The Morning Briefing: Strasburg to Start Throwing in November

Good Tuesday Morning, Washington Nationals fans. Here is the latest around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for October 5, 2021.

Tune in tonight for the AL Wild Card Game at 8:08 pm EST when the New York Yankees head to Boston to face the Boston Redsox in a winner-take-all game on ESPN.

Arizona Fall League Roster: Yesterday, we broke the story of the Washington Nationals Prospects that will be representing the Nationals in 2021: Arizona Fall League. Here is the full list here. Also yesterday, teams from around MLB, except for the Giants, D-backs, Brewers, and Mariners, released their team rosters for the instructional league this fall.

Here is the Washington Nationals list of players that will be participating

With the Nationals picking in the top 5 in the upcoming draft, we take a look at LSU Baseball's third baseman/ first baseman Jacob Berry. Check out our article here.

Strasburg to Start Throwing in November. Before the last game of the 2021 season on Sunday, Mike Rizzo met with reporters to discuss the season and what he is thinking about doing during this offseason.

There were some interesting quotes from Rizzo, however, the one item that caught my eyes was that Rizzo announced that Stephen Strasburg will start throwing in the first week of November. Strasburg was shut down after undergoing surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome.

Strasburg only appeared in five games in 2021. He had a 1-2 record with an ERA of 4.57.

MUST Read Nationals Article: Our friends at TalkNats have a great article up on their site that is worth reading if you haven’t already. From the article: “In order to get better, you do need a better bullpen too. This is all inter-related in how the entire pitching staff performs, but let’s be real here, the Nats 2021 starting pitching staff finished with a 4.64 ERA — ranking them 11th worst in the Majors.” Click here to read the full article.

Mets don’t pick up Luis Rojas’s contract for 2022. In a statement, Rojas said in his own prepared statement: “I want to share such heartfelt gratitude to so many in the Mets organization for not only the last two seasons as manager but for the last 16 years in a variety of roles. In each and every position I held, striving for excellence was our daily mission. I will always hold the relationships and friendships, developed over the years, dear to my heart, and am forever grateful to have been able to wear the Mets uniform for so long. We live in a results-oriented business, and am deeply disappointed for our staff and fans that we didn’t reach our goals this season.”

The New York Mets issued a statement after reports became public. “The entire Mets organization is grateful for the dedication and devotion that Luis has exhibited over the last two seasons as manager,” team President Sandy Alderson said in the Mets statement. “He has shown a great commitment to the Mets over many years in multiple capacities.

"These decisions are never easy, but we feel a change is needed at this time. Rojas was promoted to Manager back in January 2020 by former general manager Brodie Van Wagenen as the replacement for Carlos Beltrán. The promotion came just days after Beltrán was let go without managing a single game as part of the fallout from the Houston Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal.

Top MLB Selling Jerseys in 2021: Mookie Betts Leads MLB in Jersey Sales. Yesterday, MLB released the top-selling Jerseys during the 2021 season and Mookie Betts led the league in sales. Betts’ uniform claimed the top spot for the second straight year in a row. He’s joined in the top 10 by Clayton Kershaw, Cody Bellinger, Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr., and Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves.

The rankings released by MLB and MLB Players, Inc., on Monday are based on Nike jersey sales from MLBShop.com since opening day. For the first time ever, the four most popular jerseys in the Major Leagues were worn by players from four different countries.

Goodbye Runner on Second! The automatic runner on second base in extra innings rule was probably one of the worst ideas known to mankind, let alone baseball, and thank goodness it is gone. According to reports, this rule will not be in effect during the 2021 post-season and will not be coming back in the 2022 season. Thank goodness! I am sure that we are all going to miss this rule that made no sense.

Graphic of the Day: