WASHINGTON -- Alex Call doesn’t swing for the fences every time he is at the plate. A studious hitter, he has a game plan for each plate appearance. The fact Call had not homered since last Aug. 18, though, had crossed his mind recently.
“I'm not really a power hitter, but I can still hit home runs,” Call, who has hit 18 homers in his career, said. “So to go 100-and-however-many at-bats it was without hitting one, I knew I would do it at some point. But at the same time, it's like, ‘Hey, let's get this thing going.’”
The righty-hitting Call snapped that skid this weekend with two home runs against the Rangers, both against southpaws. He went 2-for-4 in Sunday’s 4-2 loss and 4-for-8 in the three-game series, including two RBIs, one walk, one hit by pitch and two runs scored.
“He's not trying to do a whole lot,” said manager Dave Martinez. “He pulled a couple balls in. I think that this team tried to pitch him in, but he stayed on the ball. He did everything he needed to do to just get on base for us.”
Call went yard for the first time on Friday against former teammate Patrick Corbin. In the seventh inning, Call hit a first-pitch slider a Statcast-estimated 407 feet to left-center field. He was making his first career start at the designated hitter spot in a lefty matchup.
“I always think I'm maybe three every hundred is kind of my barometer,” Call, 30, said on Friday. “So, maybe I'll be due for a few more this hundred plate appearances.”
Two days later, Call was in the starting lineup in right field to face southpaw opener Jacob Latz. Call put the Nationals on the board in the fourth inning with a solo home run he hit 382 feet to left field off a 92.9 mph fastball.
“He obviously has done a good job all year with the strike zone, made some pretty good plays in right field, and then we see the power show up as it heats up,” said first baseman Nathaniel Lowe. “I’m kind of pushing him in the direction of understanding that he can leave the yard. Maybe not on command, but there's a power potential in there and it's nice to see him get to it.”
Call has appeared in 43 of the Nationals’ 65 games this season, yet ranks fourth on the team in walks (19). He is slashing .280/.393/.415 with an .808 OPS, six doubles, two triples and 16 RBIs. A righty hitter, he entered Sunday batting .333 versus left-handed pitchers and .236 against right-handers.
Last fall, Call wrote down notes and made a video to reflect on his 2024 performance, which included 75 games in Triple-A Rochester. He hoped his successes would transfer over to this season, but it didn’t happen consistently. Call batted .333 in April, then .196 in May before raising his average back up to .385 so far in June.
“Even though I was kind of getting some ball flight that was about the same early on, and even though there was success in Spring Training, success at the start of the year and all that stuff, when I looked at my video, I still saw things that I would like to get better at and be in a better position and feel just better,” Call said. “I tried to get better every day and get to that spot. And this is kind of the spot where I've been trying to get to. So it’s tough to one, get there, two, stay there.
“But I'd like to hold onto this for a long time.”