Game Thread: Astros vs. Nats in West Palm Beach
Andrew Alvarez gets the start this afternoon as the Nationals host Houston, plus news on the seven players who were cut from camp this morning
Hope everyone is wide awake and already adjusted to the time change. The Nationals may be a little sleepy themselves this morning, because they took longer than usual to announce their lineup for this afternoon’s game against the Astros. That may be in part because they also made another round of cuts. (Details below.)
It’s a daylight saving kind of lineup from Blake Butera, who is giving most of his regulars a breather in advance of Monday’s final off-day of the spring. Keibert Ruiz is catching and batting third, with Robert Hassell III getting a rare opportunity to bat second. And Yohandy Morales, who has mostly been playing first base, starts at third base today.
Andrew Alvarez, meanwhile, is on the mound. It remains to be seen if the left-hander has a real shot at making the Opening Day rotation, but for now he’s getting a chance to start big-league games. He enters this one having allowed two runs on four hits in five official innings this spring. The good news: He has six strikeouts. The bad news: He has five walks.
Charlie and Dave once again have the call on 106.7 FM. I’ll try to share some thoughts in the comments section.
HOUSTON ASTROS vs. WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: None
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees, wind 15 mph right to left
ASTROS
CF Brice Matthews
2B Jose Altuve
LF Yordan Alvarez
C Yainer Diaz
1B Christian Walker
RF Cam Smith
DH Lucas Spence
SS Riley Unroe
3B Jax Biggers
RHP Hunter Brown
NATIONALS
SS Nasim Nuñez
CF Robert Hassell III
C Keibert Ruiz
1B Andrés Chaparro
DH Drew Millas
2B José Tena
RF Joey Wiemer
3B Yohandy Morales
LF Christian Franklin
LHP Andrew Alvarez
CORNELIO AMONG LATEST CUTS
The Nationals made another round of roster cuts this morning, demoting seven players. Right-handers Riley Cornelio and Luis Perales, who are both on the 40-man roster, were optioned to Triple-A Rochester. Non-roster infielders Orelvis Martínez and Sergio Alcantara, right-handers Bryce Montes de Oca and Tyler Baum and catcher Caleb Lomavita all were reassigned to minor-league camp.
Cornelio is perhaps the most interesting name of the group, though his demotion isn’t all that surprising. The 25-year-old righty had impressed in his first big-league camp and was drawing comparisons to Brad Lord from a year ago. But the club doesn’t want to make him a reliever at this point, and in order to get fully stretched out as a starter, he needs to be in minor-league camp. If Cornelio gets off to a good start in Rochester, though, he’ll be among the candidates for a promotion when the Nats need rotation help.
Perales also could offer rotation help down the road, but the hard-throwing 22-year-old first needs to build up his arm after totaling only 36 minor-league innings the last two seasons due to his June 2024 Tommy John surgery.
Today’s moves leave 48 healthy players in big-league camp. You can find our updated spring training roster here.
Sorry, I haven't been able to follow the game so far ... because I was busy writing this breaking news story: The Nats are signing veteran starter Zack Littell: https://natsjournal.com/p/nats-agree-to-one-year-deal-with
No hits for the Nats through four innings against Hunter Brown. Just a couple of walks, one a piece for Keibert Ruiz and Nasim Nunez. On the bright side, Andrew Alvarez tossed four scoreless innings of his own, striking out five and needing only 41 pitches to do it. Alvarez already was looking up the rotation depth chart before today's start, and he'll go down another rung after the Zack Littell signing. But the lefty does continue to exceed expectations, and it will be very interesting to see how things play out for him in both the short- and long-term.