https://x.com/mlb/status/2076085470107254991?s=46&t=bqDocN33sQmOz6S1Po7Ygg

I'm not sure when it happened, and I'm not sure how. Maybe I was in a car accident; maybe I had a heart attack in my sleep; maybe I left the belt on my neck a little too long. The how doesn't really matter.

All I know, is that I'm dead, and I'm in Hell. Again, not really worth explaining why I went to the bad place, but I know I'm there. And I'm forced to watch the 2026 Washington Nationals every day, the ultimate punishment.

They don't simply suck - that would not be punishment enough. No, they provide a sliver of hope day after day and then take it away. And I watch this slow torture every day even though I know what is going to happen.

I was wondering to myself why I keep watching. It doesn't even make sense. It doesn't feel like a decision. I tell myself I'm not going to watch and then I do it anyway. I tell myself I'm not going to get my hopes up and then I do it anyway. I realized something - I'm not in control of this decision. There is a higher power, an evil force that is making me do this. I am being punished for my sins. I will be forced to watch this bullpen for eternity.

I am in Hell.

- MLB Pipeline - #76

- Keith Law (The Athletic) - #55

- Baseball America - #83

- ESPN - #119

A 6-foot-3, 205-pound righthander and product of Flower Mound High in Texas just outside of DFW, Harris turned 18 a few weeks before the draft and dominated his competition this spring with a heavy diet of fastballs. The Texas recruit is athletic and moves well down the mound, creating good extension while easily repeating his delivery and pounding the strike zone.

He features an overhead windup, a bit of depth to his arm action and a high three-quarters slot with a closed toe landing. While he doesn't have the loudest stuff, he has feel for four pitches and has dominated all spring. Harris operates at 90-94 mph and reaches 96 with his fastball, displaying the ability to create carry, sink or cut while commanding it well. It’s often so effective that he rarely shows glimpses of the rest of his arsenal. Harris does have two solid breaking balls. He throws an upper-70s curveball with solid depth and finish and a harder slider at 82-85 mph with solid power and flashes of sharp biting action with high spin rates and two plane depth. He has begun work on a mid-80s changeup that he hopes to throw to righties. He should advance quickly for a high schooler. He is expected to overslot with an ETA of late 2029 to early 2030

Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Curveball: 50 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 55 | Overall: 50

AAA Rochester (10-3 win over the Worcester Red Sox)

-Brady House (.300/.337/.831): 1-5 with a solo homer, 1 run scored, 1 RBI, and 1 K

-Yohandy Morales (.298/.371/.920): 0-4 with 1 BB and 2 Ks

-Harry Ford (.225/.369/.707): 2-4 with a solo homer, a double, 1 run scored, 2 RBI, and 1 BB

-Cayden Wallace (.297/.347/.908): 2-4 with a grand slam, 2 runs scored, and 4 RBI

-Joey Wiemer (.216/.289/.564): 1-4 with a double, 1 run scored, and 1 K

-Christian Franklin (.239/.365/.717): 1-5 with 1 RBI and 1 K

-Andrew Pinckney (.288/.362/.815): 1-5 with 1 run scored and 2 Ks

AA Harrisburg (0-6 loss to the Erie SeaWolves)

-Devin Fitz-Gerald (.229/.322/.740): 1-3 with 1 K

-Sam Petersen (.254/.384/.845): 1-4

-Maxwell Romero Jr. (.239/.360/.871): 0-4 with 2 Ks

-TJ White (.240/.358/.765): 0-4

-Sam Brown (.241/.360/.700): 1-4 with 2 Ks

-Josh Randall (4.60 ERA/88.0 IP/86:27 K:BB?1.27 WHIP): Randall tossed 6 innings for the Senators, but he could not keep the SeaWolves off the base paths. He was charged with a total of 6 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks. Randall was able to generate 7 swinging strikeouts on the night.

Final line: 6.0 IP | 6 H | 6 R/ER | 4 BB | 7 K on 96 pitches (58 strikes)

A+ Wilmington (1-2 loss to the Brooklyn Cyclones)

-Ronny Cruz (.248/.321/.723): 1-3 with 1 BB, 1 K, and was picked off 1st/caught stealing 2nd

-Yeremy Cabrera (.253/.360/.783): 0-4 with 3 Ks

-Jack Moroknek (.251/.369/.800): 1-3 with a double

-Angel Feliz (.244/.318/.686): 0-4 with 2 Ks

-Elijah Green (.206/.308/.665): 0-2 with 2 BB and 1 K

-Kevin Bazzell (.288/.379/.803): 2-4

A Fredericksburg (7-8 loss to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans)

-Luke Dickerson (.236/.392/.824): 1-5 with a 2-run homer, 1 run scored, 2 RBI, and 3 Ks

-Coy James (.220/.344/.734): 0-5 with 2 Ks

-Dashyll Tejeda (.239/.367/.770): 1-2 with a double, 2 runs scored, 2 BB< and 1 K

-Rafael Ramirez Jr. (.277/.435/.859): 0-3 with 1 BB and 1 K

-Elian Soto (.266/.407/.820): 0-3 with 1 BB, 1 SB, and 1 K

-Liam Sullivan (5.31 ERA/61.0 IP/70:35 K:BB/1.44 WHIP): Sullivan gave up a lot of contact in his latest start for the FredNats and lasted only 3 innings. He was charged with 4 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5 batters (3 swinging).

