Nationals GM Mike Rizzo tells Junkies: 'Building blocks' of championship club are coming into view

Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said he likes what he sees in the development of the young Nats core over the last year, pointing to Josiah Gray, CJ Abrams, and others during his weekly appearance on Wednesday with 106.7 The Fan's The Sports Junkies, which is presented exclusively by our partners at MainStreet Bank — Cheer Local. Bank Local. Put Our Team in Your Office. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender."

“From the end of the season last year to [the home] Opening Day here on Monday, I think they've come a long way,” the GM told the Junkies. “I think you've seen JoJo made an All-Star team [and] pitched throughout the season. Gray pitched more innings and made more starts than he ever has as a professional. [Keibert] Ruiz, after a solid offensive year, we put the onus on him focusing on his defense along with this offense.

“So I think those guys have come a long way. They’re exciting to watch. When you see a major league infield of Ruiz catching and [Trey] Lipscomb and Abrams and [Luis] Garcia and [Nasim] Nunez as your backup. And you got Lane Thomas in the outfield and you know what’s in the minor leagues with [James] Wood and [Dylan] Crews and [Elijah] Green and [Robert] Hassell and that group of guys. I think it’s exciting for fans to watch. I know I get fired up a lot about it.

“When you look at it and you’ve got five players under 25 years old as position players and a couple of pitchers that are very, very young in the big leagues and knocking on the door of the big leagues that’s what we’re trying to accomplish this year: for those guys to implement  themselves as core guys on the championship roster in the very near future.”

Rizzo added that it is a “big year” for those players and he thinks “they’ll all make strides” and then you can start to “really see the light at the end of the tunnel” and then “you know you’re going in the right way.”

He added that the goals of the organization are to continue to build a roster that can compete in the long-term, including getting to the group of players that gets the Nats to 90-win seasons consistently and "I think you see the building blocks of that starting to come."

Listen to the complete conversation from the Junkies – including Rizzo's thoughts on the first few games of the 2024 MLB season and what he sees of the strength of the team, including "team speed" and base running – on the audio player above!