Nationals' Ward busts out on career day

Having access to a 19-year Major League veteran, four-time All-Star and member of one of baseball's most famous families can have its benefits.
Drew Ward entered Double-A Harrisburg's most recent homestand with a .177 average and .608 OPS through his first 24 games -- a rough start for a 23-year-old in the midst of his third season in the Eastern League. Nationals vice president of player development Bob Boone happened to be in town and Ward wasn't afraid to ask the former Royals and Reds manager for offensive help.

"He told me I was trying to go out and get the ball too much," Ward said. "That was causing me to get on the fastball without anything on it, instead of sitting in and rotating my wrists right on it. He said I should to try keep the ball short to me, let it get to me and then turn on it there. It honestly helped me a lot pretty quickly."
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On Thursday afternoon, the adjustment bore its best fruit yet.
The Nationals' No. 26 prospect hit a grand slam as part of a career-best six-RBI game, leading Harrisburg to a 12-2 win in a matinee at Hartford's Dunkin' Donuts Park. 
The six RBIs beat out Ward's previous career high of five, established April 26, 2016 with Class A Advanced Potomac.
All half dozen came in separate instances with the bases loaded. The left-handed-hitting slugger came up with the bases juiced and one out in the third inning and drove a two-run double to center off Yard Goats starter Ryan Castellani. Ward came up in a similar spot with one in the seventh against right-handed reliever Marc Magliaro and drove a 3-2 offering out to center once again, this time for his second career grand slam. The other came on Aug. 5 last year with Harrisburg. The slam gave the Senators a 10-2 lead, turning the game into a rout with one swing.

With those two hits, Ward who was batting in the cleanup spot for just the third time this season, improved to 4-for-6 with a homer, three doubles and 10 RBIs with the bases loaded in 2018.
"It was awesome," said the Senators slugger. "It's great to have the skipper giving me a chance to be in that spot [in the lineup] and then to come through and produce like that is even better. ... I'm not trying to do too much in those spots. I just want to see the ball over the plate the best I can, and when they left me two balls there, I did my best to take advantage."
This latest surge, prompted by Boone's visit and Ward's adjustment, couldn't have come at a better time for the 23-year-old corner infielder.
Ward was bothered by a left wrist injury in 2017, and it showed as he hit just .235/.325/.356 with 10 homers in 121 games. After undergoing wrist surgery over the winter, he was healthy enough to appear in five Grapefruit League games for the Nats. Toward the end of Spring Training, however, the wrist flared up again, causing Ward to open the Minor League season on the disabled list. Returning to action with the Senators on April 23, he went 3-for-46 (.065) with one home run in his first 14 games. Though things improved -- his early .077 BABIP was incredibly unlucky -- it wasn't until Boone started working with him last week that Ward saw significant results. The Oklahoma native is 11-for-33 (.333) with two homers, a triple, four doubles and 12 RBIs in nine games since -- a stretch that has lifted his OPS from .608 to a much more palatable .757.

A third-round pick in 2013, Ward has stalled out with Harrisburg each of the last three seasons. His hope is that these latest adjustments will help him finally get to Triple-A Syracuse -- and perhaps beyond.
"We were just talking approach, and something clicked with me that hadn't before," Ward said of his discussions with Boone. "It was really something small that he told me, but in the game of baseball, that's all it takes sometimes -- something small."
No. 9 Nationals prospect Daniel Johnson went 3-for-5 with two doubles and three runs scored out of the Harrisburg leadoff spot. No. 16 prospect Jefry Rodriguez carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before giving up a two-out double to Brian Mundell. He finished with nine strikeouts and was charged with two unearned runs on the one hit and three walks in six innings. Relievers Kaleb Fleck and Derek Self combined to throw three no-hit frames, completing the one-hitter for the Senators.