The Washington Nationals are painfully light on experience. From the front office, to the coaching staff and the players, there are not many proven commodities. This is both exciting and somewhat concerning. As we get deeper into the offseason, the need for veteran leadership has become more glaring.
We have talked a lot about the inexperience in the front office and coaching staff. The influx of people in their 30’s has been pretty exciting. Over the past few years, the Nats front office and coaching staff has been old
and behind the 8 ball. Now, it feels like the Nats are trying to modernize which I like.
It is a risky move, but the reward is also very high. These young minds seem to be on the cutting edge and have bright futures ahead of them. However, one thing that has become concerning is the total lack of experience on the roster. The Nats have not been active in free agency and are light on players who could play a mentor role.
Right now the Nats roster has a combined one playoff at bat and zero playoff innings. The only playoff at bat actually came from their new catcher Harry Ford, who got a hit last postseason. Besides that, no National has ever been in a playoff game.
This is going to be a young roster, but I hope Paul Toboni brings in at least one guy who has been there and done that. By far the oldest player on the roster right now is Trevor Williams, who won’t even be ready to start the season. Even Williams, who has been in the league since 2016 has never appeared in a playoff game. There is a real shortage of guys who have won a lot of baseball games in their career.
I worry about the culture and how all the losing will impact it. Besides Williams, there are not many other long time big leaguers on the roster. Even on a young team, you need some mentors. Who will players like James Wood and Dylan Crews learn from in this locker room? Keibert Ruiz is an old head on this team at this point.
Right now, the three oldest position players on the roster are Riley Adams, Drew Millas and Keibert Ruiz. That is pretty nuts if you ask me. They need to bring somebody in to help establish a culture. It is pretty clear that they are not going to splash the cash this offseason, but a Josh Bell type of veteran is needed.
Rhys Hoskins is a guy who strikes me as a strong fit. He has seen it all in his career. When he came up, Hoskins was on a rebuilding Phillies team looking to get back to prominence. Later on in his time with the Phillies, he was on more competitive teams who had a lot of veterans and a high standard.
Then Hoskins went to the Brewers where he was part of another winning culture. The Brewers culture is more analytically minded and not built around stars. Hoskins seems like someone who would be a good mentor and also a solid first baseman.
With how inexperienced this roster is, I would be very disappointed if Paul Toboni did not bring in more experience. At times, Mike Rizzo may have relied too much on these cheap veterans on one year deals. However, not having any mentors on the team creates problems as well.
You need to pick the right kind of guys. We saw that last year when the Nats brought in Nathaniel Lowe to be a leader, which did not work out. Just because a guy is a veteran does not mean they are a leader. However, you need some experience to balance things out.
This is a new era where the development of young players is the top priority. However, Toboni does constantly mention that you win with people. That is very true in an MLB locker room. Without mentors, development is tougher. The Nats need to bring in some veterans who are wired the right way to help out this young group.
