We've seen in recent weeks Davey Martinez put up some different lineups, but yesterday's lineup was simply not it. James Wood should never be behind Ildemaro Vargas, Alex Call, and Harold Ramirez. Ryan explains why Wood should be in the 2 hole for the foreseeable future. We pivot to discuss Keibert Ruiz's hot streak, is this still enough for the Nats to make him the franchise catcher? Lastly, DJ Herz has become your best starter as of late and here's the proof.
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It's the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. I woke up on Twitter this morning and people were riled up about where James Wood is batting. If you weren't aware, James Wood batted 6 in yesterday's game and I can tell you this, it was absolutely wrong. They do all make a lockdown nationals your first list and every single day is free and available wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, I'm your host Ryan Claire. You can catch me over on Twitter at Ryan clary 11 and as well as their show page at l o underscore nationals for our latest nationals news notes. Make sure to check us out over on Twitter and of course while you're at it, make sure to search up lockdown nationals wherever you get your podcasts and of course you can catch us again on YouTube. Please look up locked on nationals. Hit a subscriber button, hit a like, hit a dislike, whatever you want, leave a comment as well. I would try my best to get back to you then and there later on in today's show, we will discuss nationals giants game four as it is a DJ her's day on this Thursday. I'm looking out the window now though. I don't know if we get this game in today. I said that about last night's game, but I kind of had pride myself on being a weather guy. Ultimately, I swung. It took a big old swing yesterday with Bobby Blanco said that they would not play. They did play. They played all my nannings and it was not really disrupted whatsoever. So maybe I'm not a meteorologist, but we'll discuss game four day as it is DJ hers, her's day on this Thursday. So we'll discuss that a little bit later on. So keep air a wheeze as the season has gone on. He has gotten better, but there still needs to be more, right? We'll discuss that a little bit later on in today's show as well. Where should James would be in the nationals line? I woke up today. My very good friend, Grant Paulson discussed this over on Twitter yesterday as the nationals batted James would sixth in the lineup yesterday with Alex called batting second Harold Ramirez batting fourth and ill tomorrow batting fifth. Well, I can tell you this James would should not be batting behind those guys. We'll discuss that and why I think that. But before we get into it, today's show is brought to you by game time down the game time app, create an account and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. And of course, terms do apply. So let's get into it because this call for a murder, not a emergency, but I do kind of like scrolling through Twitter, just like we all do. And I stumble upon people upset about James would batting sixth in the yesterday's lineup. And I'm here to tell you you should absolutely be upset about that. I look back to last summer and we all kind of know maybe what I'm leading into here. But if you remember with CJ Abrams last year, CJ Abrams was batting ninth batting eighth, kind of going back and forth in the beginning of 2023, not really doing all too much. People are starting to kind of look around the corner and say, CJ Abrams is going to be really that good here. And then around mid June, early July, Davey Martinez made the switch from CJ Abrams from ninth to lead off. And that is when he took off. That is what needs to happen with James would. And even then James would is not struggling at this point in time. James would in fact has been one of the better nationals hitters over his last 11 games. James would over his last 11 games. He's batting 385, they 500 OBP, a 667 slug that is an 1167 OPS everybody. James would is not struggling whatsoever. So tomorrow Vargas is not on fire by any means. Alex call he is on fire, but still we know what Alex call is. James would should not be batting behind guys like Alex call, Il tomorrow Vargas and Harold Ramirez. Putting James would up in the lineup, number one, it's the smart analytical thing to do with baseball. You want your better or best hitters to have more opportunities at the plate. Everyone always remembers batting first. If you're batting first, you're the speedy guy who will get on base. And then if you're second, you're going to be the contact or if you're third, you're typically usually the better hitter on the team. The fourth is your power guy. Analytics have kind of thrown that away. Your best hitter bats lead off CJ Abrams right now, that is your best hitter. Your second hitter is your second best hitter. That is where James would should be. James would should be your second hitter or at least your third, because when you have guys like Harold Ramirez or an Alex call or even an El tomorrow Vargas ahead of you, James would is becoming a target in a national lineup that doesn't really have that many targets. If