Washington Nationals vs. Miami Marlins: 2022 Grapefruit League opener – MMA Fighting
Although there are a limited number of games to be played this spring and a rapid build-up to the start of the 2022 regular season following the 99-day lockdown before MLB and MLBPA agree to a new CBA , Washington Nationals manager Davey Martinez told reporters every week his team showed up ready to go with six days to prepare for its first Grapefruit League game.
He didn’t seem concerned about finding the batsmen his team will need to prepare for the 162-game grind of an upcoming season.
“The good thing is that the minor leagues have started playing games as well, so we can always drop the guys and have bats there if needed,” Martinez explained as he prepared for action. live tonight in West Palm Beach, FL.
“Days off will definitely work. We’ll definitely have some of our guys playing in some of these games, especially some of our pitchers who have to pitch, but we’ll be sending hitters out there to get some at bats, so we should be – you know, the way we’ve planned things out, our players should be around 35-40-50 at bats by the end, and I think that’s a good number. When you get to 60-70 at bat I don’t think you need that much, I think these guys are ready and ready to go.
With the free agent free-for-all following the agreement on a new CBA and rosters quickly forming around the league, Martinez hadn’t picked a roster for Game 1 on Thursday afternoon, but he said that the players who would take the field tonight came to camp ready for action and ready to go from the jump.
“I said that today,” Martinez told reporters, “we’ve been around the last two days just to see where everyone’s at – you’ll see our lineup tomorrow – the guys who are playing, these guys have looking forward to playing, and they’re ready, so that’s got me a little excited on Day 1, we had pretty good training to play the game.”
Who is in this composition? :
Nelson Cruz, who signed a one-year/$15 million free agent contract this week to serve as DC’s designated hitter now that the DH is universal in Major League Baseball, is not in the roster. tonight, but the Nats skipper said yesterday the 41-year-old slugger arrived in good form as usual and will be there soon enough.
Where does the manager plan to hit the DH veteran in the middle of the lineup when he’s ready to fight? He’s not sure, or at least not saying so, so far.
“We are going to sit down and see how this all goes. You talk about [Juan] Soto, you’re talking about Cruz, for me, the guy who for me is really going to benefit and help too is Josh Bell. I mean, all of a sudden you put Josh Bell with these two guys, I think he’s going to get better. I really [do]. As I have said, [Cruz] came into this spring training in such good shape and ready, and he looks great, so having these three guys in the middle of our lineup is going to be fun to watch.
It should be fun to at least listen to some baseball tonight. The game with the Marlins at FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches is available on the radio via nationals.com, so it’s time to say baseball is back, even if it’s just Grapefruit League baseball. We will take it…
It’s at 6:05 p.m. ET from WPB tonight. Radio only through MLB or Nationals.com…enjoy.
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