Dylan Cease threw a no hitter against the Nats, but were you rooting for history to happen? Ryan discusses that and Darnell Coles, the Nats hitting coach... is he on the hot seat? Then, we get you a Nats prospects stock report as Dylan Crews has been red hot... is he inching towards making his Nats debut? Lastly, we preview the Cardinals-Nats series here!
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It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. The Nationals got no hit against Dylan Seas in the San Diego Padres, but there's actually some better stuff to look forward to. The Nationals, number one prospect right now, outside of James Wood, you all know the name Dylan Cruz, he's starting to get red hot, so when can we expect him to make the jump to the Biggs? You are Lockdown Nationals, your daily Washington Nationals Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you all for making Lockdown Nationals your first list and every single day as we are free and available, wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, I'm Rose Ryan Claire, you can catch me over on Twitter @RyanClaire11 and as well as our show page @ellow_nationals for our latest Nationals news and notes. Make sure to check us out over on Twitter. And while you're at it, make sure to search us up Lockdown Nationals, wherever you get your podcasts, including over on YouTube, again, just search Lockdown Nationals. Later on today's show, we'll be discussing the Cardinals, Nat's series as the Cardinals, they're in St. Louis. I think it's pretty solid pitching against us for this series, but can the Nationals take advantage of that? We'll have that discussion for you at the end of today's segment, or to show you a show, rather. Jeez, it's a Friday, we all want the weekend here, we're all running on fumes. And also, it is a Friday, it is a Nat's Prospect Stock Report Friday, who has been up, I've already hinted at it, who has been up, Dylan Cruz has been up, I'll tell you why, it may be getting some ETA estimations for him as well, because the kid has been hitting the ball over in AAA Rochester. So we'll have that discussion for you in the second segment of today's show, but we start off with discussing yesterday's no hitter. It kind of brings up a fascinating conversation. When is it okay for you to root for a no hitter, but it's not for your team? We'll discuss that because I think something you may be surprised by my answer. I'm a hating guy, you know that about me, I'm a hater, but we'll answer that after we tell you guys about supplyhouse.com because they are the reliable way to get parts fast shop for your next plumbing, HVAC or electrical job, and get that shipping from coast to coast at supplyhouse.com. So Dylan sees throws a no hitter yesterday, and let's go over the Nat's box score. C.J. from zero hits, Lane Thomas zero hits, key barowees, zero hits, nationals, zero hits, that's your breakdown for yesterday's game. But it brings us a more interesting conversation in my opinion. When is it okay to root for a no hitter? I'll tell you this, if I was there in person watching that, knowing that the way the nationals are right now, we're not a postseason baseball team, we know that you're about to sell off here in the next few days, Jesse Winker is going to be gone. Maybe Lane Thomas will be gone and maybe Kyle Finnegan could also be gone, a couple other pieces as well. I know what we are. We're not a postseason team. Now with all that said, if it's the Philadelphia Phillies in town, I'm not rooting for a no hitter. If it's the Atlanta Braves, I'm not rooting for a no hitter. Even with the San Diego Padres and what jerks and pro far, which by the way, he continues to kill this baseball team here in D.C. Even with all those things and kind of the weird little rivalry the nationals do have between the Padres. I would still root for that no hitter. I'm a baseball fan. I'm also a nationals fan. I'm a nationals fan first, but I'm a baseball fan second. It is completely okay in this scenario in which the nationals don't really need to win any games to root for a no hitter. In this situation, that is baseball history. Add one of my friends there yesterday, actually co-worker, colleague, friend, Grant Paulson. You guys all know him. Grant was there at the game yesterday and he was rooting for a no hitter. But again, it has to be a certain scenario in which that yesterday was reached. It's not crazy to root for a no hitter, by the way. And I do kind of want to get into outside of this conversation here, but I think this is a very interesting one to have. You're all nationals fans. Some of you may have been at the game. If you're rooting for a no hitter or if you weren't rooting for a no hitter, let me know in the comment sections. Tweet at me @rionclair11, comment over on YouTube. Just search up locked on nationals, find today's episode and drop us a comment. But if you're rooting for a no hitter, that is not a bad thing whatsoever. You're not a bad fan. You're not rooting for the nationals to lose. This is kind of not a lost season. There have been way worse seasons out there, but you're not trying to make the postseason. This is not a playoff team. You're not in a postseason race. It's okay to lose. It's okay to get no hit, and it's okay to root for one if you are there with your team, with your family, with your friends, whatever it is, to go and see a no hitter. It's perfectly fine. But now, the nationals had no