The Nationals have 21 games left in a difficult season filled with injuries, poor play and the departure of several popular players. This has left many in NatsTown pondering on social media about why they should continue to watch games down the stretch.

The obvious answer is that baseball is awesome and once the final pitch is thrown, we must anxiously wait like a dog for its owner to return home for pitchers and catchers to report next February. And with all due respect to my Caps brethren (congrats on the Stanley Cup!), there is no better live sporting event than an evening at the ballpark.

On the field, I am particularly focusing my attention on second baseman Wilmer Difo. Like many on the Nationals, this has been an up-and-down year for Difo, playing in 130 games and batting .242/.299/.374 with seven home runs and seven stolen bases. However, in the roughly two weeks since the Daniel Murphy trade gave Difo the starting second base gig, he has hit .261/.306/.500 with three home runs. Difo plays outstanding defense at second base and brings an infectious energy to a team filled with veterans. These next few weeks are vital for Difo, who is auditioning for the second base job in 2019.

Before exploring free agency this winter, Washington does have other options in-house to play second base. Howie Kendrick, who injured his Achilles earlier this season, is under contract for 2019 and expected to be ready around spring training. That said, he’s 35 and coming off a tough leg injury, so Kendrick might be better as an occasional option at the keystone, rather than the solution.

In addition, prospect Carter Kieboom held his own as a 21-year-old in his first experience at Double-A this season. He needs additional seasoning in the minors, but the Nationals are showing faith in Kieboom by sending him to the Arizona Fall League next month. Kieboom could force his way into the conversation and become an option at second base by midseason.
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And as mentioned, free agency offers several tempting options this winter, as it is a good crop of available second baseman. Players such as Brian Dozier, Ian Kinsler, DJ Lemahieu and Jed Lowrie will certainly interest the Nationals, not to mention Murphy could be a possible match.

This will be an extremely busy offseason for general manager Mike Rizzo and the Nationals front office, as they desperately need to acquire a couple of starting pitchers, bullpen depth, a permanent solution at catcher and attempt to re-sign Bryce Harper. If the 26-year-old Difo can give the organization enough evidence over the next three weeks that he can be the everyday second baseman, the Nationals could opt to ignore second base this offseason and go with Difo and Kendrick to begin 2019, while waiting for Kieboom to emerge from the minors. But if Difo struggles, he is likely to be relegated to a career as a backup and Washington would seek another starting option this winter.

These next few weeks could make or break Difo’s career and I am keenly interested to see how he responds to the challenge.

*Originally Published for MASNSports.com 9/7/18*

On Thursday evening, I drove to Woodbridge, Va., to see the Single-A Potomac Nationals, primarily to watch Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon’s first game on his minor league rehab assignment for the purposes of this guest blog. Rendon injured his big toe by fouling a ball off his foot and has not played since April 13, leaving a mammoth hole in Washington’s lineup in recent weeks.

Rendon batted third and served as the designated hitter for the P-Nats, unfortunately keeping me from seeing how his toe affected him defensively. At the plate, Rendon went 2-for-4 with a single, double, a hit-by-pitch and two long flyouts to right field in his five plate appearances. He struck the ball well each time and made hard contact twice, appeared to be seeing the opposing pitchers well and his timing seemed solid considering the layoff.

Rendon purposely did not run the bases aggressively, though the lack of opportunities for true hustle masked if this was precautionary or not. He needs a few more games to see some higher-quality breaking pitches and play some defense, but should be activated before I publish my next guest blog, likely on Monday.

However, as enjoyable as it was to see a major league superstar in that environment, I will forever remember this game as Juan Soto’s breakout performance.

As mentioned in my previous column, the 19-year-old Soto is Washington’s No. 2 prospect and I watched his first home run for Potomac in person last week. I scouted him several times in 2017, so I was well acquainted with his impressive skill set. That said, Soto only played 32 games last season due to injury and is two years away from legally being able to buy a beer, so I tried to keep my fiery prospect prognostications on a simmer until seeing him again this year.
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Last night, Soto hit another two home runs, the first of which an absolute mammoth shot to right field that sounded like a shotgun blast off the barrel. The second one was less highlight reel, but almost equally impressive, a lazy fly ball into a summer breeze that somehow continued to carry well over the right-center field wall. Good players can hit long home runs, but the special ones are able to make what looks like a routine fly ball a 400-foot home run. Soto has a chance to be special.

As I was making my long drive home and pondering how to interestingly describe Rendon’s productive evening, I could not stop replaying Soto’s at-bats in my mind and watching the videos on my phone at stop lights. This feeling of excitement is what has me willing to spend much of my summer in minor league stadiums and eager to drive 327 miles roundtrip in one day (thanks Google maps). It makes the long drives and the questioning look from relatives as to why you do this all worthwhile. So for a memorable and magical evening, thank you, Juan Soto!

*Originally Published at MASNSports.com at 5/4/18*