00:00Andrew, what do you make of all the different lineups and kind of the changed approach by Butera to Boney
00:07to moving guys around?
00:10Yeah, it's definitely different.
00:12It's very rare to see guys shifting around so much.
00:16But I think basically what my sense is that they're basically going to try every lineup they can,
00:21give every player ample opportunity to prove themselves.
00:23I would guess as the season goes on, there will be some guys that will stand out, who will make
00:29an impact, who will be in the lineup more often.
00:31But I think what you're seeing right now is just they're going to give every guy an equal opportunity to
00:34play and prove themselves.
00:36And so I kind of like him.
00:36There's nobody on the roster who you look at as like a surefire guy, maybe aside from James Wood and
00:41Damon Lyle and C.J. Abrams.
00:43So I like the shuffling.
00:44See who can fit, see who works, and see who performs well.
00:47What about the start for the kid, Weimer?
00:49Weimer, yeah.
00:50Yeah, I mean, it's kind of unbelievable.
00:52I mean, he had 10 straight at-bats reaching base.
00:56I mean, that's just unheard of.
00:58He's just doing a really good job of one of the things that Joey Weimer did is he chased and
01:02whiffed a lot, struck out a lot,
01:04and put himself in a lot of bad pitches.
01:06But he's been walking a lot so far this camp.
01:08He's been walking a lot so far this year.
01:11I mean, he's looked pretty good.
01:11Like, he's just making hard contact.
01:13His bat speeds up.
01:14And so that's all a great combination for him.
01:16James Wood seems to be struggling a little bit.
01:18Have you noticed anything different with his swing this year compared to last?
01:23No, I think the main thing I've seen from him is maybe him pulling his front shoulder out a little
01:27bit too early.
01:28I think that's something he struggled with last year, particularly after the All-Star break.
01:31But I'm not super concerned yet.
01:32It's been five games.
01:33He's been out there with the coaches every day taking batting practice before the games.
01:37And so I think it's only a matter of time.
01:40I don't want to overreact to five games.
01:41But definitely not.
01:42He doesn't look great, but I don't want to jump to any bad conclusions yet.
01:46Yeah.
01:47I think with a kid with that kind of talent in the first half we saw last year,
01:51you definitely don't want to jump to anything.
01:53Talking with Andrew Golden here, covers the Nats and Sports Enterprise for the Baltimore Banner.
01:59Is it, just to ask you, I suppose, a little bit of a personal question.
02:03Is it really weird for you to be covering the Nats now for the Baltimore Banner instead of the Washington
02:08Post?
02:10It's definitely a little bit different.
02:12I think the weirdest part for me is that Spencer and I work together, and now he's at the Athletic.
02:16And so it's like, you know, I'm looking at him, and we're kind of like, we're not competing per se.
02:21That's not my main role anymore.
02:22I'm the main job for Enterprise and Features.
02:23But it is weird where it's like, we're not coworkers anymore.
02:26It's definitely a little bit different.
02:28But it felt fairly familiar where you know all the guys, and some of them are actually keeping up.
02:34Like, hey, we heard about everything that was going on.
02:35That was kind of funny and a little bit odd.
02:37But, yeah, it's definitely a little bit different.
02:39But it's still been fun, and it feels like a lot of the same.
02:43One of the players that I feel like, you said this a few times,
02:48and especially in baseball, a sport that's a true marathon.
02:51Like, you cannot draw too many conclusions from an incredibly small sample size.
02:57But I feel like Brady House actually has an opportunity to be like the third baseman for many years,
03:04if he can seize the opportunity.
03:06So far, he's hitting well.
03:08Like, what do you think of House, and what do you think of House going forward?
03:12Yeah, I think there's a reason why they paid him a ton of money and made him a first-round
03:16pick in 2021.
03:17Like, he's a really talented player.
03:18I think the main thing for him is plate discipline.
03:21If I'm being fully honest, I feel like they kind of rushed him to the major leagues last year.
03:25I think maybe he could use some more seasoning in the minor leagues,
03:28particularly against AA and AAA pitching.
03:31Brady got called up.
03:32I don't know if you guys remember, but the Nationals, in the midst of an 11-game losing streak,
03:35and they were really struggling, and they just called Brady up, hoping he would be the spark.
03:39But I think maybe last year you saw him just trying to get adjusted and get acclimated.
03:42And so his plate discipline has been better.
03:45He's just done a better job at third base.
03:46He looks really good at third base.
03:47And so, yeah, I think you're looking at a third base in the future.
03:49Like, I think he has a lot of strides to make, but I think you're seeing a lot of improvements
03:53that are encouraging for a five-game sample.
03:56I think it'll be interesting to see if they can maintain that for a full season.
03:59Dylan Cruz was sent down.
04:01What do you think of that situation, and what do you see happening to him as this thing goes on?
04:08Yeah, I think the same thing that I said for Brady.
04:10Like, I think Dylan was rushed to the major leagues maybe a little bit too early.
04:13I think, obviously, he was the number two overall pick, but I don't necessarily think he dominated the minor leagues
04:18to the point where I'm not saying he should have been called up in 2024, but I do think it
04:23was maybe a little bit premature.
04:24And so I actually like the decision.
04:26I know it maybe probably isn't the most popular decision, but I think it's good, like, for the Nationals,
04:30really want to focus on development and fixing some things in the swing.
04:33So that way, when he does get back to the major leagues, he's back to being in the major leagues
04:38full-time
04:38and being the Dylan Cruz that everybody hopes he can be.
