Good morning, Washington Nationals fans.

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, June 27.

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Welcome to the Morning Briefing! Haden here. The Nats lost to the Padres last night. Let’s talk about it.

Leading this Morning's Briefing: Nats lose to Padres; get swept in the series

The Nationals offense had just one hit heading into the top of the ninth. Despite that, they rallied in the ninth, scoring five runs to save some face. Nasim Nuñez got his first major league hit in the process, which speaks to the lack of playing time the Rule 5 pickup has gotten this season.

DJ Herz struggled, allowing four runs in 3.1 innings, striking out one batter. The Nationals allowed another grand slam, this time off Tanner Rainey in the eighth inning. The team lost 8-5.

The Nats now fall to a 38-42 record. After the first game of the Rays series, the season will officially be at the halfway point. A series loss like this quite honestly feels like the end of the competitive part of the season. Sure, the team may flirt with a wild card spot deep in the season when reinforcements power add a boost, but as of now, it is time to turn our focus to the MLB Draft and the trade deadline.

The problem for the Nationals thus far has been their hitting. CJ Abrams, Jesse Winker, and Jacob Young have all done their best to be impact players for the squad, but when lineup regulars Eddie Rosario, Joey Meneses, and Keibert Ruiz quite literally counter-act their production, it is hard for the team to make the playoffs.

While that sort of performance could have been anticipated for Rosario and Meneses, Ruiz’s struggles surprised me. His bout with the flu certainly did not help, but why is Ruiz struggling so much more than last season?

First and foremost, Ruiz no longer crushes four-seamers. Last season, he slugged .553 against the pitch. This season, he is slugging a much worse .385. That difference in production is what buoyed him to be a league-average bat in 2023.

Then of course comes the approach issue. Ruiz is among the league’s best at making contact with the baseball. Pitchers around the league on average throw the ball in the zone 51.5 percent of the time. Ruiz sees the ball in the zone below that mark at 49.4 percent. Normally, that would be fine. Ruiz would just have to adjust and chase less. Instead, Ruiz has one of the highest chase rates in the league, chasing 38.3 percent of the pitches he sees outside of the zone.

That combination of chasing and bat-to-ball skills has been a detriment to Ruiz’s career so far. It leads to a significant amount of weak contact which leads to easy outs and unproductive at-bats.

Ruiz has one last major issue this season. Whether intentional or not, Ruiz is lifting the ball significantly more. The problem with that though, is most of the flyballs he is hitting are weak contact, leading to more lazy flyballs than hard-hit doubles or home runs.

The “easy” fix for Ruiz would be to adjust the approach and hunt four-seamers again. That is easier said than done though. On the bright side, if Ruiz can muster a strong second half of the season, similar to how he did in 2023, the Nationals may finally have their catcher of the future, as Ruiz’s defense behind the dish is much improved compared to that 2023 season.

Down in the Minors

The Red Wings game against the Indianapolis Indians was rained out.

The Senators lost 5-0 to the Erie SeaWolves. Brady House got the only hit for the Senators. The game ended after six and a half innings. Kyle Luckham threw six innings striking out four.

The Blue Rocks lost 5-0 to the Hudson Valley Renegades. The Blue Rocks mustered just four hits over eight innings. Viandel Pena notched two of those hits, including a double.

The Fred Nats beat the Salem Red Sox 4-2. Travis Sykora had another excellent outing, going five innings, striking out seven, and walking just one batter. Catcher Jose Colmenares homered.

Featured Story of the Day

Cleveland calls up Jhonkensy Noel; homers in his first at-bat via Yahoo Sports

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