Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats

The people at Major League Baseball came up with a great concept with the Spring Breakout showcase games between teams across the minor leagues in the middle of March during Spring Training. This is the third year, and next year they move to a tournament style series of single elimination games until the champion wins them all.

This year’s opponent for the Nats will be the Cardinals, and the game is being played in Jupiter, Florida at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium with first pitch at 4:30 EDT. The Nats will go with Davian Garcia as their starting pitcher for this one. The roster is made up of 27-players from a pool of 40-players that were submitted last week.

The Nats starting lineup features Eli Willits leading off with Gavin Fien (DH) after him, and Seaver King batting third. Then lineup has some Triple-A talent in the middle with Ronny Cruz batting sixth.

With Willits, Fien, and King, the Nats feature three players drafted in the first round the past two years in the Top-12 of their drafts. Fien was acquired in the MacKenzie Gore trade.

Expect most of the position players to get three to five innings of time in the lineup. In total, the Nats have 15 position players and 12 pitchers on the roster. We have heard rumors of a last minute replacement to get Devin Fitz-Gerald in the game after he had been dealing with a minor tweak to his leg — and might be cleared to play.

Here is what the roster looks like.

For many of these younger prospects, this will be the first opportunity for fans to see some of these pitchers like Miguel Sime Jr. as well as Landon Harmon. For the position players, they all have had the opportunity to appear in big league Spring Training games. It was Ronny Cruz and Alex Clemmey who have shined the brightest in their appearances. Cruz hit a homer in a game, and Clemmey threw a no-hit effort in 3.0 innings of work.

For President of Baseball Operations, Paul Toboni, this is his first Spring Breakout game. This is the future of the team.

Washington Nationals vs. St. Louis Cardinals

Stadium: Roger Dean Cheverolet Stadium, Jupiter, Florida
1st Pitch: 4:30 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio:  MLB app