Welcome to the first edition of the regular season Weekly Awards! We’re going to shake things up a bit: I’ll pick out a Hitter of the Week, Starter of the Week, Reliever of the Week, and Prospect of the Week.

After that, we’ll let you, the readers, pick MVP in a Twitter poll. Be sure to follow @TheNatsReport to participate.

Hitter of the Week

C Keibert Ruiz (1)

While this award is called “Hitter of the Week”, the defense will be included. Why? Because this is my column, and I can do what I want. Anyways, Ruiz was incredibly productive this week, slashing .364/.364/.455 with a double, and added a caught stealing with a beautiful throw to nab Starling Marte. What’s funny is that Ruiz’s .819 OPS is well under what his batted ball data says he should’ve had. Ruiz had an average exit velo of 93.6 MPH, and an average launch angle of 18.3 degrees.

This gave him a 37.5% hard-hit rate, and a .585 xwOBA! For reference, Juan Soto led MLB with a .430 xwOBA in 2021. Of course, Ruiz won’t keep this up, but he’s had a fantastic start to the year.

Starter of the Week

RHP Erick Fedde (1)

Fedde uh, didn’t have a lot of competition this week, as no other Nats SP could get through even 5 innings. I’ll keep this short and sweet: Fedde’s 5 IP, and 2 ER start with 5 K’s was the team’s only competitive start, like Corbin, Adon, and Gray all couldn’t put the team in a position to win.

Reliever of the Week

RHP Tanner Rainey (1)

I was really nervous when Rainey took the mound on Friday, coming off of his spring where his fastball sat low 90's, and off a season with an ERA in the 7’s. Rainey’s fastball rebounded some, as his fastball was 95 MPH. While that by itself isn’t great, coupled with a fantastic spin rate, and an electric slider, he was dominant. Rainey put up two scoreless innings with just one hard-hit ball allowed. I’m excited about what Rainey will give us this year.

Prospect of the Week

#2 SS Brady House (1)

Brady House, the Nats’ number two prospect, and 2021 first-round pick are set to have his first full professional season. House is starting the season at low A Fredericksburg, but if he performs like he did this week, he won’t stay there for long. House slashed .500/.600/.750 with a homer. While this is just a barebones look, you’ll be able to get a much more comprehensive picture of our prospects when we release our re-ranking of the Nationals’ top 30 in May.

And there are the candidates! I’m so excited to see who is crowned our first Weekly MVP!

Share this article
The link has been copied!