Good Morning, Washington Nationals Fans,

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, March 6.

Welcome to the Morning Briefing! Haden here, and happy Friday! let’s talk about the newest outfielder coming to camp and some Spring Training stories.

Leading this Morning’s Briefing: Nats announce Spring Breakout Roster

On March 15, the Nationals will play the Mets in the first-ever Spring Breakout Game, a new initiative by MLB to showcase more young talent in spring training. 21 players on our top-30 prospect list made the roster. Pretty much every top prospect you can think of made the team for the Nationals, with the exception of injured players (Cade Cavalli and Zach Brzykcy) and young international players (Victor Hurtado, Angel Feliz, and Jorgelys Mota). Among the non-ranked prospects, Lucas Knowles and Andrew Alvarez stand out as potential relievers for the Nationals in the future, something Owen wrote about yesterday.

In the game, the Nationals prospects will play against the Mets prospects. Personally, I am a big fan of the matchup as they have the deepest farm system in the NL East along with the Nationals. With top prospects like Drew Gilbert, Luisangel Acuña, Alex Ramirez, and Jett Williams in attendance for the Mets, this game is a battle of the future for the NL East.

You can see the full roster here.

The game will begin at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, televised on MLB.com and ESPN+. As Richard noted in the quick note, we will be hosting a special game chat for Nats Report paid subscribers during the game, so if you would like to participate consider subscribing.

Early Spring Training Notes

Spring Training is in full swing and shoutout to Rich for breaking down the Nationals’ loss against the Mets yesterday, which you can read here.

In that game, Jake Irvin had an incredible start, striking out five batters over four innings. The two significant things to keep an eye on is the introduction of a cutter to his repertoire and his pitch usage.

This is because sinkers typically are best against same-handed hitters (righties in Irvin’s case) while cutters play better against opposite-handed hitters. Last season, Irvin had to throw his sinker a lot more than you would like against lefties. Having a weapon to attack lefties along with his changeup, and Irvin should be a more effective back of the rotation starter.

Our 40-man Roster Breakdown Continues

We will be breaking down every player on the 40-man roster until Opening Day. You can read the previous editions by clicking the button below.

Catch up on Spring Training News

There is a constant flow of news coming out of Spring Training and Richard has you covered with his Reporter’s Notebook series, where he breaks down each day’s news during Spring Training (and the week’s biggest headlines during the season).

Click here for the latest off-season headlines, rumors, trades, and more.

ICYMI: Latest articles on the Nats Report

Even though it is the offseason, we have been extremely busy producing great content on the Nats Report. Here are just a couple of the articles that we have published recently that you might have missed:

• Podcast: In the Clubhouse (Gallo and Top 30 Discussion)
• Spring Training Storylines to Watch
• Potential ballpark funding changes
• Can We Get Some Relief?
• Sleepers! Get Your Sleeper Prospects Here!

We are working on a lot of great Nationals-themed content all off-season so make sure that you are following us on all the major social media channels for the latest.

Featured Stories of the Day

Too many outfielders in the kitchen, and one sent a meatball over the fence via TalkNats

Mariners signed Ryne Stanek to a one-year deal via MLB Trade Rumors

Red Sox lock up young SP Brayan Bello via MLB Trade Rumors

12 Statcast Spring Standouts via MLB.com

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