you have some protection in there, then you could see James would even take off even more so than what he has been over his last 11 games. And again, even while batting six and kind of flip flopping him around the lineup, he still has two doubles. He's even got three triples. He's got a home run and he has 10 RBIs over his last 11 games. James would is starting to step into what we thought he could be. But even then the lineup placement right now, even while him doing really well at this point, he should be up in the lineup. He should be your second hitter at this point. We talked about this with 2024. What are the goals? I can tell you one of the goals that they aren't there are a few of them rather. Alex call breaking out in 2024. That's not one of the goals held Ramirez establishing himself as a DH for the nationals. That isn't a goal. Ildomaro Vargas establishing himself as a solid utility guy for the nationals and being in the middle of this lineup. That wasn't one of the goals. James would breaking out and making things as easy as possible for him to break out. That is the goal, the goal. In going forward in the future, James would is not going to be batting six. Move him up in the lineup. It's as simple as that. That is where he should be. That is where he belongs. And for really the people who say otherwise, that's crazy to think everything about this team right now screams, we are not making the postseason and we know that. You have to put guys in positions to succeed and get used to this. James would batting six. You don't want him getting used to that plus again. The reason why I brought up C.J. Abrams and having him kind of be in this equation here. Immediately once he was moved from ninth to lead off, you saw him take off. I always kind of think about this. I do pride myself in thinking this way. Baseball is a lot of mind games. Baseball is a mind game in fact. You fail a lot more than you succeed in baseball and that is a rare commodity in team sports. You do fail a lot. It is a hard game. But if you give someone that confidence boost, putting him up in the lineup, a young 21 year old who deserves it by the way, imagine the confidence boost there, imagine what it thinks. We may not think about that all too much, but still moving him up in that lineup may give him that extra boost like we saw with C.J. Abrams last summer. Alex Call, Ildamaro Vargas, Harold Ramirez, should never be in front of James Wood. It is as simple as that, never. And again, the nationals by the way, they lost the game yesterday, it was seven to four. It wasn't because of that. But you have all these guys in front of James Wood and it's a frustrating watch. This is one of my big takeaways. Davey Martinez always does this. I don't know what it is, but you can't get this right. You cannot. And some people may think, aren't you going a little too hard on the paint on this scenario? No, this is about the future. This is about James Wood right now. If you wanted to compete and try to win games, which nationals do every single day, that's their job. That's what they're going to do. They're not going to tank, even though we kind of know what's happening the last two months here. In order to win games and to put yourself in any position and do so, James Wood should be your second hitter. He should be right behind C.J. Abrams. That should be your one, two punch because that's going to be your one, two punch for hope for the next seven plus seasons. That is where James Wood and really this organization should be right now. Looking forward to the future, trying to get as many reps as possible and getting James Wood up to the plate as many times as you can. So James Wood batting sixth, I want that to be in the past. It should be in the past because he is not a sixth hitter. He is a second hitter or a third hitter or hell, even a lead-off hitter because in this timeframe as well, he's got three stolen bases over his last 11 games. James Wood should never be behind Harold Ramirez should never be behind Alex Call and certainly should never be behind Ill tomorrow of Arias. James Wood should be batting second and that is where he belongs. Thank you all for making lockdown nationals your first listen every single day as we are free and available wherever you get your podcast now. One of the goals as well for me was key bet Ruiz. He has been better but how much better has he been and is it really going to save what the inevitable could be with him, maybe not being the catcher of the future. We'll discuss that and tell you what I think about key bet Ruiz at this point in time. 