Starlin 'comfortable' at 3B; Lester's buildup

The Nationals have long said the starting third-base job is Carter Kieboom’s to earn -- it wouldn’t be given. With a week left in camp, there still is competition at the hot corner.

On Tuesday, the Nats took a look at second baseman Starlin Castro at third in their 5-5 tie with the Cardinals in Jupiter, Fla. The veteran has logged 366 2/3 innings at the position, including 45 games there in 2019 with the Marlins. Castro worked on third-base defensive drills over the winter, and he has done so in Spring Training as well, where he is batting .303.

“I see that as, we’re just going to weigh all our options,” manager Dave Martinez said. “We’ve got a week. I thought this would be an opportunity to get Starlin over there, see what that looks like, and then we’ll see what happens at the end.”

Castro played into the seventh inning before exiting with a leg cramp. He was replaced by Kieboom and is day to day. Martinez thought Castro looked “comfortable” on defense, which included a back-handed grab to throw out Nolan Arenado.

“It’s good for me, because it’s been a while since I played there,” Castro said of executing the difficult play. “And with that shadow, I feel pretty good and I see the ball well.”

Washington was in the same position last Spring Training, as Kieboom transitioned to his first Major League season at third. The team ended up platooning Kieboom, 23, with veteran Asdrúbal Cabrera. This year, Kieboom is hitting .167 in 14 games.

In addition to Castro, utility man Josh Harrison could also share third-base duties, though Martinez said he would prefer to have one starter. If the Nats were to go with Castro, 20-year-old Luis García, who started 35 games at second last season while Castro was sidelined by a broken right wrist, could slide into that starting role.

“Look, I’m a Carter fan. Everybody knows that,” Martinez said. “But he still has to go out there and do his job -- and he knows that. This doesn’t mean anything. We just want to see what this looks like right now. Carter’s going to get an opportunity to play third base.

“No decisions have been made yet. But we want to make sure we take the 26 best guys that we can possibly take.”

Lester still 'building'
Jon Lester expected his second outing of Spring Training to be more challenging than his debut last Thursday -- and it was. The southpaw, who underwent a parathyroidectomy during camp, threw 51 pitches (31 strikes) over 3 2/3 innings with three hits, one run and two walks. Regarding his delivery, he was pleased with his changeup and wants to improve on his curveball.

“I don’t think I was as sharp today as I was the other day with kind of the overall stuff,” he said.

Lester’s velocity reached 89.5 miles per hour. He would like for it to get up into the 90s, and thinks that will happen with more time. Overall, he felt encouraged by having more energy across the outing than he’s had in the past.

“Honestly, this is going to be a building process, I think, early on in the season,” he said.