Davey Martinez thinks the Washington Nationals have the bats in the lineup to keep teams from giving Juan Soto the Barry Bonds treatment, after he had the fifth-most walks (41 BB over 154 plate appearances) in the majors last season, and the highest BB% (20.9%) in the majors amongst qualified hitters in MLB’s 60-game campaign, as well as getting the most intentional walks (12) in the majors.
“Juan, last year he hit second, he hit fourth, third, I think this year I want him to bat second,” Martinez said, “I want to keep him second, we’ve got Josh Bell, we’ve got [Kyle] Schwarber, we have [Starlin] Castro hitting behind him, and I think that’s going to work.