Taylor recovering from hip, oblique knocks

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Michael A. Taylor strained his right hip flexor which led to some discomfort in his right oblique while playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic in December, he revealed Thursday, which limited his stint there to just seven games.

Taylor went to play winter ball to get more at-bats to work on his swing change, but he pulled his hip flexor during the second game. He tried to play through it for a few games, but he then aggravated his oblique shortly afterward, which he says becomes an issue when he swings too much in the cage.

In seven games, he went 4-for-28 with nine strikeouts and one walk, before taking the past two months off to rehab and rest.

“I feel good now,” Taylor said. “I haven’t had any problems. It’s something I’m going to have to pay attention to, keep an eye on my workload. But it should be no problem.”

The Nationals will be sure to monitor Taylor throughout the spring, but manager Dave Martinez does not believe the injury will be an issue. Taylor is still scheduled to start in center field for Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener against the Astros.

It will be the start of an important season for Taylor as he attempts to re-establish himself after a down year in 2018. In 134 games, he batted .227/.287/.357 and produced 0.9 Wins Above Replacement, according to FanGraphs, mostly for his stellar defense in center field. But he got lost in the shuffle of outfielders on the roster in September and received just 15 at-bats that month.

Late in the season, Taylor began developing a swing change with hitting coach Kevin Long, focused primarily on cutting down on his 31.4 percent career strikeout rate. The overhaul is designed to simplify Taylor’s swing -- now, his long stride is almost completely gone and his bat remains still as he stands in the box.

“I mean, the power is going to be there,” Martinez said. “He's just a strong kid. For me, it's just getting him to put the ball in play. That's the key for him: it's just making contact, put the ball in play and use all his tools."

Kendrick to start at second base Saturday

Howie Kendrick will start at second base in Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener, Martinez said, something the manager would have considered very unlikely before arriving to Spring Training. But so far, Kendrick has shown no lingering effects from the ruptured right Achilles tendon he suffered last May. He has participated in all team workouts without limitations, which convinced Martinez that he is ready to go.

“It's the first day, we ran the bases and he was getting after it,” Martinez said. “There was no hesitation, there was no limping -- he was in full force, and he made a point to tell me again that he was ready. So I just said, 'OK good, you're playing second base Saturday.' So he's all excited about getting back on the field."

Thursday's workout emphasizes defense and baserunning

Defense and baserunning are the two biggest areas Martinez wants to emphasize this spring as he tries to improve the Nationals' fundamentals, especially on the basepaths. A year ago, Washington ranked 29th in all of MLB (ahead of only Toronto) in BRR, a metric by Baseball Prospectus that calculates how much players contribute above or below what an average baserunner is expected to.

So, Thursday’s workout focused almost entirely on those two areas. Coaches threw a short round of batting practice to finish the workout, but this day was almost all dedicated to those “little things” the Nats have vowed to improve upon. On Friday, Martinez plans to turn up the intensity a bit, with a drill of 30 simulated game-like situations which, if the defense executes perfectly, might end at 15 plays. But for every error, Martinez will add five more rounds.

“We want to really hone in on our defensive skills,” Martinez said. “And pickoffs and relays and all these different things ... and really, really focus on that. I really believe that that's going to help us throughout the course of the year, and we did that today and they loved it.”