Baltimore Orioles (23-11) vs. Washington Nationals (17-17)
On Tuesday night, the Washington Nationals welcome the Baltimore Orioles to the Nation’s Capital for a quick two-game split in the Battle of the Beltway series. The Nationals are coming off of a series win over the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend and have won seven of their last ten games overall, while the Orioles are riding a four-game winning streak fresh off a sweep against the Cincinnati Reds on the road this weekend. The O’s come into this matchup winning the last seven meetings, sweeping last season 4-0, and carrying a 55-39 overall record against the Nationals since 2006. All-time, the Orioles lead the Beltway Series in series wins, 10-2-6 as well.
Two Top 5 Shortstops?
Are we getting a glimpse at two top-five shortstops right now? It sure seems like it. CJ Abrams and Gunnar Henderson are taking that leap this season, putting them into the conversation that both could be top-five shortstops in the bigs. This is my most intriguing matchup to watch over these two games, with both young rising stars putting up nearly identical monster numbers to begin the season:
Abrams: .287/.353/.574 7 HR 19 RBI 23 R 6 2B 4 3B 8 SB 1.6 WAR
Henderson: .280/.349/.576 10 HR 24 RBI 25 R 3 2B 3 3B 6 SB 2.3 WAR
With Abrams being the centerpiece of the club’s rebuild, he has taken that leap, which he started to find near the latter half of the ’23 season. He’s completely flipped the script through 34 games so far. An improved quality of contact posting career highs in exit velocity (88.9 mph), barrel rate (9.5%), sweet-spot percentage (43.8%), hard-hit rate (40.0%), and xwOBA (.398). To go along with his improved bat-on-ball numbers, Abrams is walking at a career-best clip and posting the lowest whiff rate of his career.
Still only 22 years old, Henderson, like Abrams, has been the centerpiece of the rebuild that’s been going on in Baltimore the last few seasons. Henderson was just awarded the AL Player of the Month for March and April. Among players with at least 100 PA, he led in batting average (.368), OBP (.477), OPS (1.101), and OPS+ (214). The blistering start to begin the season could put him into the AL MVP conversation down the line. Through this point in the year, he’s stacked up amongst the league’s best in many offensive categories, tying first in the AL in home runs (10), sixth in RBIs (24) and sixth in WAR, and third in offensive WAR (2.0).
Game 1: Tuesday, April 7 at 6:45 pm EST on MASN
Probable Starting Pitchers: Trevor Williams (3-0, 2.27 ERA) vs. Corbin Burnes (3-1, 2.61 ERA)
The Nationals will get a big test from their bats on Tuesday night, going up against one of the best pitchers in the MLB, Corbin Burnes. In his last outing, Burnes faced off against the New York Yankees, earning his first loss of the year, pitching a solid six innings while striking out six and giving up two runs. This year, he’s posted a 3-1 record with a 2.61 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP, and 41 strikeouts over 41.1 innings. On the other side, for the Nationals, who would have thought that Trevor Williams would be the team’s best pitcher thus far into the season? What I had written about him in his pre-season projections had him in the bullpen at some point this summer. In Williams’ last start at the Texas Rangers, he pitched five healthy frames, striking out three, walking four, and giving up zero runs. He lowered his ERA to 2.27, which would rank him fifth in the National League if eligible based on innings pitched. This year, he’s 3-0 with a 2.27 ERA, a 1.17 WHIP, and 22 strikeouts over 31.2 innings.
Game 2: Wednesday, April 8 at 6:45 pm EST on MASN
Probable Starting Pitchers: Mitchell Parker (2-1, 2.53 ERA) vs. Kyle Bradish (0-0, 1.93 ERA)
The Nationals no. 21 ranked prospect Mitchell Parker has mightily impressed in his first three career big league starts. After Josiah Gray went down with a forearm flexor strain, the 6-foot-4 towering lefty made his stamp to stay around in the rotation. In his debut on April 15 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he pitched five innings en route to his first career win while striking out four and giving up two runs. In his most recent outing against the Miami Marlins, he only managed to get through four innings, striking out two, walking two, and giving up one run. This will be another test for the youngster Parker against the offensive juggernaut of Baltimore’s lineup. This season, he has pitched to a respectable 2-1 record with a 2.53 ERA, a 1.08 WHIP, and 19 strikeouts over 21.1 innings. For Baltimore, they will be throwing out Kyle Bradish, making his second start back after sustaining a UCL sprain sidelining him for the first month of the season. In his season debut last week against the New York Yankees, he pitched to a no-decision, and over 4.2 innings, he punched out five, walked, and gave up one run. Last season, Bradish finished fourth in the CY Young Award voting, putting up very underrated numbers, going 12-7 to a 2.83 ERA, a 1.04 WHIP, and 168 strikeouts over 30 starts. He became the first Orioles pitcher with a sub-3.00 ERA since Mike Mussina in 1992 posted a 2.54 ERA.
