Washington Nationals at Miami Marlins: Grapefruit League GameThread

Washington and Miami meet up in Grapefruit League action today at 1:05 PM ET with Patrick Corbin on the mound for the Nationals in the Marlin’s spring home, Jupiter, Florida’s Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.

Corbin, 32, finished the third year of his 6-year/$140M contract with the Nationals with a 5.82 ERA, a 5.41 FIP, 60 walks (3.15 BB/9), 143 Ks (7.50 K/9), and a .286/.345/.510 line against in 31 starts and 171 2⁄3 innings pitched, over which the veteran lefty gave up a career-high 37 homers, which were also the most by any National League starter, and the second-most in the majors in 2021, behind only Texas Rangers’ pitcher Jordan Lyles (38).

When Nats’ manager Davey Martinez saw Corbin throw for the first time this spring, he told the southpaw to put the ‘21 season behind him and focus on the task at hand, which is helping the club try to make progress in the organizational reboot they kicked off at the trade deadline last July.

“You know, when I saw Patrick I told him hey, it’s a fresh start for him in 2022,” the fifth-year skipper said. “I don’t even want him to think, I don’t want him to go back and look at what happened last year, let’s just focus on the here and now and move forward, and he’s in a good place.”

“I felt really good all year,” Corbin told reporters after his final start of the ‘21 campaign, expressing his frustration with the fact that he got the results he did while feeling fine physically.

“I think maybe last year developed some bad habits that possibly came into this year and took a while to correct,” Corbin explained, “... and [it] was definitely very frustrating, so hopefully a couple of changes that I did, will just continue to try to get better with those things.”

How will Season 4 for Corbin in D.C. play out? It starts with his outing today against the Miami Marlins in Grapefruit League action.

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR TODAY’S WITH THE MARLINS: