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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, and together with Lane Thomas provided solid offensive firepower. Catcher Keibert Ruiz was signed to an 8-year, $50 million contract in March. Of of the few bright spots during the first month of play was the pitching rotation: In 22 of their first 27 games, the starting pitcher lasted at least five innings. Josiah Gray and Mackenzie Gore (a former Padre) look especially promising, while Patrick Corbin showed some improvement after a terrible year in 2022. The others include Trevor Williams (a former Met) and Jake Irvin, who replaced Chad Kuhl, who replaced Cade Cavalli after the latter underwent Tommy John surgery. The Nats' bullpen is mixed, and Kyle Finnegan returned serving as the regular closing pitcher after his replacement Hunter Harvey went on the Injured List in mid-season. After up-and-down cycles in the first three months, the Nats began to improve in July (when third-baseman Jeimer Candelario was traded to the Cubs) and started winning consistently in August, during which they racked up a 17-11 record. It was then revealed that perennially ailing pitcher Stephen Strasburg plans to retire with three years remaining on his 7-year $245 million contract, thus ending a chapter in team history mixed with glory and tragedy.

Starting positions, 2023

CF: Alex Call .237 Victor Robles .224

LF: Stone Garrett .276 Cory Dickerson

RF: Lane Thomas .241

SS: C.J. Abrams .246

2B: Luis Garcia .275 Jake Alu, Michael Chavis

3B: Jeimer Candelario* $ .217 Ildemaro Vargas

PITCHING ROTATION Patrick Corbin (6.31) Josiah Gray (5.02) Mackenzie Gore (4.50) Trevor Williams * (3.21) Jake Irvin * (---) Kyle Finnegan (3.51) : 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) $ = traded away in late July; 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
ARI	1	5
ATL	4	8
BAL	0	4
BOS	2	1
CHC	4	3
CHW	2	1
CIN	3	4
CLE	1	2
COL	4	3
DET	2	1
HOU	1	2
KC	2	1
LAA	1	2
LAD	2	4
MIA	2	11
MIL	3	3
MIN	2	1
NYM	6	7
NYY	2	1
OAK	3	0
PHI	6	7
PIT	2	5
SD	3	3
SEA	2	1
SF	5	1
STL	2	4
TB	0	3
TEX	2	1
TOR	1	2
Totals	71	91

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

• Apr. 4 -- Rays score 5 runs in top of 9th inning, finish series sweep next day; Kyle Finnegan blown save & loss; TB 10, WSH 6
• Apr. 22 -- Joey Meneses' 4 hits (6 AB) sparks Nats batters in frigid Minnesota temps; WSH 10, MIN 4 @
• Apr. 25 -- Josiah Gray (6 IP, 9 K) & Mason Thompson (3 IP, 4 K) get Nats' 1st shutout of the year; WSH 5, NYM 0 @
• Apr. 27 -- C.J. Abrams' 8th-inning grand slam put Nats ahead, but Mets scored two, avoiding being swept. NYM 9, WSH 8 @
• May 4 -- Alex Call 9th-inning leadoff 1st-pitch walk-off home run; WSH 4, CHC 3
• May 6 -- After Nats scored 5 in the top of the 9th inning (2 HR), Kyle Finnegan blew a 7-6 lead & took the loss. ARI 8, WSH 7 @
• May 7 -- Joey Meneses hit 3-run homer in the top of the 9th inning, Hunter Harvey got the save. WSH 9, ARI 8 @
• May 16 -- After Nats scored 3 in 8th inning, Hunter Harvey blew a 4-2 lead in 9th inning & took the loss. MIA 5, WSH 4 @
• May 28 -- After McKenzie Gore struck out 11 over 7 innings, Chad Kuhl blew the lead & (9th inn.) took the loss. KC 3, WSH 2 @
• May 31 -- Nationals hit FIVE home runs, incl. 2 by Keibert Ruiz, avoiding being swept. WSH 10, LAD 6 @
• June 28 -- Jordan Weems escapes bases-loaded jam in bottom of 10th, Lane Thomas hits 2-run double in 11th. WSH 7, SEA 4 @
• July 2 -- Stone Garrett hits his 2nd grand slam of the year; WSH 5, PHI 4 @
• July 9 -- Joey Meneses hits his 4th homer in 3 games, helping clinch series win vs. Rangers; WSH 7, TEX 2
• July 23 -- Nationals complete surprising 3-game sweep of the Giants at home; WSH 6, SF 1
• Aug. 6 -- Nationals homer on first two pitches, complete surprising 3-game sweep of the Reds in Cincinnati; WSH 6, CIN 3 @
• Aug. 9 -- Nationals suffered their first-ever no-hit loss; Michael Lorenzen threw 124 pitches and walked 4. PHI 7, WSH 0 @
• Aug. 12 -- Keibert Ruiz 9th-inning leadoff 1st-pitch walk-off home run; WSH 3, OAK 2
• Aug. 13 -- Nats score 6 in bottom of the 9th-inning to complete series sweep; WSH 8, OAK 7
• Aug. 18 -- Both teams score 6 runs in 4th-inning; WSH 8, PHI 7
• Aug. 26 -- Jake Alu's 2-out single in top of 9th ties the game, and the winning run scores on a passed ball; WSH 3, MIA 2 @
• Sep. 6 -- Jacob Young RBI single in 9th inning ends 6-game losing streak; WSH 3, NYM 2
• Sep. 20 -- Lane Thomas hit a grand slam and Dominic Smith and Joey Meneses also homered; WSH 13, CHW 3
• Sep. 29 -- Nationals hit FIVE home runs in upset road victory; WSH 10, ATL 6 @
• Oct. 1 -- Nationals prevail in a crazy back-and-forth game, win upset road series victory to end the season; WSH 10, ATL 9 @

"@" = 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	10	17	5th	14	290,607	20,758
May 2023	14	15	5th	14	285,309	20,379
June 2023	9	16	5th	12	285,969	23,831
July 2023	12	14	5th	14	309,640	22,117
Aug. 2023	17	11	4th	# 12	# 268,654	# 22,388
* Sept. 2023	9	18	5th	15	425,453	28,364
TOTAL 2023	71	91	5th	81	1,865,632	23,032
SOURCE: My unofficial daily tabulations from MLB Gameday stats, Washington Post, and other newspapers. * -- The April data include a game in March, and September data include a game in October. # -- The August data include one "home" game in Williamsport, Pennsylvania (8/20); attendance 2,473.

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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.
Red borders denote the Nationals' all-time best (or worst) record for this category.
(!) -- 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.

Blue background denotes best record in the National League for this category. "CY" = Cy Young Award; "MVP" = Most Valuable Player; "(T)" : TIED with another player.
Red borders denote the Nationals' all-time best record for this category. (2020 is excluded because of the shortened season: 60 games rather than 162.)
( 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 and 2023. In 2022, NO Nationals pitchers qualified. Of the two pitchers who were within 10 innings of qualifying, Josiah Gray had a better ERA than Patrick Corbin. In 2023, Corbin was the only qualifying pitcher, but Gray had a substantially better ERA: 3.91 over 159 innings vs. 5.20 over 180 innings for Corbin.
$ : Played part of the season for another team, being traded away; these data pertain just to games played with the Nationals.
* In 2021, Trea Turner led the National League in batting average (.328), but he played the last two months with the Dodgers.

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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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