The Nationals have been a surprisingly fun team to watch so far in 2026. As we have documented, the offense has been absolutely electric and the pitching staff has stabilized after a rough start to the season. However, the defense has been very rough, and it is showing no signs of improvement.
Even in last night’s comprehensive win, the Nats had two errors and a passed ball. This team just does not play error free baseball very often. In fact, the Nats are averaging nearly an error per game, with
41 errors in 42 games. Right now, they are on pace to have the most errors by any team since the beginning of the 21st century.
We knew heading into the season that this team was not going to be great defensively. They were not great last year, and have a number of players in the lineup not known for their defense. The Nats two best players, James Wood and CJ Abrams, are not great defensively, and that sets the tone in a way.
That is not necessarily the worst thing in the world. Defense is not like hitting and pitching. You do not need to be an elite defensive team to win a World Series. The Dodgers have been middle of the pack defensively the past two seasons, and so were the Nats in 2019. Going all in on defense is not the solution, but the Nats need to get to an acceptable level.
Averaging nearly an error a game is not an acceptable level of defensive play. Blake Butera knows this very well. He has spoken multiple times about the need to clean up the defense. At one point a week or two ago, he mentioned that he was going to change up the routine. It does not seem like that worked. Before yesterday’s game, he talked about how the Nats were not utilizing their athleticism in the field. I think there has been some pressing going on lately.
As Butera mentioned, this is an athletic team. You can see that on the bases. While there have been some base running mistakes, they have been a much better team on the basepaths this season. The Nats are first in Baseball Savant’s baserunning metric and second in BsR. This team is getting much better in a lot of areas, but fielding is not one of them.
Some of this is pretty predictable. The new regime talked a big game about making CJ Abrams a better defensive shortstop, but that has not happened. Abrams has 7 errors on the season and has -7 outs above average, as well as -4 DRS. He is just not equipped to be a shortstop long term. In fact, I think some of these defensive issues would have been mitigated by moving Abrams to second base before the season and playing Nasim Nunez at shortstop. However, I understand the new regime’s desire to give Abrams another shot at short.
I do not want to single out Abrams though, because he has been far from the only problem. Outside of Nasim Nunez, the whole infield has been a mess. Luis Garcia Jr. and Curtis Mead have both been producing with the bat, but neither are natural first baseman and it shows.
The most disappointing player defensively has been Brady House, and it has not been close. House is tied with Abrams for the team lead in errors, and has a much worse fielding percentage at .908 compared to .956 for Abrams. As you would expect from someone as mistake prone as that, the defensive metrics are not great. His OAA is only -2, but his DRS is the same as Abrams at -4.
Coming into the season, House’s defense was seen as a big strength for him. The young third baseman posted 2 outs above average last year, and made some great plays. He showed off his rocket arm and good range from his background as a shortstop. The big question with House was the development of his bat.
To his credit, House clearly put in a lot of work to improve offensively. House’s OPS is up over 100 points. He is walking more and hitting for much more power. House has been close to a league average hitter this year, with a 95 wRC+. However, he has gone from an asset to a liability on defense. It has been a disappointing development, and hopefully he can bounce back.
A lot of the problems seem to come when House is coming in on balls. That was how he made his error last night, and it was not the first one like that. There are also times where House just seems to be caught in between and is indecisive. The natural talent is there for him to be a good defender, and he has shown he can play good defense. Unlike Abrams, House has the range and arm for his position, he just needs to clean up the miscues.
The Nats defense has been the most mistake prone in baseball, but it has not been the worst. That is a key distinction, and one that can be tough to realize if you watch them play every night. For the season, the Nats are 25th in fielding run value at -7. In Fangraphs defensive metric, they rank 25th and they are 27th in defensive runs saved.
So yes, the defense is bad, but it is not as bad as the error numbers suggest. That comes down to a few factors. The Nats do have a couple real defensive wizards in the lineup. Nasim Nunez and Jacob Young are both very good defensive players, which helps them out. The Nats have gotten much better defense from their catchers. They have been a top 5 framing team this season.
The defense absolutely is a real issue, and they need to cut down on the errors. Making nearly an error a game is simply unacceptable at the big league level. They have 12 more errors than the next closest team. However, the defense is not as bad as the errors make them look. On offense, the new staff has really gotten through to the players, but it has been tougher to make them click on the defensive side of the ball.
