The Nationals making boneheaded decisions on the bases feels like a daily occurrence at this point. Yesterday, the Nationals made two bizarre outs on the bases. Nats fans are sadly just used to this at this point because that has been the norm for two seasons now.
Heading into 2024, the Washington Nationals made ultra-aggressive base running a big part of their strategy. For the first month, it worked like a charm. In April of 2024, the Nats stole an insane 53 bases while being caught just 10 times.
That is monster volume with good efficiency.
However, as the year went on teams figured out how to handle the Nats stolen base attack. From May onwards, the Nats were getting caught an insane 37% of the time on the bases. The worst of this came in June of 2024, when the Nats got caught 19 times and only stole 18 bases. In 2024, the Nats led the league in caught stealing and times picked off.
So heading into 2025, the Nats decided to be less aggressive. They are ninth in steals instead of 1st this year. However, they are still third in caught stealing and tied for second in times picked off. For a team that has a small margin for error, these outs on the bases are unacceptable.
With the lack of aggression this year, the Nats are taking the extra base less often. Last year, they were sixth in extra base taken percentage, but have fallen to the bottom 10 this year. So they are making outs on the bases without reaping the benefits of aggressive base running.
That low-IQ base running was on full display last night. In the first inning, CJ Abrams got a base hit. However, he ended the inning when he got caught in no man’s land and was back picked by Austin Wells.
There were warning signs, including a close pickoff earlier in the inning. However, Abrams and first base coach Gerardo Parra seemed totally unaware of the threat that faced them. This has been a common theme ever since Parra took over as first base coach in 2024. Parra will always be beloved for his role as the Baby Shark in the 2019 run, but his work as a base coach has left a lot to be desired.
On the other side of the diamond, Ricky Gutierrez did not have a good night either. Early in the game, Gutierrez gave mixed signals to Robert Hassell III. At first he was waving Hassell around, but put up a late stop sign. Hassell ran through the stop sign and scored, but a good throw would have had him at the plate.
Later in the game, Gutierrez sent James Wood home on a play that was not even close. It was a one hop single to the left fielder that was an obvious hold. However, Gutierrez sent James Wood home and he was out by about 15 feet.
This is not the first time Gutierrez has had a rough night against the Yankees. Last year against the Bronx Bombers, Gutierrez abandoned his post on an insane double play. While Nationals runners were stuck in no-man’s land, Gutierrez had his back turned to the play.
The bad base running is just another example of how poorly coached this team really is. The offseason cannot come soon enough because every game these players are just getting bad, losing habits engrained every single day. While keeping this staff around for the rest of the season after Davey Martinez got fired was the easy decision, it was not the correct one.
This coaching staff is actively hurting the team on all levels. The new coaching staff is going to have to start from scratch. They need to teach these guys the fundamentals because that has not been happening in DC for a while now.
