Washington

Nationals

The homer was a 418-foot shot off Jared Koenig. Ford probably isn’t helping his chances of making the Nationals by taking part in his second World Baseball Classic, but barring quite the upset by Great Britain in Pool B, he could be back with the team in a week. He could wind up Triple-A for a spell to start the year while the Nationals decide what they’re doing with Keibert Ruiz.

Gray was able to whiff three in his spring debut while allowing two hits and no walks. The right-hander missed all of 2025 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, and he’s one of the few Washington hurlers who offers some potential intrigue. Fantasy managers probably shouldn’t take the risk just yet, but he’s certainly worth monitoring.

Lord struck out two batters on the afternoon and didn’t allow a base on balls. The Marlins got to him in the first inning with a run-scoring triple from Christopher Morel then added on another in the second on an RBI double off the bat of Daniel Johnson. Lord got five whiffs on 43 pitches on the day, registering a CSW of 21 percent. He’s a favorite to secure a spot in the team’s Opening Day rotation, but doesn’t offer much upside for fantasy purposes.

The injury isn’t believed to be anything serious and the 24-year-old outfielder is considered day-to-day. While it shouldn’t impact his availability for the start of the regular season, it’s something that fantasy managers should at least monitor over the next week or so just to be on the safe side.

The first double was an 84-mph grounder down the line, but House clobbered the second one at 111.4 mph, which was just one-tenth of a mph off his high from last year. He’s 5-for-11 with two homers already this spring, so if there was any doubt about him being the Nationals’ Opening Day third baseman, it’s quickly going away.

It’d be rather unfortunate if the arrival of Miles Mikolas cost Irvin his rotation spot, since Irvin is at least as good of an innings eater and might theoretically still have some upside. Then again, Irvin could prove more interesting out of the pen if the Nationals give him a look there. It’s not an easy call; Irvin is probably more valuable to the rebuilding Nats while throwing 180 mediocre innings, but if his stuff took a step forward as a short reliever, that could draw the interest of contenders.

García capped off a four-run uprising off of Spencer Arrighetti in the third inning with a 400-foot (107.1 mph EV) three-run blast. He also singled in the ballgame. In his first game action of the spring, the 25-year-old infielder didn’t show any ill effects of the tight left hamstring that had limited him early in camp.

What’s fascinating is that Parker got himself into trouble without allowing a hit, instead issuing four free passes while striking out a pair. The damage done against him came on a two-run double by Taylor Trammell in the fourth inning after Parker had issued a pair of walks and turned the ball over to the bullpen. He threw just 19 of his 43 pitches for strikes in the game. This isn’t going to help Parker’s cause in battling for one of the final spots in the Nationals’ rotation.

The soft-tossing right-hander didn’t have any real problems in the opening inning, but put himself into a hole as he issued three walks in the second, loading the bases for Jose Altuve. That’s where he used his veteran moxie to coax a called third strike out of Altuve to quell the threat and escape the inning unscathed. He’ll eat innings for the Nationals in 2026, but isn’t likely to be helpful at all for fantasy purposes.

Chaparro homered off lefty reliever Tanner Banks, which is the kind of thing the Nationals would want him to do if they carried him as a platoon first baseman and DH. The 26-year-old would seem to be in line for a roster spot right now, but the Nationals should be on the hunt for any upside guys DFA’d at the end of the spring.