With the universal DH looming, Nationals pitchers have goals for their final at-bats

What do you want to accomplish up there? The Washington Nationals’ pitching staff had a variety of answers.

Max Scherzer (.191 career hitter; 0 for 4 this season): “Hmm … I don’t think I’m near any milestones, like RBI or average or anything like that. But if it can help me win a ballgame or two, that feels really good when you can get one of those in.”

Stephen Strasburg (.154 career hitter; 1 for 1 with a double this season): “I feel like I’ve become a very good bunter over the years. So try to keep those stats in place.”

Patrick Corbin (.156 career hitter; 1 for 2 with a single this season): “I’d like to hit a homer; that’s my number one goal. I figure this is my last year [as a batter]. That would be nice to have one of those. Also, try to get as many hits, try to get on base and have fun with it. I always enjoy doing it, but I understand the direction baseball’s going.”

Jon Lester (.107 career hitter): “The main thing is don’t get hurt. I missed some time a couple years ago running the bases, and that sucked.”

Joe Ross (.165 career hitter; 0 for 2 this season): “A home run would be phenomenal. I feel like that’s what I’m always swinging for, and that’s why you see the strikeouts. [Nationals minor league coach] Mark Harris, he’s been getting on me for a long time about getting a base hit up the middle. So first and foremost I have to get a base hit up the middle, maybe something to the right side, and then I still definitely want a home run. … We’ll see. I don’t know who my future victim is going to be for a home run. But our division isn’t very pitcher-hitter friendly.”

Austin Voth (.091 hitter in 12 career plate appearances): “I only got one hit so far, so I don’t know. I want an extra-base hit. I want to get a double or a triple or a home run or something like that.”

Erick Fedde (.081 career hitter; 0 for 1 with a walk this season): “As many hits as I can get. I joke with a lot of my buddies back home that I played college baseball with that I have more big league hits than them. So I just got to keep adding into that so I can talk crap to all my buddies.”

This is a question because, in recent labor negotiations, the universal designated hitter has been a bargaining chip. The players want it, figuring it creates 15 more well-paying jobs and lessens the injury risks for National League pitchers. The owners, on the other hand, have tried to leverage that ask to advance their agenda. The result, this offseason, was a stalemate that led NL pitchers to hit in 2021 after sitting out last year. But beyond this year, it’s possible that pitchers will no longer hit.

The mixed list of goals for Scherzer, Strasburg, Corbin, Lester, Ross, Voth and Fedde showcases their ambitions and personality. Strasburg, maybe the best hitter of the bunch, owner of four homers and a Silver Slugger award, wants to lay down some sacrifice bunts. Scherzer, an objective-driven athlete, couldn’t pinpoint a nearing a milestone. (He has 29 RBI, close to a round number?) Corbin, who was never allowed to bat in high school, just wants a single home run. Lester, 37, just wants to avoid an injury. Fedde just wants to bag on his friends.

And Ross, once a switch-hitting shortstop at Bishop O’Dowd High in Oakland, Calif., kept thinking of boxes to check. Aside from a home run and a single up the middle, he wants to steal a base. He’s bummed about the universal DH, though he wishes he could enact it against certain pitchers. Jacob deGrom, for example, is someone he would rather not face.

“Oh yeah,” Ross said, smiling, when it was suggested he’s planning for a busy season at the plate. “Offensive mind-set every year.”

None of the Nationals’ pitchers have hit a triple in a major league game. Lester, to his credit, immediately conceded that it probably will never happen. But Ross and Scherzer entertained the idea. Ross figured the ball would have to bounce down the right field line and into the corner. Scherzer pictured himself chugging around the bases in big parks such as Coors Field in Denver or T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

Scherzer joked that if he threw the ball into the corner, he could leg the 270 feet from home to third. And it wouldn’t even require a dark turn.

“I’m fast enough that somebody doesn’t have to die out there,” Scherzer said. “I think I can get it.”