Nats avoid serious injuries to key players in midway point of season

ST. PETERSBURG -- This week has already been a tough one for the Nationals. A three-game sweep at the hands of the Padres made their flight from Southern California to Florida that much longer.

After a 3-1 loss to the Rays on Friday night, they didn’t need injuries to their two best hitters this season to make things even worse.

Fortunately, it looks like the Nats avoided that worst-case scenario, which serves as the silver lining to the team’s fourth straight defeat.

The first scare occurred in the bottom first inning when left fielder Jesse Winker went back on a fly ball by Isaac Paredes. As Winker reached the warning track, he felt his right cleat stick momentarily in the Tropicana Field turf. He stumbled into the left-field wall and was still able to make the catch as he fell to the ground, something he said was “lucky.”

But Winker remained on the turf well after the play, seemingly unable to put much weight on his right leg. He eventually walked very gingerly to the Nats’ dugout, with manager Dave Martinez and a trainer at his side. He was replaced in left field the following inning by Ildemaro Vargas.

However, Martinez said after the game that Winker only had a right knee contusion. The 30-year-old outfielder said he will wait to see how he feels Saturday morning before deciding if he needs to undergo any more tests, but after getting checked out during Friday’s game, he feels like he escaped a major injury.

“Just my cleat grabbed the turf, and I felt my knee, and I think I tweaked it, but I definitely don’t think I did anything structural at all,” said Winker, who was wearing a wrap over his right knee after the game. “Obviously it's stiff and sore.”

It’s a relieving development for both team and player. Winker is batting .324 with a .907 OPS in June and entered Friday with a 132+ OPS; he trails only shortstop CJ Abrams in each category. The Nats can ill-afford to lose his bat as they vie for a National League Wild Card spot. And Winker has dealt with enough significant injuries as is.

He has played 120 games in only one of his eight Major League seasons due to a host of ailments. Knee and neck injuries limited him to just 61 games last season with the Brewers. So, given his history, it’s understandable that Winker might have immediately assumed the worst.

“I'm thankful it's not anything worse,” he said. “Because any time you, as a professional athlete, go down running into anything, it's kind of a scary feeling.”

The Nats got another fright in the seventh inning when Abrams, who has a 1.053 OPS this month and a 140 OPS+, took an 88 mph cutter from Rays reliever Kevin Kelly off of his left wrist. And this came after Abrams was plunked on his right arm by an 89 mph cutter from starter Zach Eflin.

But Abrams stayed in the game -- and was eventually picked off of first base to end the seventh. It was his ninth out on the bases this year, the most in MLB.

X-rays on Abrams’ left wrist came back negative and he should be fine, according to Martinez. Those baserunning blunders, conversely, are not OK.

“He doesn't need to get that far out,” Martinez said of his young shortstop’s secondary leads. “I think teams are onto him about taking a lead like that and he has got picked off quite a bit. I'm going to talk to him again about it.

“I talked to him once already. More than once. But he's just got to stay still.”

Winker and Abrams are seemingly well enough to continue being the linchpins of the Nationals' lineup, and that group will soon get a big boost. James Wood, the team’s No. 1 prospect and MLB’s No. 3 overall prospect per MLB Pipeline, will be called up ahead of Monday’s game against the Mets, a source told MLB.com.

The lefty slugger had three doubles and three RBIs for Triple-A Rochester on Friday, giving him a .353 average and a 1.058 OPS for the season.

Friday’s game was the official midway point of the Nationals’ season. Although they are experiencing their second four-game losing streak of the month, they are only four games out of a playoff spot, and their 38-43 record is a five-game improvement from where they were after 81 games last year. Despite a couple of heart-stopping moments Friday, their lineup is intact and about to add one of the best sluggers in the Minor Leagues.

So, what is the state of the Nationals halfway through 2024? Said starting pitcher Mitchell Parker, who took the loss after allowing two runs over five innings: “Right where we need to be.”