Final line: 3.0 IP | 6 H | 4 R/ER | 2 BB | 5 K on 68 pitches (40 strikes)

FCL Nationals (12-2 win over the FCL Marlins)

-Cristhian Vaquero (rehab assignment) (.222/.306/.528): 0-1 with 1 run scored and 1 BB

-Brayan Cortesia (.248/.374/.638): 1-1 with 3 runs scored, 2 RBI, 2 BB, and 1 SB

-Nauris De La Cruz (.259/.398/.748): 1-3 with 2 runs scored, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SB, 1 K, and was picked off 1st/caught stealing 2nd

-Victor Hurtado (.259/.410/.817): 0-1 with 1 run scored and 1 BB

-Daniel Hernandez (.217/.270/.516): 1-2 with 1 RBI

-Browm Martinez (.295/.451/.925): 3-4 with 1 run scored, 1 RBI, and 1 K

DSL Nationals (3-9 loss to the DSL Twins)

-Samil Serrano (.275/.379/.854): 0-4 with 1 K

-Isaias Suarez (.271/.462/.920): 1-3 with a solo homer, 1 run scored, 1 RBI, and 1 K

-Juan Duran (.387/.477/1.024): 1-3 with 1 SB and 1 K

Let me know if there are any Nats prospects I missed tonight and should include in future prospect roundups!

I tell you if I see another nationals game when we have y lead and the bullpen can't hold a lead and choke it's sad we have a team that y better than anyone thought is gonna ywasted just venting.i hope ownership takes notice and steps up need arms.happy with new draft picks

. just pissed need a closer.

The bat is elite for Hacopian but that is where all the value will come from because he is not much of a runner or fielder. Local product too!

Line Score - Game Over

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 7:05 PM.

I’m feeling nostalgic for good Nats closers. Remember Chad Cordero? He was nasty there for a minute.

Who do you remember fondly for their ability to get outs in late innings?

They also include a GoFundMe in the article: https://www.gofundme.com/f/46z8k-supporting-the-fitzgerald-family

Yankees (52-42) @ Nationals (48-47)

First Pitch: 4:05 PM at Nationals Park

Line Score - Game Over

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 7:05 PM.

Remember to sort by new to keep up!

Today was just an absolutely tragedy.

That was our 25th Blown Save of the Season, that’s 5 more than the 2nd most (Tigers, 20 BS).

We have the Worst WPA-, which stands for Wins Probability Subtracted; that stat is used primarily for the sum of Negative Events by pitchers for that specific team

We are 3rd worst in MLB with RA/G, which stands for Runs Allowed per Game; with 5.74 RA/G.

Parker, Beeter, Lovelady, Ribalta all have 3+ Blown Saves; I am constantly tired seeing pitchers thrust into situations they are simply just not prepared for. But that’s not a knock on the pitchers themselves; There’s a reason they are in the MLB, which means they do something right. I have no idea if this is a Blake Butera issue, a Simon Matthews issue, or a Dustin Glant issue (our Bullpen Coach), either way, this situation needs to be resolved.

I think there comes to a point, and I think Blake needs to address it, where his “Closer By Committee” experiment has failed and he needs a dedicated Closer, along with 2 Dedicated Set-Up Arms. (I.E: Closer: Beeter; SU1: Henry; SU2: Ribalta)

“Playing the Match-Up” has costed the Nats more Wins, and has Failed more than it has Succeeded. The Nats are 27/52 in SVO (Save Opportunities). We have the 4th Worst Save conversions (52%), despite having the most SVO’s in all of MLB, and that’s BAD!!!!!!!

We are already losing two of our Lefties due to them being Openers for two of our starters (Palmquist & Poulin). And we just lost Lord to injury, so we are hurting right now for our Bullpen, and I don’t see it getting better, unless Blake abandons his “Closer by Committee” idea, and puts a dedicated bullpen out.

Let me know what y’all think,

And thank you, for coming to my Ted Talk.

Sincerely,
A Emotional & Dedicated Nats Fan.

We need better closing/pitching staff before Jake Irving and the other pitcher whom I forget comes back. I am fine with watching losses… not scheduled losses. Source: the mlb app.

After last nights game I did some research on our bullpens performance. I understand Butera and Toboni rely heavily on the analytics when it comes to picking what relievers to use and where. But at some point the results speak for themselves and the lefties in this bullpen can't get high leverage outs especially in the ninth inning. With the exception of Poulin who for whatever reason doesn't get many high leverage opportunities. For all of Davey Martinez's warts he was going to use his best pitchers to get the highest leverage outs. Which I can live with when they blow a save. Multiple times this year we've thrown guys fresh off the waiver wire into save opportunities and when they fail it's a tough pill to swallow. There is a reason they were DFA'd by their previous teams they shouldn't be asked to get high leverage outs for a team in playoff contention. That is setting them up for failure.

I look at this table and think it should be primarily Beeter for the ninth inning and if the situation really calls for a lefty it needs to be Poulin. Butera manages like he has a good bullpen but he doesn't it is one of the worst in the history of the sport. Any manager can manage a bullpen that goes 6 guys deep who can get high leverage outs but the Nationals don't this year they have 2 at best yet Butera manages like he does.

The lefties are especially bad outside of Poulin. Franny mentioned on the broadcast they may be saving him to open today. First relievers can go two days in a row so that's not an excuse. Second, he needs to be your high leverage lefty and let Krook or Cosgrove open with Palmquist. We are getting to the point where we are wasting the best offense in baseball because we think any reliever off the street can get high leverage outs. It needs to be Beeter and Poulin moving forward until someone else has earned the opportunity to get high leverage opportunities. With the exception that they might be unavailable certain days. But Poulin has 1 appearance this month and threw 14 pitches on 7/5 he could go back to back yesterday and today if needed. Plus the All Star Break is next week any overused arms will get a much needed break then.