Going on 25 months now, the development of the Washington Nationals’ young players has mattered a lot more than the runs, hits and errors on the scoreboard in a given game. That’s true when they win. That’s true when they lose. And it feels acutely true on nights such as Tuesday, when the Nationals were buried under a pile of Patrick Corbin’s misplaced pitches and never recovered.
The end result, an 11-5 loss to the New York Mets, was Washington’s sixth straight defeat. The team has lost eight of its past nine. But because CJ Abrams and Lane Thomas got the game off — Abrams for some scheduled rest, Thomas because of continued back tightness — Jacob Young, the Nationals’ rookie center fielder, faced his first test in the leadoff spot. The 24-year-old finished with a single, a double, a walk, a strikeout, a groundout, two runs and an RBI.
“He got ready a little earlier tonight [at the plate], looking for balls in the strike zone,” Manager Dave Martinez said. “He laid off some really good pitches. I’ve known that about him. He’s really good about that, and he’s been leading off his whole career. We’ll see — if Lane can’t play tomorrow, we might let him lead off again.”
Young was part of the action right away. It just wasn’t on Washington’s terms. Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor, the Mets’ first two batters, slapped singles to him in center. In an immediate jam, Corbin followed with back-to-back outs, though they were a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly that brought in a run. Then after he plunked Mark Vientos with a fastball, Francisco Alvarez, New York’s 21-year-old catcher, crushed a three-run homer to left.
In their past five games, the Nationals (62-77) have trailed 1-0, 1-0, 1-0, 3-0 and 4-0 after the top of the first. In the game before that stretch, a 7-0 loss in Toronto, the Blue Jays led 2-0 after the bottom of the first. Corbin lasted four innings and 83 pitches against the Mets (64-74), yielding eight runs on seven hits. Alvarez, Lindor and Nimmo took him deep, running Corbin’s season total to 30 home runs allowed. Pete Alonso had a solo shot against Andres Machado in the fifth, and Nimmo added a second homer off rookie Amos Willingham in the ninth.
“Everything just seemed a little bit off today,” said Corbin, whose ERA jumped from 4.90 to 5.23. “I felt all right. It just seemed like any pitch today, they hit hard.”
So with Washington already in a hole, Young stepped in for his first of five plate appearances, facing lefty José Quintana. To take the next step this season, Young had to improve his swing decisions, which he detailed at his locker Tuesday afternoon. Yes, that meant chasing pitches less often than he did at low Class A Fredericksburg in 2022. But for Young, who debuted Aug. 26, it was more about swinging at the right pitches in the strike zone.
“[When] you get to two strikes, sure, you have to battle and try to put anything close in play,” he said. “But I knew I had to be a lot better in 0-0, 1-0, 2-1 counts. I used to hurt myself a lot by swinging at the pitcher’s pitch, not one I could do damage with. And now that I’m up here, it’s still a work in progress.”
If this sounds familiar, it’s because Abrams, Keibert Ruiz and Luis García have offered near-identical comments in recent years. It’s a common part of the learning curve for young players. Take, then, the small signs of growth in Young’s first matchup with Quintana. The first pitch, a sinker on the outer edge of the plate, was a strike. But Young took it, trusting he could get a better pitch to hit later in the at-bat.
Next, he watched a curveball that almost clipped the low-and-outside corner. After that, he swung at a curve in almost the same spot, though a bit closer to the zone, and fouled it off. In a 1-2 count, forced to protect the zone, he got a fastball up and away that he could handle. He punched it into the right-center gap, using his speed to reach second for a leadoff double. Joey Meneses knocked him in with an opposite-field single.
With that, Young had reached base safely in each of his nine starts to begin his big league career. He also had a hit in seven straight games. On Tuesday, his second at-bat, leading off the third inning, included a called strike, a fouled bunt attempt, a foul of a change-up below the zone, then a bouncing out to third. His third at-bat, in the fifth and still against Quintana, lasted just three off-speed pitches. Young took a curveball in the zone, fouled off another in the same spot and chased an outside change-up — a pitch way off the plate — to go down swinging.
Among Young’s tools, speed and defense rank well above anything he does in the batter’s box. And because he doesn’t have much power, his chances of sticking in the majors will hinge on his ability to make contact and not get himself out. Across three levels of the minors this year, he limited his strikeouts and stole 39 bases in 112 games. As Martinez puts it, he can use his legs to turn any single into a quasi-double. But the hard part is getting on base in the first place.
To end the top of the eighth, Young ranged into the right-center gap and made a leaping catch against the wall. In the bottom half, Young fell behind 0-1 again before floating an RBI single to center off right-handed reliever Sam Coonrod. He came around to score later in the inning as part of a four-run rally. And in the ninth, he capped his night with a full-count walk.
“I try to play the same game, pretty much, no matter where I’m hitting,” Young said after the loss. “Get on base, let the big guys behind me try to drive me in. … Early, late — just try to get the offense going.”