Nationals Manager Shares Honest Thoughts On Baserunning Blunders

It's been a struggle for the Washington Nationals as of late.

They finally stopped their losing streak at seven games with their win on Wednesday, and it was an effort that could give them some confidence going forward considering they had to come from behind to do it.

Their performance wasn't perfect, but it was enough to win.

Still, sloppiness has plagued this Nationals group at times this year, and that was on full display once again with some notable baserunning errors.

One was at the start of the game.

After CJ Abrams hit a single as the leadoff man, Washington had runners on first and second with nobody out when Amed Rosario was hit by a pitch.

James Wood smoked a ball to right field that should have loaded up the bases, but Abrams was easily thrown out at home in a questionable blunder.

Nathaniel Lowe was able to come through to at least put the Nationals on the board, but for a team that was struggling and needed all the help they could get, that was the type of mistake that could have come back to haunt them.

Later, in the fourth inning when facing a one-run deficit, Josh Bell hit a single to right field that could have sparked a two-out rally. But instead of taking his base hit and passing the baton to the next batter, he tried to stretch things into a double and was thrown out without much contest.

What Did Dave Martinez Say About the Baserunning Errors?

The skipper shared his honest thoughts on the matter, and what he said was interesting.

"I'd rather be overly aggressive than passive. We're not going to play passive. I think that's a momentum builder, when we're playing aggressive like that and pushing the envelope," he said, per Andrew Golden of The Washington Post (subscription required).

That type of ethos lines up with how they approached things last year.

Washington was one of the most aggressive teams in Major League Baseball on the basepaths when it came to pushing the envelope in 2024, getting caught stealing a staggering 73 times -- 20 more than the team who was caught the second-most.

It's clear that this is the mentality Dave Martinez wants from his guys.

The next step will be understanding when it's the right time to be aggressive.

For a veteran like Bell, there is little excuse for him to make the baserunning blunder he had when trying to stretch a single into a double. But he's also struggled mightily this season and might have felt like he needed to do something to make up for it.

Abrams has played plenty of games in The Show at this point in his career, but he's also still 24 years old and is trying to find what he can and cannot do at this level.

The Nationals aren't going to stop being aggressive, something that was made clear by Martinez's comments. But they have to find a way to balance that mentality with understanding when it's smart to take risks.

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