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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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2022: Nationals' rebuilding effort shows scant progress

After the Washington Nationals traded away Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and other players in late July 2021, it was clear that the rebuilding effort would take a long time. However, the lockout initiated by MLB owners in early December blocked all player transactions and negotiations, meaning that teams "in flux" such as the Nationals were put at a strong disadvantage. On February 15, 2022 Ryan Zimmerman announced that he was retiring, after spending his entire career with the Nationals. Soon thereafter it was revealed that Juan Soto (who came in second place in voting for NL MVP last year) had turned down a $350-million long-term contract offer made last fall. Meanwhile, Stephen Strasburg went back on the injured list after just one start on the pitcher's mound, raising grave doubts about his seven-year mega-contract. Veteran sluggers Josh Bell and Nelson Cruz (one of the Nats' last-minute acquisitions in mid-March) did well, but for most of the year the team struggled to stay above a .333 win-loss record. In July they went from bad to worse, and just before the August 2 trade deadline, Juan Soto and Josh Bell -- the Nationals' only real star players -- were traded to the San Diego Padres. The Nationals's starting rotation was, quite frankly, just horrible; only Josiah Gray offers hope for the future. The team improved slightly in September, thanks to clutch slugging performances by Joey Meneses and other new players, as well as a solid bullpen, but the Nats lost their last five games of the season, finishing at 55-107 -- their worst record since arriving in D.C. in 2005.

Starting positions, 2022

CF: Victor Robles .203

LF: Lane Thomas .235 Yadiel Hernandez

RF: Juan Soto $ .313 Joey Meneses

SS: Luis Garcia .288 Alcides Escobar, C.J. Abrams

2B: Cesar Hernandez *.232 Luis Garcia

3B: Maikel Franco * .207 Ildemaro Vargas *

PITCHING ROTATION Erick Fedde (5.47) Patrick Corbin (5.82) Josiah Gray (5.48) Paolo Espino (4.27) Anibal Sanchez (DNP) Tanner Rainey : closer (7.39) Kyle Finnegan : closer (3.55)

1B: Josh Bell $ .261 Luke Voit

C: Keibert Ruiz .222 Riley Adams

DH: Nelson Cruz *.265

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

Manager: Dave Martinez

New contracts of note

• Juan Soto (RF) -- 1 year, $17.1 million (AE)
• Nelson Cruz (DH) -- 1 year, $15 million
• Josh Bell (1B) -- 1 year, $10 million (AE)
• Cesar Hernandez (2B) -- 1 year, $4 million
• Erick Fedde (P) -- 1 year, $2.15 million
• Joe Ross (P) -- 1 year, $2.4 million
• Steve Cishek (P) -- 1 year, $1.75 million
• Sean Doolittle (P) -- 1 year, $1.5 million
• Maikel Franco (3B) -- 1 year, $1.25 million
• Alcides Escobar (SS) -- 1 year, $1 million

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

Nationals' head-to-head matchups,
2022

Opponent	Wins	Losses
ARI	3	4
ATL	5	14
BAL	1	3
BOS	0	0
CHC	2	4
CHW	0	0
CIN	4	3
CLE	0	0
COL	4	3
DET	0	0
HOU	1	2
KC	0	0
LAA	1	2
LAD	3	3
MIA	4	15
MIL	3	3
MIN	0	0
NYM	5	14
NYY	0	0
OAK	2	1
PHI	3	16
PIT	3	4
SD	3	4
SEA	1	3
SF	2	4
STL	3	4
TB	0	0
TEX	2	1
TOR	0	0
Totals	55	107

2022 memorable moments

• Feb. 15 -- Ryan Zimmerman announced his retirement as an MLB player.
• Apr. 29 -- Nats ended 8-game losing streak with 22 hits, beating Giants 14-4. @
• May 25 -- Dodgers are shut out for the first time this year, losing to Nats 1-0.
• May 28 -- Victor Robles hits a career-high 6 RBIs, incl. a home run; Nats beat Rockies, 13-7.
• June 3 -- Lane Thomas hit 3 home runs, with 4 RBI; WSH 8, CIN 5 @
• June 18 -- Retirement ceremony for Ryan Zimmerman, but Nats lose their 8th straight game. (I was there!)  
• July 26 -- Nats retake lead in 8th inning on Luis Garcia's 2-run homer, thus winning the road series; WSH 8, LAD 3 @
• July 30 -- Nats take lead in 7th inning on Josh Bell's 3-run homer, raising his value before trade deadline; WSH 7, STL 6
• Aug. 10 -- Joey Meneses homers in his 3rd consecutive game, his 7th-ever MLB game; CHC 4, WSH 2 @
• Aug. 28 -- Ildemaro Vargas homers to take lead, Patrick Corbin gets first win for a Nats starter since July 6; WSH 3, CIN 2 (I was there!)  
• Sept. 1 -- Joey Meneses hits the Nats' first walk-off homer (3 runs) of 2022, in the 10th inning; WSH 7, OAK 5
• Sept. 16 -- Joey Meneses hits the Nats' first inside-the-park homer since 2017, ending a 5-game losing streak; WSH 5, MIA 4
• Oct. 1 -- Homers by Luke Voit, Joey Meneses, & Luis Garcia lift Nats to their final win of 2022; WSH 13, PHI 4

"@" = away game

Nationals, 2022: month-by-month summary

Month	Wins	Losses	NL East place (at end)	Number of home games	Total attendance	Average attendance
April 2022	7	16	5th	14	272,411	19,458
May 2022	11	17	5th	13	286,680	22,052
June 2022	11	16	5th	14	336,018	24,001
July 2022	6	19	5th	13	343,458	26,420
Aug. 2022	9	18	5th	14	410,172	29,298
Sept. 2022	11	21	5th	13	378,752	29,135
2022	55	107	5th	81	2,027,491	25,031
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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