Nats players offer words of wisdom to Little Leaguers

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._

Before the Nationals play the Phillies in the 2023 Little League Classic on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET at Historic Bowman Field, they shared their advice for aspiring Little Leaguers.

RHP Kyle Finnegan: “Have fun because it’s a game at the end of the day. Enjoy being with your teammates and working hard with them out on the field. Try to get a little better than you were the day before, every day. If you do that over and over, then a couple years down the road you’ll be a pretty good player.”

RHP Josiah Gray: “Make sure you’re using every avenue or every outlet you can in terms of the game of baseball. There’s so much information out there to make yourself a better baseball player. Ensure you’re turning over every stone in regards to pitching development, hitting development, strength. Be an advocate for yourself and never take no for an answer. Continue to do all your research.”

RHP Andrés Machado: “My advice is a lot of discipline, a lot of dedication to your work and respect for the game because it looks like a game, but there is a lot of responsibility. You have to prepare -- prepare yourself mentally and physically -- to face any situation that could happen in the field every day.”

1B Dominic Smith: “Have fun and work as hard as you can. Sometimes at that age, parents put a lot of stress on kids and sometimes the kids aren’t having fun -- which is the reason why this game was invented. … You’ve got to have that combination of the love for the game, the passion for it, the work ethic and just understanding that you can do anything in life and people can’t put any limitations on you.”

C Riley Adams: “For starters, you’ve got to have fun. But I think you have to know it takes a lot of work and certainly a lot of sacrifices. You have to have your priorities straight in what you want to accomplish and just stay focused.”

RHP Jordan Weems: “Always have fun. Go out there and enjoy it because it goes faster than you think. Take it all in, enjoy the moments and remember your friends and your coaches. Enjoy the Little League time because it goes fast, and then you go to high school and that goes fast and then everything goes fast and you look back and you’re 30 years old [laughs].”

Guess who? Nats Little League edition
Nationals players were shown several childhood photos and challenged to name their teammates as Little Leaguers. Watch to see these throwback pics and the guesses that followed.

Signature cleats for Little League Classic start
There will be a part of D.C. youth baseball with the Nationals when they take the field on Sunday for the Little League Classic -- particularly, on starting right-hander Trevor Williams’ cleats.

The Northwest D.C. Little League team, which advanced to the championship round of the Mid-Atlantic Region tournament, attended Friday’s game against the Phillies at Nationals Park. They got a behind-the-scenes look into the big leagues, including a tour of the Nationals clubhouse and the opportunity to watch batting practice on the field.

Then, the Little Leaguers signed the cleats Williams will wear when he starts in the Little League Classic.

Smith named Nationals LLC ambassador
Dominic Smith was selected as the Nationals ambassador for the Little League Classic. He will be joined by right-hander Michael Lorenzen for the Phillies. This honor is special to Smith, who participated in several MLB programs including the MLB Youth Academy in Compton, Calif.; the Nike RBI/Nike RBI World Series, and the Breakthrough Series growing up.

Being an ambassador is "definitely something that I like to take advantage of because you don’t know what that would mean to a kid’s life,” Smith said. “I went to a youth academy out in Compton, and I remember when Clayton Kershaw came up there and Matt Kemp and Mike Scioscia and all these guys who spent a couple hours with us. From then, it just made me more eager to want to be in their shoes and get to the big leagues.”