Midseason Report Card for Nationals Offers Some Positives and Negatives

With an NL East-worst 33-48 record, the Washington Nationals have settled into their role as sellers at the upcoming trade deadline.

While the team is young on both the hitting and pitching sides, the results have been disappointing in a weaker-than-expected middle of the division.

At the official halfway mark of the 162-game season, here are the grades for the Nationals.

Davey Martinez, Manager

GRADE: D

Martinez has been with Washington since the end of the 2017 season, replacing Dusty Baker after two consecutive 95-plus win campaigns.

After going 82-80 and missing the playoffs in Year 1, Martinez led the Nationals to their first World Series championship. Since the shortened 2020 season, Washington has a 295-434 record, failing to win over 71 games in a year over those five seasons.

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Martinez has been on the hotseat for what seems to be an eternity, and his grace period after winning the World Series is rapidly closing.

It is becoming more and more clear that his time with the team may be over before the 2025 season concludes.

The Good

CJ Abrams

With major question marks surrounding Abrams both on-and-off the field entering the season, he has started to show signs of a potential upper-echelon leadoff bat for years to come.

With a .283/.355/.483 slash line to go with 11 home runs, and 16 stolen bases, the former San Diego Padres’ draftee is among league leaders at the shortstop position. While still grading below average defensively, his overall play has improved with a minus-4 fielding run value compared to minus-13 last year according to Baseball Savant.

As of June 23, Abrams is eighth among NL shortstops in All-Star voting.

GRADE: B

Jake Irvin

Irvin led the National League with 14 losses last season and had a 4.41 ERA over 33 starts, which was tied for the most in all of the Majors.

In 13 outings this year, the former fourth-round pick has a 6-3 record with a 4.18 ERA to go with 66 strikeouts.

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With bright spots coming at a premium in this Nationals pitching group, Irvin has stood out with impressive performances against some of the league’s best lineups, having strong showings against the New York Mets (4/25), San Francisco Giants (5/24) and Los Angeles Dodgers (6/21).

GRADE: B-

Kyle Finnegan

There is a high chance that Finnegan’s time as a National is coming to a close as the deadline approaches, but that is only because the 33-year-old has put together another great campaign as Washington’s closer.

Dating back to the start of 2020, Finnegan's debut season, only six pitchers have more saves than the former Athletics sixth-round pick.

In 29 appearances in 2025, Finnegan has a 2.89 ERA and is tied with Andrés Muñoz, Emilio Pagán, Trevor Megill and Emmanuel Clase with 18 saves, the fourth-best mark in baseball. If he were to keep this pace, it would be the first time since his debut season where Finnegan had a sub-3.00 ERA.

He is no stranger to trade rumors, but with the Nationals out of contention in the NL East, it may be time to see what they can get in return for one of the league’s best closers.

GRADE: B+

The Bad

The Bullpen

Health has been a positive so far for Washington, only using six different pitchers to make starts in the first half. Unfortunately, these starters have had their outings wasted due to a poor overall performance from the Nationals’ bullpen.

On the year, the Nationals bullpen has ranked near the bottom of the league in:

5.84 ERA (29th)
135 BB (26th)
19.6 K% (29th)
.270 AVG against (29th)
.798 OPS against (29th)

Only Finnegan, Brad Lord, Cole Henry and Andrew Chafin have an ERA under the league-average mark of 4.04.

GRADE: D-

Batters 5-9

After Washington’s regular top-of-the-order, the bottom half has, for the most part, been a giant black hole.

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The Nationals lay in the bottom-third of the league with their 5-9 hole hitters in hits (330), RBI (151) and OPS (.650). This chunk of the lineup has been made up mostly by young players and backup catchers, but the results have been unsupportive of a promising top-half. Here are some slash lines that are cause for concern:

Jacob Young (148 AB): .250/.323/.297
Daylen Lile (64 AB): .188/.243/.328
Brady House (39 AB): .231/.262/.256

Other than James Wood (3.7), Abrams (2.9) and Alex Call (0.7), every other player to take an at-bat for Washington has a bWAR below 0.5.

GRADE: D+

Josh Bell

In his second stint with the team, Josh Bell has been extremely underwhelming. Of the 161 hitters to have at least 250 plate appearances in 2025, Bell’s .193 batting average is the third-worst ahead of Luis Robert Jr. and Michael Conforto. His .622 OPS is also the ninth-worst in the league.

For some reason, Bell has hit between the four and six hole for the majority of the year. It will be interesting to see what kind of value Bell will have for potential contenders at the deadline.

GRADE: D

The Catching Position

Only one team in all of MLB (San Francisco) has gotten less production from the catcher position than the Nationals. Keibert Ruiz (247 AB) and Riley Adams (68 AB) have sunk the already poor offensive production of the team, collecting a .555 OPS as a duo.

Both backstops are also negative defensive catchers according to Baseball Savant, with Ruiz having a minus-7 fielding run value while Adams has a minus-3 in a much smaller sample.

GRADE: D

Elite Performers

MacKenzie Gore

Gore has been one of the most fun pitchers to watch this season, adding on to an eye-opening 2024 campaign where he had a 3.90 ERA over 32 starts. A huge difference in Gore’s game this year has been the swing-and-miss stuff he has shown on the mound.

His 129 strikeouts and 11.7 K/9 leads the league, giving Gore a path to easily pass his career-high of 181 strikeouts last season. Through 17 starts, the former third overall pick has a 3.09 ERA partnered with a 2.91 FIP, indicating that his numbers should be even better.

Gore’s 3-8 record is extremely misleading, but that is expected with a below-average lineup and defense behind him.

GRADE: A

James Wood

Has this guy been awesome or what?

Wood was a popular name as a player to watch entering the 2025 season after a 79-game sample as a rookie in 2024. In 160 Major League games, Wood has produced a .271/.364/.492 line to go with 31 home runs and 104 RBI. Only six players in all of baseball have driven in more runs than Wood since his debut on July 1, 2024. The most recent All-Star voting results have Wood in ninth among National League outfielders.

The Juan Soto trade looks better for the Nationals with each passing day.

GRADE: A+

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