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Our last minute deals, you can save up to 60% off buying last minute for sports, concerts, comedy, theater and much more. So you can take the guesswork at a buying MLB tickets with Game Time, down on the Game Time app, create an account and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again. Create an account and redeem code, LOCKEDONMLB for $20 off, download Game Time today, last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Delicious meets nutritious and the snack that packs a real protein punch, wonderful pistachios, one the highest protein nuts out there. Miller Thomas of LOCKEDONDIMAX here and I love these pistachios because each one ounce serving has 6 grams of protein giving you over 10% of your daily value. So whether your pistachio purist who loves cracking open every night or you prefer the convenience of no-show pistachios, wonderful pistachios has got you covered. Grab wonderful pistachios and elevate your snacking game today, visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more. Kiba Rui's has improved, but is it enough? Kiba Rui's got his extension last year and he has been good. He did take a step up in 2023 but I still expect more, I expected more. Kiba Rui's was a pretty big prospect coming out from the Dodgers before he made his debut back in 2020 and in 2021 when the Nationals traded for him he was a top 35 prospect in all the baseball. He was expected to be an offensive first kind of catcher who could bring power but at a solid arm nothing special but people thought he would be pretty good defensively as well as a very good offensive catcher. So far in his career he has not been good defensively and offensively it has been a roller coaster to say the least. But Kiba Rui's he has improved so let's get into it. He's batting 280, a 301 OBP and a 480 slug with a 781 OPS over his last or really since the beginning of July and that's right around probably 28 games since July 1st. But for Kiba Rui's to really make everything worth it, for Kiba Rui's to be your franchise catcher, I think you can kind of forget the fact that he's going to be a stout defensively. That's just not what he is. So in order for him to be a very good catcher well rounded overall he needs to be stout offensively. While these numbers are relatively solid for catchers they still aren't good enough for how bad defensively he is and he can't get it done defensively as well. According to baseball savant his frame is in the 30th percentile which by the way is not good it's been improving but overall it's still not good he's still well below average. His pop time is in the first percentile, probably the worst on all baseball. That's not good. The new rules have made it harder for catchers to do their job and also framing could be going away here so maybe that's taken out of the equation when you have automated strike zones eventually. But for Kiba Rui's to really kind of take control of this job and do what's best for the team he needs to be a stout offensive guy. He simply is not that just yet. He isn't and I don't think we can go into next season thinking that Kiba Rui's is going to be some stout offensive guy at this point in time. What gives you the confidence in that? We have seen throughout Kiba Rui's career the only consistent thing that about him has been his inconsistencies. I don't see him turning it around at this point. I unfortunately think Kiba Rui's is what we are seeing right now. A solid at times offensive catcher and a very poor defensive catcher at the same time. That balances out to be a solid catcher but he is certainly replaceable and here's the beauty of it though. Kiba Rui's in the extension that he got, it's pennies. He's not compared to what the learners have been spending over the last few years but at the end of the day big picture wise it's really nothing. Kiba Rui's though, if he's going to be the future of your catching position he's not going to get it done defensively, he's going to have to do it offensively and you may be asking well what kind of defies that? I need to see power because that has been one of the biggest concerns with Kiba Rui's in my opinion. While he does have more home runs, five home runs since July 1st, I could even see more than that. The switch in and catcher while he has been solid, he still hasn't been great. His strikeout percentage is still very elite, he puts the ball in play. But I remember talking about this last year, his expected batting average, expected slugging is always so elevated and you're like why is this not clicking for him yet? I just think that he's one of those guys where he looks a lot better because he puts the ball in play all the time and the analytics will back that up. But the hard solid contact just really isn't all there. In order for Kiba Rui's to really kind of make me feel comfortable about him being the catcher long term, he's going to have to hit for a lot more power than what he has done. A lot more. 10 extra base hits over his last 28 games, that's good, but I'd like to see more. Over a course of 162 games over his last 28 games to add those up to per 162, he'd have 29 home runs in 98 RBIs. Those are obviously very good numbers. But I think Kiba Rui's is better than that. I think he can be better than that. But he has no consistency in his game, he does not get on base at a consistent rate, he does not take pitches at a consistent rate, he swings way too often, does it have a very consistent key to a strike zone here? So I don't know when it's going to click for him, but this was supposed to be the second half where he really takes off and he has improved. But in my opinion, the improvements have to be a little bit more than what they are. It starts with a little bit more power and then you