Wednesday, September 23

Welcome to the latest edition of the Nationals Beat newsletter. This is your stop for the latest on and off the field, from news to exclusive player interviews and insights, brought to you by MLB.com club reporter Jessica Camerato.

Nationals No. 23 prospect Sam Petersen has been making his mark in Double-A Harrisburg this season. He showed what he can do on the field last month by earning Eastern League Player of the Week honors. Recently, I chatted with Petersen to learn more about who he is off the field. 

MLB.com: What is your walk-up music and why?

Petersen: “I didn't pick one this year. I need to get back to the one I picked last year. It was Toby Keith’s ‘How Do You Like Me Now?!’ I’m from Iowa, and Toby Keith is pretty liked there. I just liked the (mimics guitar sound). It felt right.”

Tell me about the Iowa baseball circuit.

“We play our high school baseball in summer, which is the only state that does that. Most of the players play Spring Ball in Iowa, which is really cold. … Then you kind of get in with some Fall Ball, which is when you can do some of the traveling. 

“But I played football, too. My parents were warriors when I was in high school. I would play a Friday night football game, and then they'd have a bed made in the back of the car. I'd sleep there, drive to Indianapolis from Iowa – an eight-hour drive – and sleep through the night and play some 8 a.m. game. I don't know when they slept. They alternated sleep, and they were absolute warriors about it.” 

Shoutout to mom and dad.

“Big shoutout to mom and dad.”

Besides baseball, what are you super competitive at?

“Ping pong. I love ping pong. We have a ping pong table in a lot of places. Funny, my roommate here, Jared Simpson, he went to Iowa. It’s weird how that worked out. We were the two of the best ping pong players in Iowa. So any chance we get to get, we're finding a ping pong table if it's around. We're really competitive about it.” 

What is your go-to ping pong move?

“I just get to the forehand, hit it as hard as I can.”

When you have downtime, what is the show that you just binge and you can watch it 1,000 times? 

“I’m always looking for shows. I've watched all of Suits, that’s what I’m watching now. I watch Friends just to throw on and turn your mind off. Outer Banks was good. Nothing serious.”

What is your favorite experience you've had on a day off?

“We played in Brooklyn last year when I was in [High-A] Wilmington, so we took the subway into New York City, which didn’t feel real. It was the first time I’d been there. It was huge. The subway system worked way better than I thought it did. We were in our hotel, walked a block, took the subway for like 30 minutes, and then popped up in the middle of New York City. I was like, ‘Oh, this is sick how you can just do that.’”

Who is your favorite mascot, from your team or an opponent?

“We played the Grasshoppers, and I thought that was funny, in Greensboro. They had a sold out stadium, which kind of got me into it. We had a celery stick in Wilmington. I don’t know how that became a thing [with the Blue Rocks]. Somebody asked me about it on my first day. The shortstop asked me when I was leading off second. I’d just got there, and I was like, ‘I’m pretty sure it’s corn on the cob.’ But I found out later, it’s a celery. It’s not in the name, just the mascot.”

What’s better than one adorable dog? How about two!

Bruce the Bat Dog and team dog Natty visited Nationals Park together on Tuesday for Pups in the Park. The doggie duo took the field for Bruce to retrieve a ceremonial bat.

Fan voting for phase one of the 2026 All-Star Game is open until Thursday at 12 p.m. ET. You can vote up to five times per day at MLB.com, on all 30 MLB club sites and on the MLB app.

As of Sunday’s ballot update, CJ Abrams (1,192,774 votes) led Mookie Betts (1,161,221 votes) for the starting NL shortstop race. 

James Wood was in seventh place vying for one of six NL outfield spots:

1. Andy Pages, Dodgers: 1,518,451
2. Brandon Marsh, Phillies: 1,256,874
3. Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves: 1,216,288
4. Michael Harris II, Braves: 1,059,921
5. Teoscar Hernández, Dodgers: 1,043,541
6. Juan Soto, Mets: 947,033
7. James Wood, Nationals: 915,287

• Wednesday: Pride Night OUT* – Nationals pride jersey (with special ticket purchase), National anthem performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., Play Catch with a Dad (inside Right Field gate by the Team Store), pregame drag show (Budweiser Terrace)

• Thursday: Nationals soccer jersey giveaway (first 20,000 fans aged 21+); U.K./U.S. Friendship Day – Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team (Red Arrows) to perform nine-plane, red, white and blue flyover; kids aged 12 and younger can receive miniature aircrafts (at the Kids Zone, while supplies last); Royal Marines Band Service to perform pregame on outfield warning track

* Special ticket required

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