Joey Meneses is gaining confidence amid early-season slump

They weren’t hit nearly as hard as the many home runs he crushed last summer. But Meneses believes they signal that he’s trending toward success.

“Usually when I’m going the other way, it adds confidence to my at-bats,” he said Sunday through an interpreter. “I feel like once I get that going, I start to let loose a little bit with my at-bats and start generating a little bit more power.”

“It’s coming,” Manager Dave Martinez said Saturday. “We’re still doing some work with him, but they’ve been working on him staying behind the ball, getting ready a little bit earlier.”

In the cheap seats Saturday at Nationals Park, a few fans started a “Joey Baseball!” chant when Meneses was at the plate in the seventh inning. It was quite the contrast from his major league debut in August, when he received “Let’s go, new guy!” chants on the same day Juan Soto was traded to San Diego.

Back then, Meneses was an unknown and Nationals fans had no expectations. Now, he’s slated to be a middle-of-the-order bat for an inexperienced lineup in desperate need of power.

The complete guide to Nationals Park

The Nationals didn’t expect to be a power-hitting team. But they did expect Meneses and newcomers Dominic Smith and Jeimer Candelario — who had four hits Sunday, including a solo homer — to boost the offense with extra-base hits.

Meneses raised his batting average to .238 with a pair of two-hit performances over the weekend, but he has yet to hit a home run. He has four doubles and four RBI. He has struggled with his timing, often jumping at pitches and rolling over to the shortstop instead of driving the ball to the middle of the field. In the fourth inning Sunday, he grounded out with runners on second and third and then slammed his helmet on the ground before hitting it against the dugout railing.

“I’ve been working with the hitting coach on that,” Meneses said Saturday. “I think I was jumping at the ball a little bit. But obviously when I stay back, I can see them better and read them better. And that’s what I feel like I’ve been doing.”

From an advanced statistics perspective, Meneses isn’t performing significantly worse in any category. He’s getting more barrels than he did a season ago (10.9 percent of the time to 9.9 percent). His average exit velocity has dipped from 91.4 mph to 89.1 mph — still above league average. His expected batting average of .263 is just four points below his mark of a year ago.

Meneses, who will turn 31 next month, was one of the few bright spots last season for a lineup with a mix of underperforming veterans and young hitters adjusting to the big league…