04:40I think it's honestly the right move.
04:41It may not be the most popular move or maybe kind of shocking, but I think it's good.
04:45Like, you don't have him be under a ton of pressure to perform, help him go down to AAA,
04:50get some things right, then he comes back up.
04:52He can be the guy that, you know, everybody hopes he'd be.
04:54Here's my question with Cruz, and I agree with you.
04:58I think he probably rushed through.
05:02But when you drafted dude number two overall and the way he played at LSU
05:06and kind of the charisma he has, like, the total package there, right?
05:10Yeah.
05:11At this point, though, it's a non-zero percent that this just might not work.
05:18Like, he just might not be able to hit at the major league level.
05:22What percent chance do you think that is?
05:25Because it can't be zero anymore.
05:27Maybe it's only two or five, but maybe it's 25, you know?
05:31Well, yeah, I think it would be, like, I'd say maybe a 10 percent chance.
05:36But I think it depends on what you define hitting well at the major league level.
05:41Like, I think he could be an everyday player.
05:43I just maybe think, like, the feeling of being an elite player, an elite big league player
05:46that you would pay, you know, you would draft number two overall.
05:49Maybe that's where the question comes in for me.
05:51I don't necessarily know if he'll be that elite player, you know, 30 homers
05:55like maybe James Wood has.
05:57But he can be a productive player.
05:58I don't know, like, Brandon Nimmo maybe is, like, for Dylan, like, Brandon Nimmo,
06:03like, is a solid everyday outfielder.
06:06Maybe just isn't, like, the elite here that you want for somebody who drafts number two overall.
06:10Maybe that's what I see as maybe his ceiling.
06:14But I think you're right.
06:15There definitely is not a – there's definitely more than a non-zero chance that, like,
06:19it doesn't work out.
06:20I just think he's too good to not be at least a solid everyday player.
06:25I just wonder if he'll ever be that elite player that they hoped he would be.
06:28Hey, Andrew, we appreciate your time, man.
06:30Appreciate you, man.
06:31And congrats on the new gig.
06:32We'll be checking in with you throughout the season.
06:34Sounds good.
06:35Thanks for having me on, guys.
06:36Appreciate it.
06:36Thanks, dude.
06:38I fear that the Cruz Major League hitting stuff is more than we all realize.
06:48I hope I'm wrong, obviously.
06:51The other thing I know, and I'm speaking from a football perspective,
06:55but I don't think it's that different with this, B.
06:58Because he's the number two overall pick, if expectations have to be recalibrated,
07:04that he's a good player.
07:06He can start for you.
07:07He's a Major League starter, which is a hell of an accomplishment, right?
07:12Yeah.
07:14If you have to recalibrate all that, it generally happens on the next team.
07:19Like, when a football player gets drafted top 10, and you realize,
07:24all right, this dude's not going to be an all-pro or a pro bowler,
07:26but he can help you.
07:27He can be a good nickelback.
07:28You know what I mean?
07:29He's a good third wide receiver, whatever that is.
07:31Yeah.
07:32That happens on the next team.
07:34Because the first team is still trying to wring the top 10 pick potential out of him.
07:39Totally.
07:39And what happens with really high picks is you try really hard.
07:43They get more chances than they deserve sometimes.
07:45Right.
07:46And generally, once the organization tries so hard, so hard, so hard,
07:52they're like, all right, man, we can't do this anymore.
07:54And then that dude goes somewhere else.
07:56Maybe expectations are more level set, and they're able to find their version of success.
08:01Yeah.
08:01Again, I hope that's not correct in this situation.
08:05I'm using football examples, but it is just sports.
08:10Um, what do you say to that, Stallion?
08:12To that theory?
08:14Like, I don't think it's a bad theory.
08:16I think the thing with Cruz...
08:18It's not a theory in football.
08:19I've seen it a zillion times.
08:20Yeah, yeah.
08:20No, and it is correct in a sense.
08:23But I think with Dylan Cruz in particular here, like, he was kind of brought up in this
08:28rush thing where it was like, okay, you know what?
08:29Like, his numbers aren't great in the minors, but he's Dylan Cruz.
08:33He's the number two overall pick.
08:34He's going to figure it out in the majors.
08:35And then he didn't figure it out in the majors, and he looked okay the first half season.
08:40Then he gets to opening day last year.
08:42He still has the same struggles.
08:44And unfortunately for Davey Martinez and the staff, they just didn't really coach people
08:49up.
08:49Like, you didn't really see major improvements up in the majors with some of these guys.
08:53And so I think that kind of goes against his staff.
08:57But the thing with Cruz is, like, Savannah actually had a great piece about this the
09:02other day.
09:02Like, he has never been able to hit breaking pitches.
09:07And he's kind of been exposed with that up in the bigs.
09:10And I think right now, like, he's going to have to figure out how to take advantage of
09:15those situations.
09:16And he just has not done that.
09:17The question needs to be asked, though, if he couldn't hit breaking pitches, they drafted
09:23him number two, they rushed him up, was this a coaching, managing thing, or was this a front
09:28office thing?
09:29You know, because if a guy's not ready to play and he couldn't hit breaking balls in
09:33college, he's not hitting them now, did you make the right pick?
09:38That's a fair question to ask right now.
09:41But, like, I like Dylan Cruz.
09:43I think he's a good player, and I do think that, like, he's got some stuff to work on.
09:48And, like, those flaws have been showed.
09:49If you have a weakness against major league pitching, it is going to be revealed over
09:56and over and over again until you prove it's not a weakness.
Comments