hits. There is one guy in particular that I saw catching all the shrapnel yesterday. It was hitting coach Darnell Coles. Here's the thing, Darnell Coles, if it was up to me, if I can press a button right here right now, when I change hitting coaches, when I make an upgrade, absolutely, I'm pressing that button a hundred times out of a hundred. But here's the thing, though. Not everything is to blame with Darnell Coles. If you look at this national's roster, he was given Joey Manesses. That's not a major leader, in my opinion. This national's lineup is very flawed top to bottom. You can look at guys that have done a lot better, CJ Abrams, Lane Thomas, while he hasn't been all that great this year, he has still been a success story with the nationals. Luis Garcia has taken a step up this year. James Wood, he's up and down right now. He's still trying to get his feet wet in the majors. He's looking decent, you could say. He better wheeze, taking a step back, okay, yes. But even then, you can't really just say Darnell Coles, Darnell Coles, Darnell Coles, he's to blame for everything. Guys, this national's offense isn't good. Even if you had your own Kevin Long here in DC, which we did have a few years ago, Kevin Long ain't fixing this lineup. Kevin Long did not have Joey Manessas in this lineup. Kevin Long did not have a slumping key better wheeze, who really has been a disappointment so far this season. Kevin Long doesn't have Jacob Young, who, he's a great center fielder, but not so great at the plate. He did not have a Nick Senzel in this lineup. Now back a few years ago, the nationals had a very potent offense, and you had Josh Bellover at first base, you had Juan Soto in the lineup. Yeah, the offense looks a little bit better, but when you're running Ilamara Vargas out there, Trey Lipscomb, Lane Thomas, who has been slumping, James Wood, who hasn't looked all too great up to this point in time, kind of been slumping the last week. When you have all those things, you're hitting Coach Ink and affix it. Now let me reiterate this, Darnell Coles should not be the Washington Nationals hitting coach, but he isn't to blame for everything. Just because this national's offense isn't all that great, doesn't mean you look at Darnell Coles and say, what's your problem? Now does it fall under his umbrella? Sure. But also this team just simply is not that good. It just isn't. And I think as we kind of get into this season, you'll probably realize that the national's offense just ain't all that great after all. So that's really all it is. National's got no hit against the San Diego Padres yesterday. Dylan sees through a no-hitter. I thought it was really cool. I could have been at the game, but ultimately I was not, so there is that. But thank you all for making lockdown next, your first listen every single day as we are free and available. However, you get your podcasts. Now we get into a national's prospect stock report and of course later on we'll be previewing the Cardinals Nat series, but before we get into both those things, again, Dylan Cruz, he is on fire. So let's talk about it, but before we get into it, let me tell you guys about some of our very good friends over at bookings.com. And this episode of lockdown nationals is brought to you by booking.com. Booking. Yeah, some are travel heating up, especially travel for baseball games. It's time to explore those US cities. You always secretly wanted to learn more about, yes, we're talking about your rivals cities with hotels, Ben and breakfast, vacation rentals, resorts, and so much more on booking.com. You might just find your perfect stay even in your baseball rivals cities. So maybe you're going to Wrigley Field or maybe you're even going to Bush Stadium here for this weekend, check booking.com for a last minute resort or family friendly hotel or even a bed and breakfast. You can catch so much on our friends website over at booking.com and maybe you're heading up to New York to City Field later this year, you can check that as well. And of course they have hotels to look over stadiums and maybe even a family friendly resort for you and your family. Booking.com has so many choices across the US for your summer travel, this major league baseball season. The right state can make you a fan of any US city, even your rivals. So book today on booking.com on the site or in the booking.com app. Now, let me tell you guys about our very good friends. We love to bet with them over at Fandall and guys. We talk about Fandall all the time and I love sports, I love them so much and I never want them to stop. But as the playoffs are done, we have fewer games in the sports, art, sports, things like I want them to, but Fandall lets me keep the sports going whenever I want. All I have to do is open the app and dream up any bets anytime I'm in the mood. And this summer, Fandall is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily. That's right. There's something for everyone every day all summer long. So head over to Fandall.com and start making the most out of your summer. Like maybe you go into tonight's game. You think James would is going to hit a home run against Sunny Gray. I think that could potentially happen. We'll see. But you can do that with our friends over at Fandall. When you do that, head over to Fandall.com and make the most out of your summer. So Fandall, the official sports winning partner of Major League Baseball. Thank you all for making a lock