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Rather than make Aníbal Sánchez travel two and a half hours to Ft. Myers, FL, Nationals’ skipper Davey Martinez decided to let the veteran right-hander stay in West Palm Beach where he’ll face some of Washington’s minor leaguers this afternoon instead of making a Grapefruit League start.
Erick Fedde gets the nod instead, for the Nationals’ matchup with the Minnesota Twins.
Through four appearances, one start, and 7 1⁄3 IP this Spring, Fedde has given up 16 hits, five walks, and 12 runs, eight earned, striking out six.
Fedde, 26, started the winter looking like a contender for the fifth spot in the Nats’ rotation, but the decision to bring Jeremy Hellickson back, after signing Sánchez, made it more likely that the 2011 1st Round pick is going to start the season at Triple-A Fresno.
After he gave up a run on four hits in two innings of work last time out, Martinez said he was happy with what he’s seen from Fedde this Spring.
“I liked the way Fedde pitched today,” Martinez told reporters, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman after the outing.
“He gave up a couple hits, but he threw the ball OK. The biggest thing for me with him is strike one. He didn’t get ahead of too many hitters today. It was always ball one, ball one, ball one. I really want him to get strike one and work ahead of hitters.”
Fedde makes his fifth appearance and second start this afternoon, in a 1:05 PM EDT game that is available via MLB’s At Bat app (though it’s the Twins’ feed).
Here’s the lineup that will be backing Fedde up today in Ft. Myers, FL.:
UPDATED: #Nats at #Twins (1:05 PM EDT; Radio only via MLB's At Bat App) - Victor Robles RF; Michael A. Taylor CF; Juan Soto DH; Jake Noll 1B; Carter Kieboom SS; Wilmer Difo 2B; Adrián Sanchez 3B; Andrew Stevenson LF; Spencer Kieboom C; Erick Fedde RHP
— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) March 14, 2019