CJ Abrams is your Nats All-Star after his breakout campaign in 2024, The 23 year old has been one of, if not the best offensive shortstop in the NL and all of Major League Baseball. Ryan discusses this massive achievement, and why he deserves this honor. Also, the Nats got snubbed AGAIN, and his name is Jake Irvin. It's a Nats stock report Monday, who has been up and who has been down? Brady House has been promoted to AAA Rochester so we discuss that news here, could he join the Nats in 2024? Ryan ALMOST caught a homerun ball yesterday, here's the (embarrassing) story.
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[MUSIC PLAYING] It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Building a business may feel like a big jump, but On Deck Small Business Loans can help keep you afloat. With lines of credit up to $100,000 in term loans up to $250,000, On Deck lets you choose the loan that's right for your business. As a top-rated online small business lender, On Deck's team of loan advisors can help you find the right business loan to fit your needs. Visit on deck.com for more information. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by On Deck or Celtic Bank. On Deck does not lend to North Dakota all loans and amounts subject to lender approval. Yesterday was announced that CJ Abrams is going to represent your Washington Nationals at the All-Star Game. But more importantly, Jake Irvin was snubbed. [MUSIC PLAYING] You are Lockdown Nationals. You're daily Washington Nationals Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. And thank you all for making Lockdown Nationals your first list in every single day as we are free and available. Wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, I'm your host, Ryan Claire. You can catch me over on Twitter @RyanClaire11 and as well as our show page @ello_nationals. For our latest nationals, make sure to check us out over on X or Twitter, whatever you want to call it nowadays. It doesn't really matter. Later on in today's show, we'll be discussing Brady House, getting promoted to AAA Rochester as now. You have Brady House. You have Dylan Cruz up in AAA. When will they be up in the majors? We'll have that discussion a little bit later on in today's show. And also in that last segment, yesterday I was at the nationals game. And let's just say I had a home run ball come right at me. Did I catch it? I'll explain it in the third segment of the show today. It was not a proud moment of me. You can see it on TV. I was running an exposed Juan Soto jersey. But I'll save it for you. We'll have that in the third segment of today's show. And it's a second segment, as we always do on this Monday, a Nat stock report Monday, who's been up and who has been down. We'll have that report for you a little bit later on in today's show. But we start off with discussing-- forget the Cardinals. Here's the nationals. Do play at 405 again today against the St. Louis Cardinals. Forget it. CJ Abrams. He is your nationals all star right now. I'm going to be representing the nationals down in Arlington, Texas in the Texas Rangers ballpark there. Globe Life Park. CJ Abrams isn't all star. And this is a well-deserving honor for CJ Abrams. A 23-year-old. Forget talking about he's going to be a star. CJ Abrams is a star right here and right now. If you were to kind of look at it and kind of take a step back and discuss CJ Abrams, 23 years old, two years ago when the nationals traded for him in that big Juan Soto deal, we all know about it. We've discussed it a lot over the last two weeks since the nationals played the Padres, in which Jerrickson Profar still kind of sucks. But CJ Abrams has been an all star all season long. If you were to kind of go back into May, CJ Abrams, that's kind of when he took that step back. The month of April, you could make the case that he was probably, if not the best, shortstop in all of National League, not just offensively, but also defensively, he was getting the job done as well. And then in May, kind of came around. He was not doing well. He didn't hit a home run nearly all month at that point in time. And even then, in June to start that month, he was kind of cold again. But then all of a sudden he got scorching red hot, starting to hit home runs again, seen the ball fly, yet again, having it go the other way. Whatever it was, CJ Abrams was having his way in any given situation. Looking at the numbers right now, CJ Abrams has the highest slugging for a shortstop in the National League, more so than Mookie Betts, who's an MVP candidate. Obviously, he's on the shelf right now, but still. He is second in on base percentage behind Mookie Betts, and he has a 353 OBP of Cross National League Shortstopsco. He has top five in batting average in shortstops for the National League. He is third in doubles for shortstops across the National League. He has been one of the greatest home run hitters so far this season in the National League as well. This kid is 23 years old. Think about that for just one