on that's your first list in every single day as we are free and available wherever you get your podcast and next segment will be previewing the Cardinals in that series. As you all know what to expect, you're growing up against three right handed hitters, right handed pitchers, rather not hitters. Can James would hit a home run. We'll see. But we start off with a next prospect stock report. Socked up for nationals. Number one prospect outside of James Wood, Dylan Cruz. Over his last 11 games in Rochester, I've been kind of slightly watching him a little bit. I've been trying to see if this guy can kind of take the next step up. He has. He's batting 289, a 418 OBP, a 489 slug, a 907 OPS. In that timeframe as well, he got a couple of home runs yesterday's game had two doubles. You're starting to see the slug come up here and also the exit velocities are starting to really kind of pick it back up as yesterday he had multiple balls hit over 105 miles per hour. Dylan Cruz is starting to kind of come into his own here and again, I don't think it's that crazy to think that Dylan Cruz will be up maybe within the next month or so. I don't think it's that crazy at all. He's not going to lose any service time. You're going to want to see what this lineup looks like going into the off season with Dylan Cruz in it as well as James Wood as well as Trey Lipscomb and guys like that. The nationals are going to want to get a little sneak peek at it and if you kind of remember the way that they did Victor Robles back from the day in 2017, 2018, they gave them those cups of coffee up in the majors and they probably should have by the way. You all know that I've been against that wildly, but I do think going into this off-season where you could be potentially spending, really kind of finding your holes and see what Dylan Cruz does up in the majors will kind of give you an idea of what this off-season could look like. If this offense looks a lot better with James Wood and Dylan Cruz in the lineup and learn her family sees that, you might be more liable to spend money and get like a penalizer with this lineup or whoever it may be, maybe Reese Hoskins, hops out of his deal and becomes a Washington national. Who knows at this point in time? Maybe even just get crazy, Juan Soto. That's not going to happen, but still, we'll throw that name out there. So, Dylan Cruz, he's been hot. Maybe the nationals do decide to go that route and call them up within the next month or so, but we'll ultimately see. Speaking of big-time prospects, Stockdown 4, Christian Vacaro, over his last seven games and even then, his entire tenure in Fredericksburg so far has been a complete wash. You've got two big-time prospects there, Christian Vacaro and Elijah Green. Both of them have not been all too great. Over Christian Vacaro's seven games, his last seven games, in fact, he's only got three hits. He does have a home running a double in that time frame as well, but he's got a 150 batting average, a 227 OBP, a 350 slug, and a 577 ops in the last seven games. So it has not been great for Christian Vacaro, he continues to struggle down in Fredericksburg and really his swing decisions have not been great, he's not ceiling bases, he's looking solid defensively, but you want to see what this kid can do at the plate. He's starting to get to that point where you're slightly concerned with this season. He's not going to get promoted to Haye, he will likely start next season in Fredericksburg as well, and you just hope to God that this isn't some big, toolsy guy that we just forget about eventually. So, stock down for Christian Vacaro, but we'll see what the kid can do moving forward. Stock up for Victor Hurtado, Victor Hurtado, down to the DSL, one of the national's bigger prospects down in the Dominican Summer League. Over his last 17 games, he's batting 283, a 387 OBP, a 528 slug, and a 915 OPS, he's got three home runs, 11 RBI, seven walks to six strikeouts in that time frame as well. If you remember, he started off the year striking out way too much. Now you're starting to see him level out a little bit, even walking more than he is striking out. He's got a couple home runs as well over his last 17 games. Victor Hurtado is someone who I think could be a very good professional hitter, and again, that DSL team, the offense is looking relatively decent. Angel Feliz, the seal to Hada that we have talked about as well on this podcast here, starting to see the National's younger prospects take those steps up, and really, this is something that we have seen in years past. Teams in the DSL for the prospects down in the DSL for the Nets, they have struggled. A lot of them. You're starting to see that turn a corner a little bit with three guys, including Angel Feliz, the seal to Hada, and now Victor Hurtado taking those steps up, and it's a good sight to see. Stock up for Victor Hurtado as he has been relatively solid for the Nationals right then and there. Stock down for Kevin Made. About a year ago today, you traded for him alongside DJ Herrs, and you traded Jammer Candelario to the Chicago Cubs. In Kevin Made, so far, he did get promoted to double A Harrisburg. In his first 11 games in double A, he's batting 105, a 171 OVP, a 184 slug, and a 355 OPS with 11 strikeouts. Not great. Here's the thing though with Kevin Made. He's not an offensive powerhouse kind of guy. This is going to be someone who will come up and kind of play that the Seem Nunez type of