Nationals manager Dave Martinez defends coaching staff amidst lengthy losing streak: ‘It’s never on coaching’

Saturday’s game against the Miami Marlins marked a seventh straight loss for the Washington Nationals. And after the game, Nationals manager Dave Martinez made it incredibly clear who is to blame for the recent bad stretch of play.

During his postgame press conference, Martinez was asked about the lack of offense from his team throughout the month and whether this was due to the players, the coaching staff, or a combination of both factors.

Quickly, Martinez stuck up for his coaching staff, detailing that struggles from players at the plate is “never on coaching” and that the onus here is on the players to perform.

“It’s never on coaching,” said Martinez. “Never on coaching. Coaches work their asses off every single. We’re not gonna finger-point here and say it is coaches. It’s never on the coaches. They work hard. The message is clear, all the work is done prior. Sometimes, they have to go out there and they have got to play the game. It has always been about the players. I have played this game a long time. Never once have I blamed a coach for anything. We worked our asses off to get better. They gave us information and we used it.

“These guys understand what the game is. I have never had such a good group of coaches who work as hard as they do. They go over everything, sit with the players every day. These coaches, they work their asses off. And I know every coaching staff is like that. Sometimes, the players know, sometimes you have to put the onus on the players. They have got to go out there and play the game the right way. We can’t hit for them, we can’t catch the ball for them, we can’t pitch for them, we can’t throw strikes for them. They have to do that.”

Nationals manager Dave Martinez said it’s “never on coaching” when asked who’s to blame for their offensive struggles.

“Coaches work their asses off every single day. We’re not going to finger point here and say it’s on the coaches.”

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What Martinez is trying to say here does have some validity. Baseball is a sport where coaches can only do so much to influence how players ultimately perform on the field.

However, Martinez’s declaration that coaches are essentially never the problem in any situation may be overly simplistic.

At the end of the day, players trust their coaches to provide them with the correct strategy for every plate appearance or pitching sequence. And if the information they are getting isn’t accurate, production can certainly fall off for players.

Instead of taking accountability as a team entirely, Martinez is pinning this poor stretch of play solely on the players. It will be interesting to see how Nationals players respond to Martinez, who clearly does not have their back and is showing them some tough love here.