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Baseball in Our Nation's Capital!

The
Washington Nationals:
Current players and
historical comparisons

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* This Web page shows detailed data for the current year, as well as historical annual summary data.
Comprehensive detailed historical data that were formerly displayed on this page are now presented year-by-year on the interactive Washington Nationals Annual History page. Remarkable comebacks, grand slams, no-hitters, etc. of past years are now presented on the Washington Nationals BIG moments page. Also see the (u.c.) Washington Nationals players photo gallery page.

Contact me ~ ALSO SEE: MLB franchises, Baseball in D.C., RFK Stadium, Nationals Park

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2023: The Nationals continue to rebuild, and rebuild...

After the Washington Nationals traded away Juan Soto and Josh Bell at the beginning of August 2022 -- much like what had happened one year earlier -- it was clear that the team rebuilding effort would take a very long time. Doubts about the Lerner family's commitment to the franchise were reflected in the modest off-season roster moves. (They are still exploring options, including a possible sale of the franchise.) Nevertheless, there were some bright spots from the latter part of the 2022 season, most notably the 30-year-old rookie Joey Meneses, who hit 13 home runs and batted .324 in August and September last year. His clutch slugging played a decisive role in getting the Mexican national team to the semi-finals in this year's World Baseball Classic. The new third baseman Jeimer Candelario is expected to add some offensive pop, but his arrival casts big doubt on the future of one-time hot prospect Carter Kieboom. In a move aimed at providing a stable foundation for the team, catcher Keibert Ruiz was signed to an 8-year, $50 million contract in March. Another bright spot last year was the surprisingly reliable Nats' bullpen, but it is unclear who ther regular closing pitcher will be in 2023. The Nationals's pitching rotation has been reinforced with Trevor Williams (a former Met), but many questions remain. After a terrible year in 2022, Patrick Corbin showed some improvement in spring training. Josiah Gray and Mackenzie Gore (a former Padre) also look promising, while Cade Cavalli was replaced by Chad Kuhl in the rotation due to Tommy John surgery. Meanwhile, the continued absence of Stephen Strasburg is a gaping wound in the entire Nationals organization. After another setback while throwing a few practice pitches in spring training, his career is very likely over, notwithstanding the four years remaining on his 7-year $245 million contract.

Starting positions, 2023

CF: Victor Robles .224

LF: Lane Thomas .241

RF: Alex Call .237 Corey Dickerson

SS: C.J. Abrams .246

2B: Luis Garcia .275

3B: Jeimer Candelario* .217 Ildemaro Vargas

PITCHING ROTATION Patrick Corbin (6.31) Josiah Gray (5.02) Trevor Williams * (3.21) Mackenzie Gore (4.50) Chad Kuhl * (5.72) Paolo Espino (4.84) : closer??

1B: Dominic Smith * .194 Joey Meneses

C: Keibert Ruiz .251 Riley Adams

DH: Joey Meneses .324

2022 batting average for position players, ERA for pitchers. * (asterisk) = new player (since end of 2022) DNP = did not play in 2021. Underlines indicate that the photo is of the second-string player = No photo yet available. $ = traded away on Aug. 2

Manager: Dave Martinez

Nationals' head-to-head matchups, 2023

Opponent	Wins	Losses
Total	0	0

New contracts of note

• Ildemaro Vargas (3B) -- 1 year, $975,000 (Nov.) AE
• Tanner Rainey (P) -- 1 year, $1.5 million (Dec.)
• Trevor Williams (P) -- 2 years, $13 million (Dec.)
• Jeimer Candelario (3B) -- 1 year, $5 million (Dec.)
• Corey Dickerson (OF) -- 1 year, $2.3 million (Jan.)
• Dominic Smith (1B) -- 1 year, $2 million (Jan.)
• Lane Thomas (OF) -- 1 year, $2.2 million (Jan.) AE
• Kyle Finnegan (P) -- 1 year, $2.4 million (Jan.) AE
• Carl Edwards Jr. (P) -- 1 year, $2.3 million (Jan.) AE
• Victor Arano (P) -- 1 year, $925,000 (Jan.) AE
• Hunter Harvey (P) -- 1 year, undisclosed (Jan.) AE
• Victor Robles (CF) -- 1 year +, $2.3 million (Feb.) AE
• Keibert Ruiz (C) -- 8 years, $50 million (Mar.)

"+" = optional extension (mutual or otherwise). "D" = part of salary is deferred. "AE" = arbitration eligible. Dollar figures are rounded, and are estimates in some cases.

