Nationals’ high-powered offense brings excitement to latest phase of rebuild

At least the latest phase of the Washington Nationals’ rebuild hasn’t been boring. Through the first month of the MLB season, Washington fans have ridden highs and lows as the new-look Nationals boast one of the top offenses in baseball — and one of the worst pitching staffs.

Through Sunday’s games, the 13-16 Nationals ranked third in the majors with 156 runs scored and second-to-last with 171 runs allowed.

Outfielder James Wood and shortstop C.J. Abrams have looked like bona fide stars in the first month with new manager Blake Butera. Wood is tied for third in the majors with 10 home runs. The power surge has led to a wave of intentional walks, as the Maryland native has also amassed the third-most bases on balls in MLB.

“He is special. One of the best players in baseball, still, at such a young age, doing some pretty impressive things against good arms, to all fields,” Butera said of Wood earlier this month. “Plus, the defense, the baserunning; he’s a superstar in the making.”

The advanced analytics paint a similarly rosy portrait of Wood’s hot start. According to MLB’s StatCast database, Wood ranks among the top 1% of batters in expected slugging percentage, average exit velocity, hard-hit percentage, barrel percentage and walk percentage.

For the uninitiated: Wood is scorching the baseball when opposing pitchers give him an opportunity.

The 23-year-old is on pace for another All-Star season, but Nationals fans have seen this red-hot start before. Wood smashed 24 homers before the All-Star break in 2025. After the midsummer classic, he managed just seven over the last two months of the season.

Consistency will be the challenge for Wood going forward. He opened this season with a .111 average and a .278 slugging percentage through his first eight games before hitting his stride.

But even when Wood has slumped — or been unable to knock in a run due to an intentional walk — Abrams has picked up the slack. Washington’s shortstop has seven home runs of his own this season, tied for third in the league among middle infielders.

It was Abrams who gave Washington a 10th-inning lead on Sunday with a clutch sacrifice fly. His performance allowed the Nationals to secure a win in the final matchup of a 17-game stretch without a day off.

Abrams isn’t going to win any Gold Gloves for his work in the infield — he’s recorded -5 outs above average so far — but his work in the batter’s box is elite. The former first-round pick has posted a stellar .381 on-base percentage to pair with his .515 slugging percentage.

The numbers aren’t as kind to Washington’s pitching staff. In most metrics, the Nationals’ rotation and bullpen rank among the worst in baseball. Only the Houston Astros have allowed more runners across home plate, while no team in MLB has given up more home runs than the Nationals’ 48.

The Nationals are still experimenting with how to best use a lackluster pitching staff through the first month. Butera has used reliever P.J. Poulin as an opener for four games to ease the load for the starting rotation.

But the bullpen has been the bigger issue. The Nationals have called on 16 different relievers this season, routinely shuffling bullpen arms between Triple-A Rochester and the majors for a game at a time — anything to give the staff a spark.

The results have been mixed. An atrocious start — the relievers posted a 6.34 ERA before April’s stretch of 17 games in as many days — has been followed by run-of-the-mill mediocrity.

Moving the ERA down from historically bad to just sub-par is a welcome change. Washington’s bullpen now allows 5.27 earned runs per nine innings of work, just 27th in the league.

The adjustments left Butera wearing a smile on his face ahead of Monday’s off day.

“This team works. They get after it. I know it wasn’t an easy start to the season with the schedule and everything. We’ve made some mistakes, no doubt, along the way,” Butera said on Sunday. “One thing I couldn’t be more proud of is the way these guys have worked every single day. Just the openness and willingness to continue to get better and learn from their mistakes.”

While Washington has inched toward the .500 mark, two of its NL East rivals have approached rock bottom. The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets, despite fielding the two highest-paid active rosters in the league, entered Monday’s games with identical 9-19 records.

The 13-16 Nationals trail the division-leading Atlanta Braves (20-9) by seven games. Washington returns to action with a three-game series against the Mets in New York that begins on Tuesday.