second. Two years ago, and even just a year ago, by the way, CJ Abrams, we were kind of talking about can this guy be your franchise shortstop? Not only is CJ Abrams your franchise shortstop, but this is going to be your superstar shortstop for hopefully what is the next decade. And obviously, when you're talking about Abrams, the big overwhelming discussion surrounding him has always been, well, he's not a Scott Boris client. He's represented by rock nation. Can you get an extension done with him? Because at this point in time, and I talked about this all off season long, that was my number one priority going into this season was to get a CJ Abrams extension done. If I remember correctly, Barry's flue of the Washington Post, he discussed this earlier on this season that the Nationals were kind of chirping about an extension with them. They probably felt around, felt what the price would look like. At this point in time though, if I'm CJ Abrams, I'm not taking an extension, because it's not going to be cheap. If the Nationals were to extend him, you're probably looking at a $300 million contract at this point, maybe even more than that. I don't know what his worth is, but I can tell you one thing. Being only 23 years old, having team control all the way through late 2020s, this kid is young. He's gotten a little bit of swagger to his game as well. He does all the right things. He plays every single day. He has been healthy throughout his duration of his career so far, and he's only 23 years old again. Reiterate that part. Only 23 years old, putting up these huge offensive numbers, showing a lot of power, in which it was not supposed to be the case for him, by the way. Just two years ago, I was thinking maybe at some point in time, he'll hit 10 to 15 home runs. That's not the case. He's got 14 on the season right now. And you see it, he has confidence just oozing out of him at any given moment in any situation of a game. If you were to pluck one person out of this lineup and say, "I want this guy to bat and bottom of the ninth, "game seven in the World Series tie game, "bases loaded, two outs, three, two count, "I'm picking C.J. Abrams." So the fact that this guy is now an all-star, number one, it shows all the hard work that he has put in. And even then, kind of talking to him in the clubhouse, seeing different quotes come out of the clubhouse with C.J. Abrams talking to him down in spring training, I remember all kind of like poking fun, like, "What do you do?" And the officer, you're a football fan, like a lot of people are, "What are you doing on your Sundays?" And he doesn't watch football. He watches basketball. He plays 2K. But other than that, we were all kind of getting down to it, you know, being from Georgia, or a lot of high school football legends down there. It's a football town, football area, football state, whatever you want to say. On Sundays, C.J. Abrams went to the batting cages with his father. And so hearing about this yesterday, when the media asked him, "What was the first thing you did "when you found out that you were an all-star?" He called his dad. And he said his dad was probably a lot more excited than what he was. C.J. Abrams being an all-star is one of the best stories to come out of 2024. He deserves it. He earns it. And again, all the hard work that this kid has put in, number one, kudos to the organization for the nationals for kind of sticking with Abrams and seeing the future and seeing the light because at 23 years old, think about it. And yes, I do know you have to have someone representing you in the all-star game. But his numbers are really well-deserving of it. If you stack them up against Mookie Betts, all the other great short stops in the nationally, Trey Turner, C.J. Abrams is the better one offensively speaking and it really isn't that close. Speaking of someone who really isn't that close, one guy in particular, you can talk about Kyle Finnegan. Kyle Finnegan should be, in my opinion. You saw it healthily with the St. Louis Cardinals. He should be an all-star, obviously. He's been the best closer in the national league so far this season. Looking at Jake Irvin, though, he was snubbed. And again, we say this every single year. It is a popularity contest. It's always going to be a popularity contest, especially with the way that the fan voting works. And not to knock nationals fans in this, but still, nationals fans compared to like the Phillies, the Cardinals, the fan bases just really aren't too similar. You know what I'm saying. And it's unfortunate we do have a good group of die-hard fans you saw it in 2019. People show out for this team, but it's always going to be a popularity contest. And the nationals don't have the national spotlight of the teams like the Giants, the Cardinals, the Phillies, the Braves. That's just what it is at this point in time. The Nationals had four all-star back in 2021 with Kyle Schorber, Max Scherzer, Juan Soto, and Trey Turner. But since then, it's kind of fallen off. And we