The left-handed one out guy, or LOOGY for short, seems to be disappearing throughout the Majors. However, the Washington Nationals would be wise to carry one of their own as they head into 2019.
Teams generally, instead of carrying a left-handed reliever whose job is to specifically get left-handed batters out, are using left-handed relievers just as they would right-handed relievers. They’re starting to use them against all batters.
In some cases, though, that’s not ideal and it has hurt the Nationals as much as anybody. The key to the LOOGY is letting them specifically face left-handed hitters and minimizing their exposure to right-handed batters.