Good Morning, Washington Nationals Fans,

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, February 28, 2024.

Welcome to the Morning Briefing! Haden here, as usual, let’s talk about the big injury in Nats camp and some more early Spring Training notes.

Leading this Morning’s Briefing: Nats add reliever Barnes on minor league deal, Thompson needs Tommy John

The Nationals added veteran reliever Matt Barnes on a minor-league deal yesterday. From 2017 to 2021, Barnes was one of the more dominant back-end relievers for the Red Sox. During that span, he threw 273.1 innings with a 3.82 ERA and a 3.28 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching, which estimates a pitcher’s ERA based on how many walks, home runs, and strikeouts they have). While he walked an above-average number of batters, he struck out 34.8 percent of the batters he faced, which was 10th among relievers in that period according to FanGraphs. Since then, Barnes dealt with injuries that shortened his 2022 and 2023 campaigns, limiting him to just 61 innings in which he had a 4.72 ERA and a 3.97 FIP. While he did better at allowing the free pass, his strikeout rate dropped to 19.6 percent.

Barnes's two primary pitches are his four-seam fastball and knuckle curve. Between the 2021 and 2023 seasons, two significant changes affected his pitches, but they both came down to the vertical break he induced on the pitches. Within the two years, he lost some carry on his fastball which most likely came from losing some velocity, but he is also inducing less drop on the curveball. Add a more typical release height and you have a pitcher who lost their stuff. All the Nationals can hope for is he regains that velocity to become an effective major-league reliever again.

The loss of Mason Thompson is significant for the Nationals. He has shown glimpses of major league potential, but over-use, injuries, and inconsistent mechanics have kept him from being consistent. With TJ surgery, he will likely be out until next summer, but by then his future with the Nationals will be up in the air.

Early Spring Training Notes

The Nationals prospects put on a show yesterday. Dylan Crews (The Nats Report #2 Prospect) had a web gem out in center and a two-run double. Brady House (The Nats Report #4 Prospect) and Robert Hassell III (The Nats Report #11 Prospect) homered, shortstop Nasim Nuñez (The Nats Report #22 Prospect) and James Wood (The Nats Report #1 Prospect) even got a knock to continue his red hot spring.

As we have for most of the games this spring, you can follow along with us on Twitter/X to get live updates about the game. Today’s game starts at 1:05 p.m. so come follow along with us.

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.

40-man Breakdown Series

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).

Reporters Notebook

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:

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 Story of the Day

Longtime SFG Brandon Crawford plays in a new uniform via MLB Trade Rumors

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