Good Tuesday Morning, Washington Nationals Fans

Today's Game time forecast West Palm Beach via the National Weather Service: Partly cloudy, with a low around 73. South wind 10 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.

Games this Week:

  • 3/16/21: v. Marlins 6:05 pm EST
  • 3/18/21: @Mets 1:10 pm EST
  • 3/19/21: @Astros 6:05 pm EST
  • 3/20/21: v. Miami Marlins 6:05 pm EST
  • 3/21/21: v. Mets 1:05 pm EST

Make sure to follow The Nats Report on Twitter for updates on the latest Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball during the day!

Countdown Clock:

Opening Day: 16 Days

Today's Morning Briefing was written by Richard.

Today's Top Story: 5,000 Fans will be at Opening Day at Nats Park

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that she announced Monday during her weekly news briefing that she is loosening up several COVID restrictions in the District starting March 22, including Sporting Events, which prompted the Washington Nationals to announce that they will be allowing 5,000 fans into the stadium for Opening Day.

In a letter to fans, the Nationals announced the process in which they are going to be moving forward: "We will prioritize bringing our Season Plan Holders back to the ballpark first while our seating capacity remains extremely limited. We look forward to increasing our capacity in the coming weeks, and we will adjust our operations accordingly to welcome back more of our loyal fans at that time."

The Nationals also announced some new health and safety measures to allow fans back into the stadium. You can find all that information here on the Nationals website.

We will have a full write-up about this later in the day on the Nats Report, which will outline everything a fan needs to know.

Spring Training Game Recap: Max Scherzer Looks Ready, Zimmerman Hits another Homerun

Yesterday, if you told Max Scherzer it was only a Spring Training game, he would have laughed at you. The Washington Nationals ace struck out seven batters in four scoreless innings in the Nationals 4-2 loss to the Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. The Nationals ace reached 58 pitches and only allowed two hits in his third start of Spring Training. Jessica Camerato of MLB.com pointed out an interesting fact about Scherzer's performance yesterday. "Last season, Scherzer recorded seven-plus strikeouts through four frames in four games. The only other pitchers to accomplish that mark more than four times were Shane Bieber (8), Jacob deGrom (6) and Dinelson Lamet (5)."

This Spring Training, Scherzer has thrown 8 2/3 innings, struck out 14, allowed three hits, gave up two earned runs, two walks, and has a 0.58 WHIP. If those stats don't get you excited, this one should. The Nationals Ace has held opposing hitters to a .103 batting average.... Mic Drop... Oh, one more stat that will get you even more pumped up. According to Statcast, Max Scherzer's four-seam fastball's exit velocity averaged 91.5 mph.

The face of the franchise, aka Ryan Zimmerman, continues his firey Spring Training. Yesterday, Zimmerman hit a monster two-run home run against RHP John Gant. The home run traveled 413 feet, according to Statcast, with an exit velocity of 104.9mph. Zimmerman's five spring training appearances, Zimmerman, have hit three home runs, seven RBI's, and a single. Zimmerman's batting average is .462, slugging percentage of 1.231, and has an OPS of 1.731 Not bad at all... If Zimmerman can bring this into the regular season, the Nationals will be in great shape.

A Baby Shark Spring Training Appearance: If Zimmerman's and Scherzer's performance didn't get you excited for the regular season, try on this for size. Yesterday, Gerardo Parra made his Spring Training debut in the Nationals' 4-2 loss to the Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium after being cleared after undergoing right knee surgery. He got the start in left field and went 1-for-3 at the plate.

Strasburg Update: Stephen Strasburg remains day-to-day after leaving Saturday afternoon's game because of left calf discomfort. According to Martinez, even if his next start gets moved back, the plan is to have Strasburg start the regular season on time, and this year, there will be fans to welcome him back the mound!

These Soto's projections will blow your mind.

Sarah Lang of MLB.com's headline blew our mind, and I had no choice but to included it in today's Morning Briefing! From the article: "Juan Soto has gotten off to one of the best starts to a career we've ever seen. He's yet to play a regular-season game as a 22-year-old and is already on lists with all-time greats that foreshadow his Hall of Fame potential. Only five players through their age-21 seasons had a higher OPS+ than he has (min. 1,000 plate appearances): Mike Trout, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, Rogers Hornsby and Ty Cobb. That's four Hall of Famers and another who will be in as soon as he's eligible.

In other words, nobody's ever gotten off to a start like this and not put together a Cooperstown-worthy career. What could the rest of that career look like? Glad you asked. Dan Szymborski ran ZiPS projections for Soto through his age-36 season, which is 2035, for Jay Jaffe at FanGraphs recently. The numbers are truly a sight to behold."

Click here to read the full article via MLB.com

Welcome to the Nats Report: Brandon

Over the weekend, we welcomed a brand new contributor to the Nats Report: Brandon. Here is a little bit about him:

"My name is Brandon, I live in Lexington, Kentucky. I attended the University of Kentucky and graduated in 2016 (Go Cats). I became a Nationals fan at the start of the 2019, not a great time I know. My fiancé and her family are from Northern Virginia and are huge Nats fans so I decided to hop on since I didn’t cheer for any MLB team (being from Kentucky). As we know, that season was magical and I’ve been hooked ever since."

Check out his two articles that have been already posted, one is on Carter Kieboom and the other looks at Nats prospect Louis Garcia.

Do you eat, breathe Washington Nationals baseball, or want to help the Nats Report? We are looking for additional contributors and editors. If you are interested, please reply to this email to let us know!

ICYMI on the Nats Report

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