Good Morning Washington Nationals Fan,

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, September 7, 2023. My name is Haden Raymer, let’s dive into the news.

Leading today’s Morning Briefing: The Nationals will not bring back 10 scouts

Yesterday in two separate reports from Jesse Dougherty and Ken Rosenthal we learned that a total of 10 scouts would not be with the team next year. This includes five special assistants, a pro scout, and four international amateur scouts. This comes four days after Johnny DiPulgia, the director of international scouting, had resigned. In Jesse Dougherty’s game recap from last night, he said that sources say that more cuts are likely to be made on the scouting and player development sides of the organization.

All this comes at a critical time for the organization. The team, according to Rizzo’s own words, is far ahead of schedule and could be competing for deep playoff runs within the next two years. The Nationals now need to transition into making the organization more sustainable. Much of the high-end talent of this core has come over via trade. The players that the Nationals drafted themselves were no-brainer picks, Dylan Crews was one of the best position player amateurs in the last 20 years, Elijah Green had the highest upside (but the most issues) of anyone in that draft, and Brady House should have been a top-five pick in his draft. Getting the utmost value out of every pick becomes more important than ever as you try and sustain a World Series team.

Do you have any thoughts? We’d love to hear them in our discussion thread.

Nationals rally for a walk-off win

Last night, the Nationals were down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh. It started with a Dominic Smith single. A single from Jake Alu moved Smith to third. A single from Ildemaro Vargas knocked in Smith and put Alu and Vargas on first and second. And then finally, a CJ Abrams single tied the game. Still tied going into the bottom of the ninth, with runners on second and third thanks to a Vargas sac bunt, Jacob Young hits a ground ball up the middle to walk off the New York Mets.

Young went 2-4 with a double in the game. CJ Abrams stole his 39th and 40th bases. Joan Adon allowed two runs over five innings with six strikeouts. The bullpen held the Mets to their two runs. The Nats Report Player of the Game is Jacob Young thanks to his walk-off hit.

The Nationals get an off-day today but will take on the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend at Nationals Park.

Check out In the Clubhouse tonight

Tonight at 9:30 p.m., Jeremy Lapidus and I will be on In the Clubhouse to talk about all this recent news on Twitch. If you miss the show, don’t worry, as episodes are uploaded to all your favorite podcast platforms and YouTube after the show.

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Join the conversation with the Nats Report

Starting this Friday, join us for Discussion Fridays as we invite you to sound off about the Washington Nationals! We will have new topics EVERY week. So set a reminder and visit thenatsreport.com/s/discussion-threads.

Have a topic that you would like to talk about? Drop us an email themorning@thenatsreport.com

Down on the Farm: What happened last night with the Nationals Minor League teams

The Rochester Red Wings fell to the Syracuse Mets in a 7-6 loss in the 10th inning. You can read our full recap of the game here.

The Harrisburg Senators lost 5-4 to the Altoona Curve. You can read our full recap here.

The Wilmington Blue Rocks lost 7-1 to the Brooklyn Cyclones. Yohandy Morales and Andrew Pinckney each got a hit, with Pinckney’s being a home run. These two clearly missed the memo that Wilmington is a pitcher’s park since both have an OPS above .860. Kevin Made got two hits and Sammy Infante doubled.

The FredNats split the doubleheader with the Delmarva Shorebirds. You can read our recap of the games here.

Featured Story of the Day

Diamondbacks promote top shortstop prospect while in wild-card hunt via MLB Trade Rumors

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