role. Now, will it be better than the Seem Nunez? I would like to think, but also with Kevin Made here, he was showing some promise as a prospect. Earlier on this season in Hayay Wilmington, he was killing the baseball for the first month and a half, two months, and even then it kind of made me turn my head a little bit and say, "Kevin Made, kind of turning around here in the Nationals, are getting a solid front, not from an alliance starting pitcher with DJ Herrs, but a back end in the guy realistically. Someone who's looked good, who pitches again this weekend, by the way, will have that preview later on." But then you also get a solid shortstop who plays very good defense, can play up the middle anywhere, and also hit. Well, it's kind of taken a step back here, but still Kevin Made, stock down right now. Maybe we can see him kind of turn the season around in AA Harrisburg. Stock up four, Marquis Grism Jr. A nice little reliever down in the made in reminders right now at this point. In AA, his first 12 appearances, 14 innings pitch, only two run runs, a 222 batting average against, and a 1.0 whip on the season. Marquis Grism Jr. is going to be one of those guys in my opinion will be a very fast riser within the system. In fact, with the Nationals expected to really blow out a ton of guys in the bullpen, I would not be surprised to see him called up maybe mid-September. I think you'll see a couple of guys like that, in my opinion. I think Jackson Rutledge could be like your long-term relief guy, even though he has not looked good whatsoever in AAA. Forget him as a starter. That's not what he's going to be up in the majors. He didn't have a solid decent outing against the Brewers, but still, he's just not going to be a long-term starter for his team. You also have Zach Brixie, Jose Frere who, in his first two appearances, didn't look all too great. Yesterday, looks solid, got the job done in yesterday's contest, but you also have a guy named Marquis Grissom, Jr. now, who is really establishing himself at the minor league level, really having a breakout season. I would not be surprised to see him take that next step up and maybe join the Washington Nationals in 2024. Thank you all for being locked on that. It's your first list in every single day as we are free and available. Wherever you get your podcast, let's preview this little series here as we've got the Cardinals in the nats, going head-to-head in St. Louis tonight, 8 o'clock first pitch. We'll talk about that, but let me tell you guys about our friends over at Supply House and guys, 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 on mine. They're easy to use. 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This is Ryan Ficklestein, the host of Lockdawn Metz, and I love the No Shell's wonderful pistachios so I can eat them straight out of the bag whenever I need a boost and my favorite flavor is their sea salt and vinegar. But if you're a pistachio purist who loves cracking open every nut, they also have great flavors like sweet chili and salt and pepper. Grab wonderful pistachios and elevate your snack and game today, visit wonderful pistachios.com to learn more. You're going up against three right handed pitchers this weekend with the St. Louis Cardinals, so let's preview that right here. Mackenzie Gore, against Sonny Gray and the St. Louis Cardinals. Sonny Gray started off the season as a side-young favorite. He's kind of fallen off since then, but you see what he can do, he's obviously a very good pitcher, but ultimately at the end of the day, you would like to see what the Nationals can do. Can they take advantage of him? I don't know at this point in time. The Nationals have struggled immensely against Sonny Gray in years past, so we'll see what the dads can do. But in game two, Jake Irvin against Kyle Gibson, Kyle Gibson is one of those guys where he gives the Nationals a very tough time. You saw that the game where I almost caught a home run. You all know the story. If you haven't, go back and listen to it. It's a sad story. I almost got a home run. Kyle Gibson was pitching in that game, shut down the Nationals. He's one of those guys where he's like those veteran guys, he's not really going to strike you out. He's going to get a lot of ground balls, a lot of pop flies. Kyle Gibson's nasty. I don't care what anyone says, a very solid veteran starting pitcher. I look at this game with Jake Irvin on the bump, which we know, by the way, the Nationals do not give Jake Irvin any run support whatsoever, so that'll be an interesting one. Then on Sunday, DJ Hers for a smile is Michaelis. Michaelis has had a very tough season so far in 2024, so I don't know what the Nationals can do with it. But still, you look at this series and you're like, "Oh boy, what can the Nationals team do?" So, a little bit of a shorter version of locked on Nationals today, but again, the Nationals were no hit yesterday, it was not a fun watch. Were you rooting for it? Let me know down in the comment section. Again, just search locked on Nationals over on YouTube, and you guys, you might be wrong, but you also might be right. We'll see about that. Again, let me know, tweet at me @RyanClery11 and let us know in the comment section over on YouTube again, that is just locked on Nationals. Hit that subscribe button for me as well, and of course, enjoy the weekend, enjoy the Cardinals series, I'll catch you on the flip side, have a good one. (upbeat music)