kind of know why. The team hasn't been winning. But Jake Irvin should have been an all-star. And there is no discussion after that. Right now, Jake Irvin, and I got this from Al Galdi, tweeted this out the other day. Jake Irvin, as far as through Saturday's start, he has tied for number two in B-War, number four in ERA, number four in ERA+, number four in WIP, number 10 in Fielding Independent Pitching, and number seven in innings pitch on the 2024 season, as far as National League starting pitchers ago. Jake Irvin should be an all-star without hesitation. And this is where the system is so flawed. And for smaller market teams, the nationals are a bigger market, but still, we kind of act as if we are a smaller market. That's just the way that it is right now. This is where things go lopsided, in my opinion, because we should be talking about how Jake Irvin is a frontline starter. And hell, even then, we should be talking about him being a sigh-young type of winner at this point. That's the kind of season that Jake Irvin has had. And you saw it on July 4th when he goes eight innings pitch, one hit, striking out the entire damn side, retiring 17 batter straight at one point in that game. You should be right then and there in the all-star game, as well as CJ Abrams. Abrams deserves it. He's the bigger name. But also, it should be two nationals, and really should be three, if we're talking about Kyle Finningett as well. Jake Irvin was one of the biggest snubs of the all-star game across the National League this year. And I guarantee you this. If you turn on Lockdown Rockies, if you turn on Lockdown, name that National League team, they're all probably saying the same thing about one of their guys. But Jake Irvin, the numbers they stack up against, any of them, he should be in this conversation and he should be a National League All-Star as well. It's unfortunate, but that's just the reality of it. It's a popularity contest, and it will continue to be a popularity contest moving forward. Thank you all for making Lockdown Nats, your first list in every single day as we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts. Later on in today's show, we will have Brady House, promoted a AAA Rochester. We'll have that discussion a little bit later on. And also, we have a story about how I almost caught a home run ball, keyword almost. It's unfortunate. But now let me tell you guys about our friends over at prize picks and guys, you may ask what prize picks is. Well, prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members. Prize picks is the easiest, the most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports, unlike other apps on prize picks. It's just you against the numbers, and all you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in. 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Be sure to mention, locked on nationals at checkout and you'll receive a $250 discount off their services. Again, be sure to mention locked on nationals at checkout and you'll receive a $250 discount off their services. Later on in today's show, we'll be discussing how I almost caught a home run ball. I cannot stop talking about this. Everybody in my life, I have just been hammering them about this. I almost caught Wilson Contreras' home run ball, but the story is even better. I'll have that discussion in a third segment of today's show and as well as Brady House getting promoted to AAA Rochester, but now it is a Monday. It is a Nat Stock Report Monday. Who has been up and who has been down? Well, speaking of players getting snubbed by the All-Star game with Jake Urban, we start up with a stock up for Jake Urban. He has been all this ridiculous run. Talking about Jake Urban over his last three starts, 20 innings pitch, a 0.9 ERA, two earned runs in that time as well, coming off two solo home runs, 23 strikeouts, five walks, and 0.78 batting average against and a 3.17 OPS against. Jake Urban has been on fire lately. You saw what he did in that game July 4th against the New York Mets, carried this starting pitching staff for really over the last month. Jake Urban did get rocked around about four starts ago, but since then has been nails. Again, 23 strikeouts over his last 20 innings pitch and those are over three starts. Only five walks continuing to have one of the best walk rates per nine across Major League Baseball. Jake Urban has been solidifying himself not only as a future part of this rotation, but a big, really kind of like second guy behind Mackenzie Gore at this point. I still think Gore is going to be the man down the road for this national's rotation, but Jake Urban, it's hard to ignore it. A sub three ERA has been one of the better pitches in the NFL for quite some time now, should have been an all-star. And again, these numbers don't lie. Jake Urban is here and he is legit. Stock down, center fielder for Jacob Young. Jacob Young plays very good defense. He runs the bases pretty well. But right now, not getting it done at the plate whatsoever. Four