Nationals Need to Work With Brady House on This So He Can Live Up to Potential

Fixing these two things will go a long way for Washington Nationals star prospect Brady House.

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Coming into the season, the Washington Nationals knew they were going to get a look at some of their young stars at the big league level.

With James Wood, MacKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams already established as pillars of this franchise going forward, star prospects Dylan Crews and Brady House were set to get some major playing time in 2025 to see if they could emerge in that same category.

Unfortunately for the Nationals, neither player flashed at a high level throughout the campaign. Crews struggled at the plate and dealt with injuries, while House didn't carry over his impressive hit tool from the minors and was largely ineffective.

Simply put, Washington needs those two guys to become what they were billed as when they selected them in the first round of the 2021 and 2023 drafts. And right now, there are less questions about Crews than there are House because the former is at least able to play defense at a high level.

The good news is that House still has plenty of time to turn things around at just 22 years old. But it's imperative that this new Nationals regime works with the star youngster on the things he struggled with during his first season in The Show so he is able to excel.

Developing Patience at the Plate Will Be Key for Brady House

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Mark Zuckerman of MASN did a deep dive into House's 2025 season and what he needs to do going forward if he's going to become the player Washington envisioned when they took him 11th overall. One thing that stood out is a need to develop patience at the plate.

"He swung at a whopping 57.2 percent of all pitches seen (10 points higher than the MLB average), but he made contact only 69.1 percent of the time (six points lower than the MLB average). He swung at the first pitch of an at-bat 50.7 percent of the time (MLB average: 30.1 percent). And his chase rate outside the strike zone was 36.8 percent (MLB average: 28.4 percent)," Zuckerman wrote.

Those are staggering numbers, and it highlights how House wasn't able to adapt his approach to MLB pitching even as the season went on. Ambushing first pitches can be an effective strategy, but when opposing pitchers know it's coming, that can be a weapon they use against the hitter.

Getting House to the point where he's comfortable battling in long counts is something that needs to take place this offseason.

Start Pulling the Ball in the Air

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Another key thing that stood out regarding House's profile this past season was the fact that he struggled to generate power numbers after being a slugger during his time coming up the minor league ranks.

While that's not too surprising considering the jump he had to make at an early age, going from having a career slugging percentage of .453 in the minors to putting up a figure of .322 in the majors across 73 games was a bit concerning. But one thing that should help fix that is if House starts getting the ball in the air to his pull side more often.

"His hard hit rate of 46.3 percent was well above the league average of 37 percent. But his ground ball rate was 46.3 percent, and he only pulled the ball in the air 10.6 percent of the time (MLB average: 16.7 percent)," Zuckerman noted.

House has plenty of talent, and he's important for the outlook of the franchise if they are going to get to the next level. So working with the youngster on those two aspects will go a long way in helping him develop to the point where he can become a difference maker.