In the offseason, Nick Senzel and the Washington Nationals took a chance on each other. Senzel signed with the hopes that a change of scenery would suit him after five years with the Cincinnati Reds. Washington, in turn, believed he could recapture the pop that made him the No. 2 pick in the 2016 Draft.
With three changes in Saturday afternoon’s 7-3 win over the Atlanta Braves, that partnership looked pretty good. Senzel finished with three extra-base hits, the last of which (a two-run homer into the visiting bullpen at Nationals Park in the sixth inning, after which he rounded the bases stone-faced) capped a second straight victory.
“I feel like I’m also my own worst critic,” Senzel said. “I always think I can do better. But that’s the game of baseball.”
That humble approach has helped him flourish and also allowed him to focus on his plate discipline, a principle that manager Dave Martinez attributes much of the 28-year-old’s success to. Although he has always had a walk rate close to the MLB average, he has increased it to 13.8 percent this year, placing him in the top 5 percent of major league players, according to Baseball Savant.
Although a player’s eye for the strike zone can be difficult to change, Martinez said the Nationals just had to show Senzel how effective he is when he is disciplined. He has a .992 OPS in the field following a ball, according to the TruMedia website, the best mark on the team.
“When you don’t have the success of getting hits… walks can keep you afloat in a sense,” Senzel said. “It’s not that I’m trying to get walks, but just trying to understand, maybe situationally, what the pitchers are trying to do.”
His OPS started the day at .726 OPS; he finished the day with a team-high .793. He is now a key piece in Washington’s lineup and has worked his way into becoming a potential trade piece at the deadline.
Senzel’s production has come in droves (he has six home runs and his first five came in a five-game span in late April) and he could be entering another hot streak now. He attributes his success to calculated aggression.
“You try to narrow it down to your strengths, and I think what I’ve learned throughout my career is that the more aggressive I can be, the less I swing at maybe bad pitches,” Senzel said. “You have to be aggressive in this league.”
For good measure, he walked in his last plate appearance. The Nationals (29-35) worked better in their at-bats against Braves right-hander Charlie Morton than in their previous two games, putting them up 3-0 after two innings. Eddie Rosario’s double drove in two runs in the first, then CJ Abrams had a seven-pitch at-bat and singled to score Senzel in the second.
Senzel brought home Luis García Jr. with a double in the fourth and drove in two more runs with his home run in the sixth inning to make the score 7-2 after Lane Thomas scored after two errors and a Rosario single in the fifth.
“It’s always important for us to get ahead early,” Rosario said through an interpreter. “It gives our starting pitcher more confidence when we have the lead.”
That early offense gave MacKenzie Gore a nice cushion against the Braves (35-27) in what became a strong start to the left-hander’s comeback after a six-run outing earlier in the week.
Gore still had to fight through his five-plus innings: In addition to breaking out of a bases-loaded jam in the first, the 25-year-old threw more pitches outside the strike zone than in any start since last August. . And, of course, there was a grimace here and there. In the sixth, after allowing two hits and exiting the game after 99 pitches, he kicked some dirt on the mound and let out a sigh.
But there was no high-octane frustration, not after Ozzie Albies’ double in the fifth cut Washington’s lead to 4-1 or from the dugout when Derek Law’s wild pitch allowed a inherited runner to score.
“Night and day (last year), right?” Martinez said. “It’s much better than last year. Last year, he would stomp all over the mound or scream into his glove. This year has been really good, which is fantastic and is one of the reasons he does what he does. He is able to get out of high leverage situations without blowing up.”
Gore finished with seven strikeouts and got a handful of comical whiffs.
“I’m an emotional guy; I always have been since I was young,” Gore said. “It’s more about being able to execute when guys are in action.”
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