of his last 25, batting 160 with a 250 OBP and a 200 slugging, but he's just not getting it done at the plate. You can hit singles and when you're Jacob Young, singles can turn into doubles pretty damn easily with number one in your speed and number two, you're a stolen base threat. Those are all good things. And Jacob Young, he screams fourth out fielder. He's not a center fielder of the future for this team. He should not be a starting center fielder really on any postseason team. You can get away with it. But even then, I'd rather go with a Michael A. Taylor, someone who has a little bit of pop, who can also play very solid defense, but still Jacob Young, at this point in time, he's been a good story. He should continue to be your everyday center fielder at this point. But singles aren't really going to get it done, unfortunately. It's just not, not in today's game. If this was 2005 and you're batting 278, playing very good defensively in center field, Jacob Young might have been an all star. Who knows? Today's a different game though. You don't hit for power. You have your one home run in the air. There's a bomb by the way, 400 plus feet. But at this point, you can't really rely on that every single day. But one thing is for sure is this guy's a big leader. He is going to be a center fielder for quite some time playing really good defense. It's kind of a Kevin Plart type. That's kind of what I see when I look at him at this point. Got really good range, very good defensively. Good arm, just does everything right, runs the base as well. Good clubhouse guy. Young, cheap. All the things that you want from a fourth outfielder. That is what Jacob Young could be down the road for this national team. Stock up. We haven't even mentioned him yet. Hit his first home run this weekend. James Wood. The 21 year old is on fire. It's not a joke. Again, he has eight hits in his first seven games, up in the bigs, and also more impressively, in my opinion. Six walks to seven strikeouts. Again, his first big league home run. This is what his numbers look like right now. Again, first seven games. We're not going to panic at all, but still. 320 batting average, a 452 OVP, a 480 slug and a 932 OPS. James Wood, this is a little bit surprising because you see all the top prospects come up, struggle right away. Ellie Taylor Cruz, he struggled a little bit. Jackson Holiday struggled immensely, took him forever to get his first big league hit. James Wood did it his first night. He then hit his first home run a few games later over this weekend. James Wood has arrived. James Wood is starting to live up to all the hype that we were giving him and all the praises that everybody around Major League Baseball gave him as well from scouting him back from a few years ago, coming out of IMG Academy. James Wood is going to be the future of the Washington Nationals. Now, maybe some people are frustrated the way that he's not elevating the ball at this point in time. I'm not worried. He's getting on base. He's doing all the things that you want. Now, I will say in left field, he looks really shaky because yesterday he had that one play where it kind of fell in there. I was sitting out in left field and you can kind of see him now. I don't want to say that he's not trying, but there is one ball where I think he probably could have gotten was between kind of felling that permuted triangle. I think he just got a bad jump. It's whatever. You're not really a left fielder. I think James Wood should be in center and or right at this point in time. But the way that Jacob Young plays center, the way that Lane Thomas plays right, you have to put James Wood in left right now. So maybe post trade deadline. You see Lane Thomas shipped out of town. James Wood comes up, makes right field. And that's kind of his home for the next hopefully decade plus, but James Wood has been really good so far and you should feel good about the national's top prospect and really the top prospect in all a baseball at this point in time. Stock down for Hunter Harvey. Whatever it is, Hunter Harvey, it ain't working. It's just not. Over his last six appearances, five innings pitch, 11 hits, nine earned runs, two strikeouts, two walks, a 440 batting average against. Think about that. Think about it. A 1,300 OPS against. What is going on? Hunter Harvey, just a handful of weeks ago, had like a 290 ERA. Now I think an ERA is kind of an overused stat for a bullpen guy. But even then looking at his war this season, it's now at a 0.0, zero impact on the national so far. And it's really has to do with these last six appearances. Blowing a couple saves, getting games lost for the nationals. The extra innings blow up from a few weeks back in San Diego that kind of started this whole kind of downhill spiral for this next lineup really as a whole. But Hunter Harvey has not been good. I don't know what's going to happen because again, we were expecting Hunter Harvey to have some trade interest at this year's deadline. And it would have