The adjustment that led to Candelario's recent power surge

MIAMI -- Sometimes, it’s hard to see the positives after a series sweep against a divisional rival -- especially when all three games were decided by two runs or fewer.

But for the Nationals, who head home on the bad side of a sweep after dropping the series finale, 5-3, to the Marlins at loanDepot park, there was one positive that stood out: Jeimer Candelario continued to rake.

With a solo homer and an RBI double in the series finale, Candelario ranks fourth among MLB third basemen in extra-base hits (18). And that’s just the latest in a stretch of success.

In his past seven games dating back to May 12 against the Mets, Candelario is hitting .478 with six extra-base hits (one homer, one triple and four doubles). His 12 doubles on the season are tied for second among all third basemen.

“He's been a great player,” said starter Trevor Williams, who allowed three runs on five hits and one walk over six innings. “I'm glad he's on my team. I'm glad that I don't have to pitch against him anymore, because you could see it. When he gets hot in the box, he gets really hot.”

Historically, Candelario doesn’t always do his best in the first few months of the season. He has a career .233 average in the month of May and a .203 average in June, so it will be interesting to see whether this hot streak continues, and Candelario is able to carry the hitting to next month. (He’s hitting .283 over 15 games this May.)

So what gives? Well, Candelario has worked hard on his approach at the plate, taking the time with hitting coach Darnell Coles and assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler to find consistency and make sure he’s swinging in the strike zone, not outside of it. And it’s working well.

Though the difference may seem miniscule (that’s in part due to small sample size), Candelario’s zone percentage is almost two percentage points higher than last year (46.4% in 2022 to 48.2% in ‘23). His coaches and teammates are noticing, as is his manager.

“He slows his feet down a lot,” manager Dave Martinez said. “You know, he's getting ready early, getting back and putting himself in a good position to hit every pitch. And again not chasing. He's getting the ball in the zone. When he does that, he can hit.”

That was precisely what Candelario did when he took Miami top prospect Eury Pérez deep in the fourth inning. Candelario took two curveballs down and away to get ahead 2-0, then fouled off a four-seamer on the edge of the zone. Then, another ball, high. Finally, with a 3-1 count, Candelario forced Pérez to throw a strike.

Candelario made him pay for it, too, cranking the ball a Statcast-projected 443 feet -- his fifth long ball and his longest of the season, eclipsing the home run he hit on April 7 in Colorado by a whopping one foot.

“Once again, Candy's swinging the bat really well for us,” Martinez said. “He was able to get in a good count and hit a home run. … That's the key, when you get some of these guys that throw in the mid-90s like that, [with a] good changeup, good curveball, the key is to get in the zone, get on the fastball, be ready for it.”

The third baseman also cranked that RBI double in the eighth inning as part of a two-run rally from the Nationals, pulling them within one run of the Marlins.

But nothing, and no one, is perfect. In addition to his 2-for-4 performance at the plate, Candelario also had Washington’s sole error on the day, a throwing miscue in the bottom of the fourth inning that allowed a run to score and Miami to take a 3-1 lead.

“Once again, we made a crucial error there late [and] could have kept the game closer within a run,” Martinez said. “Those little things seem to bite us a little bit, so just got to get playing good clean baseball.”

“Things are flipping, and we're going to be better,” Williams said. “We're going to start winning these close games, we're gonna start executing pitching better, hitting better, playing better defense. But there's a lot of positives to look forward to this, and Candy doing [well at the plate] and kind of spearheading the offense has been huge.”