The Morning Briefing: August 20th

Good morning, Washington Nationals fans.

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, August 20.

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Welcome to the Morning Briefing!

Leading this Morning's Briefing: No Crews is Bad News

August 20th stood as the start of the first home stand for which Dylan Crews could conceivably be called up for the rest of the season and not surpass the 45 days on the active roster that would eliminate his rookie eligibility for 2025 (and thus the Nationals' best chance at adding a Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) draft pick in 2026 - the same caliber of draft pick used to select Caleb Lomavita, now a top-ten prospect in the Nats' system, in last month's amateur draft). However, there was no white smoke rising to the heavens above South Capitol Street yesterday, and this is the kind of debut that would get announced ahead of time. Check back this weekend to see if they bring him up in time to face the Yankees (in front of all the fans who will be coming out to see Juan Soto) starting Monday.

Last Game Out

The Nats had the day off yesterday after their short trip to Baltimore and Philadelphia, and should be well-rested for their home series against the Colorado Rockies starting this evening. Hopefully Jacob Young has fully recovered from the awkward landing he made diving after a ball on Sunday afternoon. DJ Herz, Mitchell Parker, and Patrick Corbin will be the starting pitchers for that series.

Nationals Headline of the Day: Wood and Nuñez Mentor the Next Generation

A day after highlighting Jacob Young's support of his wife and sister with his cleats, we're back with another cool story about causes from Players' Weekend, this time the mentorship of James Wood and Nasim Nuñez (and prospect T.J. White) with regard to the next generation of Black players. Thanks again to MLB.com's Jessica Camerato for the insight.

Down on the Farm

The only affiliate to play yesterday was the Dominican Summer League team, which outlasted the Blue Jays 10-9 as they wrap up their season this week (today, in fact). Keep an eye out for Angel Feliz, Dashyll Tejeda, and Victor Hurtado next spring as they come stateside for the first time.

Featured Baseball Story of the Day

You may have missed this over the weekend, but the Chicago White Sox, not-so-proud owners of a 30-95 record, were officially eliminated from postseason contention on Saturday, the earliest a team has been so eliminated in the divisional play era (1969-present). Rough stuff. The Pale Hose are currently 39.5 games out of the final wild card spot and 42.5 games behind the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians. Jerry Reinsdorf torpedoing his franchise to hire his old golf buddy continues to look worse and worse.

Former National of the Day

I'm going to throw some shine on a guy who got called up to the majors but shamefully (this is, in my opinion, a major stain on Davey Martinez's record) never appeared in a game. Donovan Casey was one of four players acquired from the Dodgers for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner in the Great Fire Sale of 2021, and at the time was a 25-year-old who profiled as a fourth outfielder and defensive replacement. Early in the 2022 season he was called up to the majors before a series in Pittsburgh, and several of his friends and family members traveled out there from New Jersey to see his debut. Except, for reasons that have never been made clear, he never got into a game (it should be noted that those Nationals were really bad, were going to be really bad, and were not going to sacrifice anything by giving a 20th-round grinder an appearance), even for a couple of innings as a defensive replacement. Five days later he was optioned back to Rochester, and his career was never the same. Casey is now 28 and still hanging on with the Tulsa Drillers, the AA affiliate of the Dodgers. I hope Martinez regrets how he denied Casey what probably will turn out to be his one chance to play in a major league game.

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