been kind of nice for Hunter Harvey to continue the pitch well. But at this point in time, he has not pitched well whatsoever. I don't know if the nationals pulled the trigger and trade him or if you hang on to him. Hunter Harvey, he's got some elite skills to him still. You still like Hunter Harvey. He's been good and you can kind of rely on him. But right now it just hasn't been good. I don't know what to expect them moving forward, but that's where we sit today. Stock up for Luis Garcia, Jr. He has been the nationals best hitter over the last seven games and it's not even close. Batting 417, a 462 on base percentage and an 833 slug. He's got three home runs, eight RBIs, 10 of his last 24, Luis Garcia has been on fire. If you remember, you know, a handful of years ago when we all kind of thought Luis Garcia was going to be breaking out. If you look at his season numbers right now, playing solid defensively over at second base, he's in shape, he's doing all the things that you want from him, Luis Garcia is starting to turn and look the part. Now here's the thing with him. Similar to he better Luis. You've always kind of had this. You've always seen the flashes and the potential that he holds. You see the strike, the plate awareness. You see that Luis Garcia can put the ball in play, he can hit it hard and when he hits it hard, he can have the ball go far. Hit a second deck home run just the other night. But Luis Garcia is going to have to stay on track. He's going to have to stay consistent and that is when I'll really kind of buy into this with Luis Garcia because at some point in time, the Nationals are going to have to make a decision at second base. If Luis Garcia can finish the year hot, he's going to be our second baseman going to next year. And that's a pretty easy decision to make. So, stock up for Luis Garcia. He's been damn good. Hopefully he continues that. But now, let me tell you guys about Brady House getting promoted to AAA and as well as my home run story. But before we get into it, let me tell you guys about our friends over at FanDuel and guys. When we talk about FanDuel, you need to know that I love sports and of course, you love sports and I never want them to stop as you don't want them to stop. 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And again, FanDuel.com, that is where you'll find the best betting in all of baseball. You know we love talking stats here at lockdown Rockies. Here's one that's super simple to remember. Discover automatically doubles the cashback you've earned on your credit card at the end of your first year with cashback match. That means with Discover, you could turn $150 cashback to $300. That's right, you could put it towards some memorabilia you've had your eye on or treat yourself to a premium sports network. You earn and discover doubles. See terms at discover.com/creditcard. - Thank you all for making lockdown nets, your firsts and every single days, we are free and available wherever you get your podcast. So Brady House has been promoted to AAA Rochester in a move that not really is that surprising. But here's one thing that I will say, Brady House has been good. He hasn't been great. We've kind of talked about him having some up and down moments. He started the year red hot. So if you were to tell me back in May that he would be in AAA at this point in time, I would have believed that 100%. But really he's kind of been struggling over the last month or so. Now here recently he has picked things up. You're starting to see the production come back when he's starting to see him pick for power. Ultimately, that's what you want to see from him. That is what Brady House is. He's going to be solid defensively at third, which he has been all year by the way. But really his slugging is kind of what has held him back. He's still hitting home runs after you know what. That's what you want to see from him. So now he is just one step away from entering the major leagues. I would not be surprised to see Brady House having a cup of coffee with the Nationals midway through September. Assuming they aren't in any sort of postseason race. You've seen it in years past the Nationals under Mike Rizzo. They did this a lot with Victor Robles. Now here's the thing though, I've kind of stayed away from this. I would not just throw Brady House just to have a cup of coffee in the majors at this point. I would not. I don't think that if he is not ready, which his numbers will tell you if he's ready or not, then you should not do that. I've always been under the premise that if you are a struggling hitter, let's just say he is struggling in Triple A, which is very much so likely. He's 20 years old, making the jump. He's still a young boy at this point in time. If he is struggling, you should not just throw him up with the majors, be like, I'll see what he does to a few at bats. Don't do that. Have the guy finish the season healthy, have him get his at bats in Triple A and then going in the next year, maybe have him compete