2023 memorable moments

• TBA

"@" = away game

Nationals, 2023: month-by-month summary

Month	Wins	Losses	NL East place (at end)	Number of home games	Total attendance	Average attendance
April 2023
May 2023
June 2023
July 2023
Aug. 2023
Sept. 2023
2023
SOURCE: My unofficial daily tabulations from MLB Gameday stats, Washington Post, and other newspapers.

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Annual and monthly summaries

SOURCE: My unofficial daily tabulations from MLB Gameday stats, MASN-TV, Washington Post, and other newspapers. ? -- Data not yet verified, subject to revision.
(!) -- Data corrected, via baseball-reference.com.
* -- Asterisks indicate the data include March (for April) or October (for September).
# -- Games scheduled for Sept. 25, 2008 and Sept. 7, 2011 were cancelled because of rain, and were not made up later, so the Nationals only played 161 games in those years.
Yellow background denotes postseason appearance (4 NL East championships and one wild card appearance thus far).

SOURCES: My unofficial daily tabulations from MLB Gameday stats, MASN-TV, Washington Post, and www.baseball-reference.com
Winning percentages pertain to the whole month; Place in the NL East and Games behind (or ahead) pertain to the end of the month.
* -- Asterisks indicate that the April data include games in March or that the September data include (regular season) games in October.
# -- Games scheduled for Sept. 25, 2008 and Sept. 7, 2011 were cancelled because of rain, and were not made up later, so the Nationals only played 161 games in those years.
Yellow background denotes postseason appearance (4 NL East championships and one wild card appearance thus far).
Orange background denotes the best monthly win-loss record or most number of games ahead of second-place team.
Violet background denotes the worst monthly win-loss record or most number of games behind the first-place team.
@ = The first 102 games of the 2021 season were canceled due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Nationals' postseason appearances

"@" = win or loss on the road. Underlined score = extra innings

Nationals' winning percentages, day-to-day, for each year

DYNAMIC CHART: Mouse rollover.

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Annual roster summaries

* = Played for less than half the season in this position. Positions for 2011 are based on number of innings for the first three months, subject to change. Starting players whose names are stricken through were on the disabled list for several weeks. Names in italics denote new players -- those who were not on the roster at the beginning of the season one year before. Yellow background denotes NL Most Valuable Player, NL Cy Young Award (for pitchers), or NL Rookie of the Year Award. Names that are underlined indicate players who were selected for the All Star Game. In addition, three Nationals relief pitchers played in All Star Games: Chad Cordero (2005), Matt Capps (2010), and Tyler Clippard (2011 and 2014). Capps and Clippard were credited with the wins in the 2010 and 2011 games.
** = In 2012, pitcher Gio Gonzalez was also chosen, Ian Desmond was chosen but decided not to play because of a strained back muscle, and Bryce Harper was chosen as a last-minute replacement after coming in third in the "Final Vote." In both 2013 and 2014, Jordan Zimmermann was chosen, but decided not to play either time because of, respectively, a strained neck and a strained bicep. Likewise, Stephen Strasburg was selected in 2016, but decided not to play because of health issues, and in 2017, but did not get a chance to pitch. In 2018, Sean Doolittle was also selected, but was on the disabled list. In 2019, Max Scherzer and Anthony Rendon were selected, but both opted out in order to let various ailments heal.
$ = Traded away in late July or early August.

Yellow background denotes best record in the National League for this category.
( Q# ) : Only players with a qualifying number of plate appearances (3.1 per team game) or innings pitched (1.0 per team game) are included, except for 2022, when NO Nationals pitchers qualified. Of the two pitchers who were within 10 innings of qualifying, Josiah Gray had a better ERA than Patrick Corbin.
$ : Played part of the season for another team, being traded away; these data pertain just to games played with the Nationals.

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Head to head historical data

The table similar to the one above was originally presented in my April 5, 2013 blog post. It shows the Nationals' win-loss records against each team in all regular season games since 2005.
In postseason games, the Nationals are 6-3 vs. STL (2012 & 2019), 1-3 vs. SF (2014), 5-3 vs. LAD (2016 & 2019), 2-3 vs. CHC (2017), 1-0 vs. MIL (2019), and 4-3 vs. HOU (2019). Overall postseason record: 19-15.
* MIA was coded as "FLA" before 2012.

Listings of remarkable late comebacks, disheartening late losses, grand slams, walk-off home runs, no-hitters, etc. of past years that formerly appeared at the bottom of this page are now presented on the Washington Nationals BIG moments page.

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