Nats go on a roll: Bullpen cart unveiled

WASHINGTON — The latest feature at Nationals Park is brand-new, but will look very familiar to baseball fans who were around in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Starting with Friday night’s game against the Miami Marlins, the Nats will become just the third team in Major League Baseball, behind the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Detroit Tigers, to use a bullpen cart this season. The carts are making a comeback in the majors this year for the first time since 1995.

Washington’s WGL Energy Cart is shaped like a giant baseball wearing an massive ball cap, and the “button” at the top of the cap is a red light that flashes when the cart is on the move. It’s a classic design that many MLB teams used when the carts were at the peak of their popularity about 40 years ago.

“Most importantly, it is an energy-efficient, electric vehicle,” said Jake Burns, the Nationals’ vice president of corporate partnerships, at the unveiling at the ballpark Friday afternoon.

The cart, which has a top speed of 20 mph, will be used to carry Nationals and visiting teams’ pitchers from the bullpen to the front of each dugout.

Even if a pitcher chooses not to use the cart, the team will still roll it out during pitching changes to inject some fun into the game, and possibly deliver stuff such as jackets and sunflower seeds to the dugout.

“We’re extremely excited about this element … I think it’s primarily a fun thing for the fans. It really enhances the game presentation,” said Burns.

Mark Sofia, the founder of the Tampa, Florida-based SportsKartz, said he got the call from the Nationals about 10 days before Washington hosted the All-Star Game in July.

“As excited as I was to get that call, I was a nervous wreck thinking, ‘Dear God, I hope they don’t want it by the All-Star Game, because there’s going to be a lot of people not getting any sleep,” he said.

But Sofia added that things worked out “perfectly” because the team gave him “plenty” of time to build it.