Washington Nationals Prospect Took Unorthodox Measures To Add Offseason Strength
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The Washington Nationals have an impressive stable of young players who are taking the field this spring in camp.
Their future is incredibly bright with so many youngsters possessing sky-high ceilings. While a lot of the attention has been given to players in the lineup, a strong foundation has been built on the mound as well.
MacKenzie Gore looks like an ace in the making. Jake Irvin has been consistent since making his debut in 2023. DJ Herz and Mitchell Parker defied expectations as rookies in 2024.
The latter two will be competing with Trevor Williams, Mike Soroka and Shinnosuke Ogasawara for the final spots in the Opening Day rotation.
Some impressive depth has been put together as Cade Cavalli, Jackson Rutledge and Josiah Gray could all factor into the mix at some point in 2025 as well.
Behind this current crop of pitchers, the Nationals have another wave of prospects working their way through the minor leagues.
One of them is Brad Lord, who reported to training camp with some visible added strength to his frame.
An 18th-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, the 25-year-old is in his first Major League camp as a non-roster invitee. He earned it with his performance last year.
His second year of professional baseball started in High-A Wilmington, where he made one start before being promoted to Double-A Harrisburg.
Lord dominated, making 12 starts and recording a 1.40 ERA across 70.2 innings with 75 strikeouts.
That led to another promotion to Triple-A, where he made 12 more starts and more than held his own. He pitched 55 innings, striking out 57 with a 3.93 ERA.
Like every player, he spent the winter looking for ways to improve, doing some lifting to improve strength.
However, he wasn’t in the gym with a personal trainer.
Instead, he was working at Home Depot in Bradenton to help pay the bills for a job that he could work around his training schedule.
“I mean, I guess lifting Christmas trees I got stronger,” Lord told The Washington Post. “Weird way to work out, but yeah.”
Not only did Lord get some unorthodox workouts in to build strength, carrying boxes filled with grills or bags of mulch and fertilizer, but he also learned another form of work ethic.
If anything, working at a retail space such as Home Depot will give him a little extra motivation to put the necessary time and effort into honing his craft on the mound so he can realize his dream of becoming a Major League pitcher.
The heavy lifting seems to have paid off, as his velocity has ticked up.
“It just fit like a glove,” Brad Lord, the pitching coach at Class-A Fredericksburg, who helped the young prospect out during his time at Home Depot.
With a fastball that now touches 97 mph, Lord has put himself in the mix to be one of the first pitchers receiving a call should the need arise at the Major League level.
It is something Washington has quietly been very good at in recent years, as their young pitchers who have been called up have more than held their own at the highest level.
