Nats' rookies describe their jump to Majors

This story was excerpted from Jessica Camerato’s Nationals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

There’s working to get to the Major Leagues, and then there’s playing in them. This season, 10 players made their big league debut as members of the Nationals. Some of the rookies shared what they learned in their first Major League experiences and the biggest difference from Minor League ball.

RHP Jake Irvin
Began season: Triple-A Rochester
Debut: May 3

“Nobody has it figured out. That’s kind of the beauty of baseball, that it’s ever-adapting, but at the same time humbling for guys that have played it so long. They can tell you, when you think you’ve got it figured out, the game will find a way to humble you just because it’s a game of failure. Every day, you’ve got to come to the park ready to learn and ready for new experiences because you’re going to be tested in some way or another. Being humbled, working hard and just realizing that the opportunities put in front of you need to make you grateful and not make you feel like you’ve deserved [them] -- because you may have earned it, but you didn’t deserve it. You have to be humble through all of it, humble through your successes and your failures. But the more you put in good work, the more success you’ll probably have.”

OF Jake Alu
Began season: Triple-A Rochester
Debut: May 9

“The travel schedule’s tough. It’s just different because some days when we’re at home, you’ve got a four o’clock [game] and then you’ve got a one o’clock the next day and then you’re out [on a road trip]. Then, you’re playing the next day at eight o’clock in another city. In the Minor Leagues, with the new schedule down there, you have a very consistent play six days, off Monday, play six days, off Monday. The schedule’s a little different. … I was close to [waking up and not knowing where I was]. (laughs)”

OF Jacob Young
Began season: High-A Wilmington
Debut: Aug. 26

“I would say how much better the defense out here is than going up. You’ll get a team that has a couple good defenders, I feel like you can see it, but out here there’s just so many less hits available because you’ve got Gold Glovers and All-Stars all over the place. I would say the amount of ground that gets covered and how many less hits – even when you hit a ball hard or you think it’s a hit – how many hits defense steals. … You can just tell, you’ll hit a ball that’s probably been a hit for the last 20 years of your life, and now it’s not.”

C Drew Millas
Began season: Double-A Harrisburg
Debut: Aug. 28

“The speed of the game is faster. The fans play a huge part … The nerves are high. But as you get in the environment more and more, your brain and your body, I feel like the nerves just kind of calm down and you get used to playing the game. It’s the same game, at the end of the day. The big jump for me this year was Double-A to Triple-A because you saw the heavy arms in Double-A, and they’d attack you with their stuff. Then in Triple-A, they’d start to pitch to what you’re weak to. … Then here, you’ve got guys that will attack you with their stuff and then you’ve got guys that will pitch to your strengths, so you kind of have to identify them throughout the course of it. So it was a lot at first, and I think I did a good job of kind of taking it all down and understanding that it’s the same game at the end of the day.”