he got extended in August last year despite the offense being bad was bizarre. We have enough of a sample size to know that he is not a good hitting coach. The offense has more talent, yet we still see the same awful approach. Why has Nathaniel Lowe fallen off a cliff under Coles tutelage? How is CJ Abrams still going through slumps that last almost a month?
It is frustrating to see the Nationals be so content with the status quo. When there is a problem on the playing staff, Mike Rizzo isn’t afraid to pull the trigger. We have seen guys like Lucas Sims, Colin Poche and Jorge Lopez get the boot. Why do underperforming coaches like Coles and Ricky Gutierrez get such a long leash?
On Gutierrez, his sends have just been absolutely brutal this month. Last night, the Nats saw a chance at a rally dissipate when Gutierrez sent Luis Garcia Jr. who was out by a lot. This has been happening on a near nightly basis lately. There is being aggressive and then there is being reckless. Gutierrez has been beyond reckless.
The Washington Nationals are in a June swoon right now. For me a lot of it comes down to a poor coaching staff that is not getting the best out of their players. This has been the case for years, yet there has been no change. It has become very frustrating and if this malaise continues, it will be harder to justify keeping up the status quo.