Nationals New Hitting Coach Gives Hint About How They'll Operate on Offense

This seems to be the plan for the Washington Nationals at the plate.

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One area the Washington Nationals hope to see growth in during 2026 is at the plate.

This is a roster full of young talent, and the hope is the array of former top prospects will be able to put everything together and become one of the feared groups in the sport going forward. But to do that, they'll need to be more productive at the plate after finishing 20th in runs scored last year.

With the hiring of a new regime and manager to lead this franchise forward, a new approach is being brought to table. Matt Borgschulte was hired as the hitting coach under manager Blake Butera, and he'll be looking to put his stamp on things immediately.

Borgschulte spoke with reporters and gave a hint about how the Nationals are going to operate at the plate during the upcoming season, and it seems like there will be a lot of focus on taking the right pitches to force opposing staffs to throw over the plate.

In a call with local reporters, new Nationals hitting coach Matt Borgschulte said "owning the zone" is going to be something we'll hear a lot this year. Force pitchers to the middle of the plate, and good things will happen.

— Spencer Nusbaum (@spencernusbaum_) January 6, 2026

"Owning the zone" is the buzzword. And when looking at the numbers from the 2025 campaign, taking that approach should go a long way in helping Washington have more success on the offensive end.

Multiple things stand out when it comes to how the Nationals stacked up in certain categories compared to the rest of teams around Major League Baseball. And much of the focus should be on chasing less and swinging more when the ball is in the zone.

Nationals Have to Chase Less, Attack in Zone More Often

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The first part when it comes to "owning the zone" will be to chase pitches less often. In 2025, Washington chased 29% of the time, which was tied for the ninth highest in the majors and was above the league average of 28.2%.

Being more disciplined should set these young hitters up to have more success since that will force the ball to be thrown into the zone more often. And when that happens, the Nationals have to become more aggressive.

Last year, they swung 66.3% of the time at balls inside the zone. That was 20th in the MLB and was below average. Considering they saw a pitch in the zone 51.2% of the time -- which was tied for fourth highest in the majors -- that is not a good combination, especially when they were one of the better teams at making contact on pitches in the zone at 83.4%.

By reducing their chase rate and increasing how often they swing at pitches actually in the zone, that will be a good first step for Washington when it comes to improving their offense.

Nationals Will Work on Increasing Their Launch Angle

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Outside of "owning the zone," it seems like Borgschulte has a clear directive in mind when it comes to the launch angle of the Nationals.

As relayed by Spencer Nusbaum of The Washington Post, the new hitting coach stated, "We're going to continue to focus on ways that we can make their swings better. Part of that is bat speed. Another part is helping their swing paths [so that their] bat speed is developed at an angle that's going to be able to handle as many pitches as possible."

In 2025, Washington was dead last when it came to their launch angle of 9.9 degrees. They were also the only team in single digits and were well below the league average mark of 13.5 degrees. While having a higher launch angle doesn't necessarily guarantee success, it is notable the Nationals finished 24th last season in home runs with that angle of attack.

How aggressive of a change Borgschulte wants to make -- who was the hitting coach of the Minnesota Twins last year where they had a launch angle of 13.5 degrees -- isn't quite clear. But one can only wonder what the power numbers might look like for Washington with a higher launch angle since they had a hard hit rate of 42.1% in 2025, which was tied for the seventh hardest in the MLB.

Overall, it seems like there is a clear plan in place when it comes to what the Nationals want to do at the plate; chase less and be more aggressive in the zone, while increasing their launch angle to do more damage when they hit the ball.