John Lannan has pitched well without Wil Nieves catching him — in both the minor and major leagues — but the two have built such an impressive body of work in such a short time that they almost seem to be a singular unit these days.
Manager Manny Acta certainly doesn’t want to separate them. Lannan had allowed one run in 20 innings with Nieves catching him before last night’s loss to the Pirates, where he was tagged for six runs in the third inning. That ended a 21-inning scoreless streak for Lannan, all with Nieves behind the plate. Nieves also drove in two runs with a fourth-inning double.
It’s difficult to tell what that will mean for Nieves, since a pair of upcoming roster moves could make it difficult to keep him on the roster.
But while no one has told him he will be Lannan’s personal catcher, he has earned the 23-year-old lefty’s confidence remarkably quickly.
“The fact is, they’ve had three outstanding games in a row, and we don’t want to break that up right now,” Acta said.
Nieves has earned glowing reviews from most of the Nationals’ pitchers for his enthusiasm and strong grasp of the team’s pitching plan. But that seems to go a step further with Lannan.
Acta has said how much faith the rookie puts in the team’s game plan, and Nieves has a similar philosophy behind the plate. That’s helped him gain Lannan’s confidence.
“I think he trusts me enough to just throw whatever I call,” Nieves said. “He’s just concentrating now on making good pitches. He’s not concentrating that much on what he’s going to throw. When you have a good game between a pitcher and a catcher, it’s because they trust each other.”
Paul Lo Duca’s return from the disabled list gives the Nationals three catchers, and the team will have a pair of roster moves to make once Elijah Dukes and Dmitri Young are activated in the coming weeks.
But it could be tough to drop Nieves from the major league roster if Lannan keeps winning with him.
“Every time Lannan is pitching, they have put me there, but they haven’t told me I’m Lannan’s personal catcher,” Nieves said. “It’s working, and they keep matching us. Hopefully that keeps happening.”
Lo Duca returns
Nieves, Lo Duca and Johnny Estrada will give the Nationals an abundance of catchers for the next several weeks, and while Acta said he has a plan for how much each one will play, he wasn’t sharing it on Friday.
“I don’t know if I’m even going to wake up tomorrow,” Acta said. “That’s why I don’t like to make those kind of predictions.”
Lo Duca said he assumes he’ll be in the lineup today, though he added Acta hasn’t told him how he’ll use the three catchers.
Acta did say, however, that Nieves’s and Lo Duca’s presence gives Johnny Estrada more time to build up his arm after offseason elbow surgery before playing long stretches in the field.
“We’re seeing this as an opportunity to give guys like Johnny a better chance to get his elbow 100 percent, and also being able to use him as a pinch hitter,” Acta said.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.