for an opening day spot. We all know that that won't necessarily happen with this team. We all kind of know how the Nationals handle it, but let's say that he does and he kills the ball in spring training next year. He's one of your best sitter similar to what James Wood is. Maybe he's up at the majors at subpoint in May. That's kind of the hope for him. But now I want to talk about this, because again, we'll have much more Brady House as he makes his debut here any moment with the Rochester Red Wing. So before that though, I almost caught a home run ball yesterday. Wilson Contreras, 109 miles per hour off the bat, me and some of my friends sitting in the left field there. First and foremost, the adrenaline of having a ball hit your way. A home run ball, for instance, this has never happened to me. I don't really sit out in the left field bleachers. I don't really sit really anywhere where I couldn't catch a home run. It's just, I like other places in the ballpark. It's not that I'm afraid of it. But if you saw it on TV, I was wearing the Expo's Juan Soto jersey. White, the pin stripes, I can pull it out right here. It's sitting right here in my dirty laundry right now. So I sweat through it yesterday. It was 100 degrees. If you look at my arm, I got a big old sunburn right there as well. And of course, my face, if you're watching home run YouTube. This was a screaming line drive coming right at me. And as soon as the ball was hit, I look over to, like, we all kind of stand up. We're like, I immediately say, this is coming right at us. This line drive, 109 miles per hour off the bat, sitting about four rows up from the outfield wall. And all of a sudden, before you know it, the ball is right there. It is coming right at me. Seriously, I did not move, not a single muscle. It is coming right at me. 109 miles per hour off the bat, according to baseball surveillance. 109 miles per hour. This is not a loopy kind of home run. This is a line shot by Wilson Contreras that got out in a hurry. I froze. Fros. I had, I was getting ready to catch the ball. And then I noticed this ball, if I missed this ball, it's going to hit me in my, you know what? Not my gut, not my head, not my chest, not my legs, somewhere in the middle of my body. Let's just say that. I realized last second, if I missed this, I may not have kids. Seriously, that is legit what was going through my mind. I then turned to my side, thinking that I'm going to wear this thing off the side of my rib cage, or my thigh, or my bottom. Before I know what my friend reached his left hand out, saved that from impact, hit him in the hand, ball falls right in front of me, and then he gets the ball. Unbelievable. Number one, here's my thing, I'm so mad. 'Cause number one, all the people out there, Toby Alteiser, Grant Paulson, saying, "Why don't you, "why don't you move out the way?" I promise you it's different. If you see a wine drive coming at you 109 miles per hour, and yes, oh, sorry, it's not 109 miles per hour off the bat right then and there. It might be 103 miles per hour, sorry. I'm so mad at everybody who's saying, "You should've just caught the ball." It's a lot easier said than done. I can tell you that right now. Just put your hands out. You have two hands for a reason. I know, I know I've got two hands. Guess what? It's a lot harder than what you think. When we were thinking about your future, you're thinking about getting hit, you're thinking about making SportsCenter not top 10. If you miss it, then you're on the ground crying, because it just nailed you in your manly area. It sucks. It was a lose, lose situation. If I missed it, I would've gotten wheeled out of there in a stretcher and not going to the hospital because I'm bleeding everywhere. Or I'd make the catch, which is maybe a positive, that'd be great. But knowing me, that ball is gonna hit me right then in the bad spot. So you can catch that video over on Twitter. I posted it, Brian Clary 11. The Cardinals broadcast got it. You can find different angles I'll be posting on later on in the day. But more importantly, just think about this. The once in a lifetime opportunity of catching a home run ball, I had it. And then I did not. I'll never have that again. I will have to go to my grave saying, I have never caught a home run ball, even though I had the opportunity to. So, folks, catch that home run ball. Enjoy today's game. Have a good one. I'll catch you on the flip side. Go Nets. (upbeat music) - A prime members. You can listen to this lockdown podcast add free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. - Building a business may feel like a big jump, but On Deck Small Business Loans can help keep you afloat. With lines of credit up to $100,000 in term loans up to $250,000, On Deck lets you choose the loan that's right for your business. As a top rated online small business lender, On Deck's team of loan advisors can help you find the right business loan to fit your needs. 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