got to take more walks because you are one of the worst hitters in the National League as far as walks go. Be more picky. Don't just be so selective and swinging a strike just because it's a strike. Find your pitch, barrel it up and then see what happens with the key bear. But at this point in time, he's been good, but he's also very, very replaceable. DJ hers around this time last year was one of those intriguing prospects, very intriguing. He was striking out a ton of guys in double A, national trade form, filthy change up, very good stuff, bright future, he is now up in the bigs and it is a hers day on a Thursday on a rainy Thursday in fact. DJ hers has been one of your national's better starting pitchers over the last month plus. Really? We'll discuss that and get into this hers day before we get into it though. Today's episode is brought to you by supply house and get supplies from the site that's made for the skilled trade supplyhouse.com. Supplyhouse.com is a reliable way to order plumbing, HVAC and electrical products online. Their easy to use website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get the job done right. Shop a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from over 400 top brands and get your order delivered right to your door with fast shipping from coast to coast. Need help with an order? Get expert support and industry leading service from the friendliest folks in the business and talk to a real person every time. Pros and skill trades can get a competitive edge by joining supplyhouse.com's free trade master program. 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Now we get back into it with the Washington Nationals taking all the San Francisco Giants today so the Giants and the Nets, interestingly not interesting whatsoever but Kyle Harrison against DJ Hers so it's a lefty versus a lefty but as I said DJ Hers has been one of the Nets actually the best starting pitcher for the Nationals over the last month plus. The numbers say that as well. Over his last five starts he's a cumulative 25 innings pitch, 20 hits given up, 9 earned runs, 6 walks, 32 strikeouts, 4 home runs given up, a 3-2-4 ERA, a 3-5-3 fielding independent pitching, and a 6-72 OPS against. DJ Hers in the dream of when you traded Jay Maricandelaria last year at the deadline for DJ Hers and Kevin Meday who's still down in the minors doing solid but nothing too special at this point. The dream of DJ Hers really breaking out from the Nationals has come to fruition and he has been very good. The key to this is well if you remember if you look back at like my May episodes early June when DJ Hers was in Rochester and he was walking the yard, keyword walking batters. He was walking everybody. His walk rate was way high. At points he was walking nearly 6 guys per 9 innings, way too much to be a big league starting pitcher and be an effective one. And even then early on his major league career you were kind of like he does throw a lot of balls but ultimately he was still very good. DJ Hers has really come into his own and you're starting to see it right now on paper as well. Only 6 walks over his last 5 starts which then lead to these numbers. I think we've always known that if DJ Hers were to cut down on the walks he would be an effective big league pitcher even out of the bullpen but as well best case scenario as a starter and as he continues to start, as he continues to get better and grow into his own you're starting to see that dream come into fruition a little bit more. DJ Hers has been your best starting pitcher. Over the last 5 starts with Mackenzie Gore struggling with Jake Irvin kind of getting rocked around last night giving up 3 home runs. You have this young guy 23 years old turning 24. DJ Hers has been legit. You want to see him finish out this season and finish it in a strong way and this kid is going to be in your rotation going to next year without a doubt in my mind. Without a doubt. More so than Mitchell Parker. He's going to be your 4 or 5 starter in my opinion going to next season. I don't think that's a bad thing at all. You'll see what the Nationals do with them but at this point in time you have to think DJ Hers, he's legit. So thank you all for making a lock on Nats your first list every single day as we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts enjoyed today's game. It's going to be raining. I'm looking out the window again right now. It looks cloudy. I see a plane taking off into the clouds here as I'm in Arlington and you can kind of see all that stuff but if you go to the game, bring an umbrella, bring a rain jacket. It's going to be a tough one but maybe the game gets in. My guess, I think it does get in but that may just be me. So good luck with that. I don't know. I might go over. I might not. It's going to be raining. I don't really like the rain. So there's that. Thank you all for making a lock on Nats your first list every single day as we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts and of course we will catch you on the flip side. Have a good one. Go Nats. A prime member. You can listen to this lock-down podcast ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. (bright music)
