Earlier today, the Nationals held a virtual press conference with Paul Toboni and Blake Butera before pitchers and catchers officially report tomorrow. I was actually able to participate in the presser, and asked a question to Blake Butera. Unfortunately, time ran out before I could ask my question to Toboni, but there is always next time. For the full presser, here is the link.
It was a lot of fun to be a part of this, and I was truly honored. We have come a long way as a site in the past year or so, and hopefully this is the first of many press conferences for us.
Toboni actually shouted out the Washington Post Nats team which was recently laid off. I thought that was a cool touch. He seemed genuinely shocked and horrified by the decision. I feel the same way about it too. It was a very classy move from him and something I appreciated.
On to the questions themselves, I asked Butera about which player he thinks will surprise people this season. If you want to watch along, my question is at the 11:30 mark. Butera said that Robert Hassell III is the player that could surprise people.
He told me that when discussing the Nats deep group of outfielders, “Sometimes people forget about Robert Hassell”. Butera noted that Hassell was motivated to get bigger and stronger this offseason. He told me that he was impressed with how hard Hassell worked this offseason. As one of the players that got down to Florida early, Butera got to see Hassell put in that work.
Hassell’s focus on getting bigger and stronger this offseason has already become a storyline heading into camp. At a fan event a couple weeks ago, Butera said that Hassell put on 25 pounds of bulk this offseason. That is a big change and will be something to follow as we head into the season.
We saw Jacob Young put on muscle last offseason and it did not have the desired effects. Hopefully, Hassell’s added weight helps his game. When you looked at him last year, it was pretty clear that he had room to add weight. However, 25 pounds in one winter is a big transformation. I am curious to see how he carries that weight and if he can maintain his athleticism.
As for the press conference as a whole, there was not any groundbreaking news, but it was still interesting. Toboni and Butera got to talk about their process which I found neat. Butera discussed some of his first impressions about the players and how he is settling into the job.
Toboni talked about his process oriented vision. One part I found interesting was when Toboni said he and the staff will be challenging players on their weaknesses. The example he used was chase rate. If a player is chasing too much, they will show them the specific numbers until they get better.
This was a cool event for me and a big step for the site as a whole. I am grateful to the Nats for letting me be a part of this. We will be heading down to West Palm Beach for a week in March, so hopefully we get more opportunities to talk with Blake and Paul soon.
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