Nationals place 10 players on injured list to start season [UPDATE]

Update: April 6 — The Nationals announced 10 players have been placed on the injured list to start the season. Among those players is Kyle Schwarber, Josh Harrison and SP Patrick Corbin. Here’s the complete list of players, along with Will Harris, who has right hand inflammation.

The Nationals will begin the season at 4:05 p.m. ET at home against the Atlanta Braves. Their series opener on Monday got pushed back due to the Nats’ Covid-19 situation. Washington’s entire first series against the New York Mets was postponed due to Covid-19.

The Washington Nationals still don’t know when they will start their season due to multiple COVID-19 cases and close contacts. The team has not announced specific players and staff who have been exposed, but there are four players who tested positive and five players (including at least one staff member) who are quarantining as close contacts.

The Nationals saw their opening series against the New York Mets postponed in its entirety. Washington is hoping to get the season started on Monday against the Atlanta Braves, and if they do, they are reportedly going to be missing some fairly prominent members of the roster. Jesse Dougherty is reporting that if the Nationals get their season started early this week, they would be without Kyle Schwarber, Josh Harrison, Jon Lester, and Alex Avila, among others.

Schwarber was projected as the team’s starting left fielder while Lester would be the fourth starter in the rotation. Avila is the team’s backup catcher while Harrison is a utility option off the bench. The Nationals have signed catcher Jonathan Lucroy to a minor league deal, per Robert Murray, and he would likely be added to the roster early this coming week.