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[Washington Nationals]

The Clutchest Washington Nationals of 2025 May Not Be Who You Expect

Everyone knows how bad Nathaniel Lowe’s tenure with the Nationals went, from posting career low marks in nearly every category to being released from the club in August. What many don’t know is that when it mattered the most, Nathaniel Lowe showed up more than almost anyone in 2025, tying with James Wood atop the “Clutch” leaderboards according to Fangraphs, a stat that measures a player’s performance in high leverage situations as compared to their performance in all other times.

In 54 high-leverage at-bats in 2025 (maybe a few with the Red Sox, but mostly with the Nats), Nathaniel Lowe hit .278 and posted a 135 wRC+, numbers much more in line with what Nationals fans expected out of him. Many of those big hits came early on in the season, such as his bases-clearing double in Miami or his go-ahead 3-run shot against the Phillies, both in April. Lowe’s problems arose in all other situations, as in low and medium-leverage at-bats, Lowe posted a 91 and 81 wRC+, respectively.

The difference is even more drastic when comparing his performance with runners on base versus with no one on, as with runners on base, he posted a 131 wRC+ in 245 at-bats, but with no one on, he posted a 56 wRC+ in 295 at-bats. Perhaps there is some explanation, such as Lowe being more locked in when the lights got bright, but the most likely solution is that’s just baseball.

Tied atop the “Clutch” leaderboards with Lowe is James Wood, who also happened to be the Nats’ best hitter period in 2025. While Wood’s numbers were respectable in low-leverage situations, posting a 108 wRC+ in 335 at-bats, he truly turned it on in the clutch, as he posted a 148 wRC+ in medium-leverage at-bats and an astonishing 162 wRC+ in high-leverage at-bats. The difference in Wood’s numbers between low and high leverage at-bats is vast, as he walked 12% more (perhaps due to teams pitching around him), struck out 9% less, and raised his OBP and SLG by over .100 points in high-leverage at-bats as compared to low-leverage ones.

On the other side of the spectrum, the least clutch Nationals offensively was Josh Bell, who performed great in low-leverage at-bats, posting a 121 wRC+, but struggled in all others, posting a 94 wRC+ in medium-leverage and 77 wRC+ in low-leverage at-bats. He slugged close to the same in higher leverage situations, with his slugging percentage dropping, but not drastically, but he struggled to get on base the same, posting a .261 on-base percentage in the clutch, well down from a .334 OBP and .325 OBP in low and medium-leverage at-bats, respectively.

On the pitching side of things, the clutchest National was one Nats fans may not have anticipated, as Jackson Rutledge edges out Cole Henry as the king of clutch for the 2025 Nationals pitching staff. Rutledge got rocked in low and medium-leverage situations in 2025, posting a 5.54 and 5.94 FIP in each, but when the going got tough, Rutledge got going, as in high-leverage situations, he posted a 3.56 FIP and allowed 0 home runs. His walk rate went up and his strikeout rate went down in high-leverage situations, so I wouldn’t expect this clutch factor to carry over to 2026, but it’s interesting to see how a reliever who seemingly struggled most of the year was able to turn it on when the club needed him to.

Source: https://www.federalbaseball.com/general/86919/the-clutchest-nationals-2025-may-not-be-who-expect

 

[Washington Nationals]

Could the Washington Nationals follow the Giants lead and make an outside the box hire

While there has not been much noise about the Washington Nationals managerial hunt, there are hirings being finalized around the league. One of those hirings has me very intrigued and has made me think differently about candidates the Nats could look at. The Giants are closing in on a deal to hire Tony Vitello away from the University of Tennessee.

BREAKING: Tennessee head baseball coach Tony Vitello is closing in on deal to become the manager of the San Francisco Giants, per @TheAthletic pic.twitter.com/MgIgZSPAZj

— SleeperMLB (@SleeperMLB) October 18, 2025

This would be an unprecedented move. No MLB manager has been hired directly from college before without experience in the pro ranks. So this would certainly be an outside the box hire for the Giants. However, Vitello is a winner who turned the Tennessee program from an afterthought to college baseball royalty. In 2024, he won the College World Series.

His charismatic presence and winning has clearly made him a sought after candidate. That got me thinking, could this be the start of a wider trend or is this a one time thing? Could the Nationals get in on this trend and if they do, who should they look for?

Tony Vitello might be exactly what the Giants need pic.twitter.com/HeiZvvLKon

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) October 19, 2025

I will make this clear, it would be a big surprise if the Nats hired someone out of college, but with Vitello breaking the glass ceiling, anything is possible. If the Nationals were to go the college route, there are two outstanding candidates for me.

The first one would be Jay Johnson at LSU. He would be a very exciting appointment because it would reunite him with Dylan Crews. Johnson coached Crews to a National Championship at LSU in 2023. With Crews struggling in the MLB, maybe Johnson could be the guy to help Crews get his swagger back.

While Johnson has no professional experience, he has won everywhere he has been. He won at the University of Nevada before leaving for Arizona. Then he won at Arizona, even taking them to a College World Series before leaving for LSU. Johnson has taken things to the next level in Baton Rouge, winning two championships in four years.

Of course, this would be a risk, and an expensive risk at that. Johnson is the highest paid coach in college baseball, making over $3 million a year. To hire him, you would have to pay a buyout and make him a very rich man in DC. Even when Ted Lerner was running the show, the Nats were hesitant to pay managers, so this may just be a pipe dream.

Another coach in the SEC worth looking at is Wes Johnson at Georgia. Johnson has turned the Bulldogs program around in his two years in Athens. Unlike Vitello and Jay Johnson, he does have MLB experience.

Wes Johnson was actually the pitching coach for the Twins from 2019 to 2022. So Johnson knows the MLB game and has jumped from college to the pros before. He was the pitching coach at Arkansas before going to the Twins.

He seems more realistic than Jay Johnson, who seems pretty entrenched at LSU. I think Wes Johnson would be a solid outside the box candidate for the Nats to look at. He is a proven winner at the college level, a good pitching mind and has experience at the MLB level. Paul Toboni would be smart to give this guy a call. I would not be surprised if Wes Johnson is the next college coach to leave for the MLB.

Another outside the box candidate is Mark DeRosa. He does not come from the college game, but does not have a traditional background either. Of course, DeRosa has become a staple of MLB Network. His breakdowns are some of the best in the game and provide fans with great knowledge from a former player.

However, DeRosa does have some coaching experience. He coached Team USA at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. While they did not win, DeRosa was impressive and conducted himself well. Like Vitello, DeRosa has a natural charisma to him.

He also has a connection to the Nats. DeRosa was on the team in 2012, when the Nationals made the playoffs for the first time. He seems like a future manager, so the Nationals should look at making a swing for him now. The combination of Toboni and DeRosa would be a breath of fresh air in DC.

At the end of the day, the Nationals will probably make a boring hire. Maybe a former manager like David Ross or Brandon Hyde, or potentially a bench coach. However, if the Nats wanted to swing for the fences, there are some options available. It will be interesting to follow this managerial search and see what Paul Toboni decides to do.

Source: https://www.federalbaseball.com/nat...nals-follow-giants-lead-make-outside-box-hire