Team Awards for Washington Nationals Through Sub-Par First Month of Season

Here are the team awards for the Washington Nationals through the first month of the year.

Apr 28, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals outfielder James Wood (29) rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the New York Mets during the eighth inning at Nationals Park. | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

With the first month of the season over for the Washington Nationals, it’s been a bit of a disappointing start to the year.

Coming into the campaign, the Nationals were a team that likely was hoping to take a bit of a step forward in the win column and perhaps hover around .500.

Unfortunately, the rebuild for the team looks like it will be continuing for a couple of more years, with the record so far in April not showing too many signs of improvement.

Even though Washington might not be winning more games, there is still reason to like the outlook of the team long-term. There is a lot of young talent in the Majors playing, but it takes time for players to develop.

With April finished, here are some team awards through the first month.

Not Cy Young

The not Cy Young for Washington in April will go to the entire bullpen. This unit has been the worst in the league and has held the franchise back.

Excluding Kyle Finnegan, who has been good, the rest of the bullpen features multiple pitchers with ERAs over 10.00. Not being able to hold leads has been an issue and the unit should be much better than the stats indicate. However, it has become easily the biggest issue for the team.

As the Nationals look at ways to improve the roster, the bullpen would be a good place to start.

Cy Young

Even though the team has struggled, two pitchers who have performed very well early on are MacKenzie Gore and Mitchell Parker. Parker will get the nod for having a slightly better month than Gore, but this could go either way.

In April, the left-hander totaled a 2-1 record and a 3.19 ERA. As the Nationals hope to see some of their young players develop, Parker is a key piece in the rotation. The duo of Gore and Parker will be something to watch for the remainder of the campaign.

Least Valuable Player

Despite coming into the season as a potential National League Rookie of the Year candidate, it has been a brutal start for former number two overall pick Dylan Crews.

So far this season, he has slashed .200/.241/.336 with four home runs, six RBI, and seven stolen bases.

Crews has flashed the potential and why he is considered to be one of the best prospects in the game, but the consistency hasn’t been there yet. Hopefully, he can begin to turn his year around, or he might need to reset in the minors.

Most Valuable Player

Arguably the most encouraging sign for the Nationals to begin the year has been the performance of James Wood. The talented outfielder came up last season and impressed in about a half of season.

This campaign, he has taken things to another level and is looking like an All-Star player. So far, he has slashed .254/.372/.533 with nine home runs, 21 RBI, and four stolen bases.

The emergence of Wood has been a massive bright spot for the team, and he looks like a superstar in the making.