Washington

Nationals

Morales has a power-over-hit profile, which might be enough to carry him to the majors someday. He smacked 20 homers in his junior year at Miami, while slashing an eye-popping .408/.475/.713 across 61 games for the Hurricanes. However, with the good comes the bad. He takes huge swings, which can get him in trouble with strikeouts. He chases out of the zone regularly, and will need a strong player development staff to help him change his game. While Morales truly has a power over hit profile, he has improved his swing during his time at Miami, which should bring future success in professional ball.

Crews and Paul Skenes become the first set of teammates ever to be selected with the top overall picks in MLB Draft history. The 21-year-old slugger broke LSU’s program record for homers in his freshman year, and went on to break his own record in his sophomore campaign when he smashed 22 big flies and was a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes award. He’s easily the most advanced and polished hitter in the entire draft class. Not only does he possess elite raw power, but he gets to it consistently in games as well. His quick wrists translate into above-average bat speed, and his wheels are fast enough for him to reach double-digit stolen bases. However, he profiles as a player that will lose speed as he gets stronger and older. There are not many players who enter and finish as the consensus top player in their draft class, but he’s defied the odds. Crews has stratospheric fantasy potential as a four-category contributor, and should be one of the first players selected in first-year player drafts this offseason.

Joey Meneses played the role of Rangers’ nemesis during the weekend series against Texas. After not homering since May 7, the 31-year-old cranked four homers over the Nationals’ last three games. Meneses heads into the All-Star break, hitting .284/.328/.404, and could be an excellent pickup for the second half of the season, especially if he continues hitting baseballs out of the park.

Corbin struck out six and walked one in this one. He has been emphasizing his slider more recently, and he saw a 1.3 MPH uptick in velocity on Sunday. The only damage on the 33-year-old’s ledger was when Adolis Garcia roped a single to left field, which allowed Marcus Semien to score the Rangers’ first run. Corbin heads into the All-Star break with a 6-10 record and a 4.89 ERA across 108 2/3 innings.

After hitting two homers in 80 games, Meneses has now managed three in two days. He’s been fortunate that the Nationals have stuck with him this long, though it’s not like there much of a sense of urgency in D.C. If he can get hot here, a trade to a contender could be a possibility later this month. The Nationals, though, won’t let him go cheap, since even though he’s 31 years old, he’s due to make little more than the major league minimum again next year.

Irvin had his best velocity of the season tonight, averaging 95.8 mph with his fastball. That’s two mph better than usual. He still wound up with just one strikeout and five missed swings, but it helped him hold down one of MLB’s best offenses (though one that hasn’t been so great lately). Irvin is now 2-5 with a 4.60 ERA.

Candelario, who has been generating some trade buzz of late, is back in Washington’s lineup at designated hitter and batting third following a one-game absence due to right knee soreness. He’ll certainly benefit from the upcoming All-Star break by getting some extra time to rest and recover.

The 27-year-old defensive specialist was designated for assignment earlier in the week after only 13 games with the big league club. He’ll continue to function as outfield depth for the Nationals at the Triple-A level.

The 31-year-old got the Nationals on the board in the opening inning with a 379-foot (97.2 mph EV) solo shot off of Cody Bradford. Meneses then greeted Glenn Otto in the sixth inning, crushing his first pitch of the game for a 428-foot (103.5 mph EV) solo shot that pulled the Nats to within two runs at 4-2. He’s now hitting .281/.324/.382 with four dingers and 43 RBI on the season.

The 31-year-old hurler also issued three free passes while striking out five on the evening. The Rangers scratched out a pair of runs against him in the opening inning, then Williams kept them at bay until Josh Jung’s two-run single in the fifth inning. He generated eight swings and misses on 110 pitches in the contest, registering a minuscule CSW of only 16 percent. He concludes the first half with a 5-5 record, 4.45 ERA, 1.44 WHIP and a 68/30 K/BB ratio across 91 innings in his 18 starts.