Werth Thrives at Lead Off

Werth, above, has been an excellent lead off hitter for the Nationals. (Photo: mlbsuggers.com)

The Washington Nationals have finally found their lead off hitter. Ever since Jayson Werth was brought to Washington via free agency, he has been a big letdown at the plate. With his new role as lead off hitter, he's beginning to change that.

This season, Werth has batted in six different places (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9). His batting average for those six respectively are .306, .167, .323, .275, .343, and 1.000 (1 at bat).

In 50 at bats at the number one spot, Werth has 18 hits and just four strikeouts. He's got on an base percentage of .418 which is exactly what you want out of your lead off man. He's also drawn five walks.

Not only does he get on base, but he gets around the diamond, too. Werth has scored 13 runs as the lead off man. A couple things that have contributed to that are his seven doubles and one home run. Simply put, the man gets on base and scores.

For a couple years now the Nationals have struggled to find a lead off man. They've been inconsistent, flashes in the pan, or just plain bad. The same can not be said for Jayson Werth. He's the real deal.

Look at who he's got batting behind him: Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman, and Michael Morse. With Werth on base, those three can easily hit him around the bags. Even if Harper and Zimmerman hit sacrifice flies, all Morse would have to do is hit a soft blooper into left field and here comes Werth with the game's first run.

The Nationals have finally found that lead off man they so crave. Initially, we expected it to be Ian Desmond or Danny Espinosa. Werth was supposed to be one of the teams power hitters. That is not the case, though, as the teams lead off of the present and future is Jayson Werth.


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