The Nationals are looking to get in the thick of LF Jayson Werth’s beard buzz, as the team plans to give out Jayson Werth Chia Pets to the first 20,000 people at tonight’s game against the D-backs. The Nationals last year had a Jayson Werth Garden Gnome giveaway in early August on a Tuesday night against the Mets. The game drew a crowd of 40,686 people and became the only Tuesday game for which the Nationals had an attendance in excess of 31,000 people for the season. Nationals Chief Revenue & Marketing Officer Valerie Camillo said the idea for tonight’s promo first came up during a cross-department meeting in the offseason, and everyone in the room immediately agreed it would be a worthwhile pursuit. To date, the Nationals have averaged 32,606 fans for Wednesday games this season. Camillo said tonight’s game is trending toward a sellout. The combination of tonight’s game featuring a non-division opponent and it being a weeknight game -- the Nats have been selling out most of their weekend games -- shaped the promotion’s scheduling, Camillo said. “We believed it would be wise to do a promotion like this during a weekday game against a less-popular opponent,” she said. The Nationals partnered with Joseph Enterprises, the official manufacturer of Chia products, in making the Werth product. A video of the Werth Chia was created as part of the promo. "Kids and 20-somethings loved the garden gnome, and even older fans really liked it, and we expect a similar thing to happen for the Chia Pet,” Camillo said. Last year’s garden gnomes produced a secondary market through which some of the products were sold for more than $100. Camillo said the same thing could happen with tonight’s offering. Werth has no official Twitter account, but an unaffiliated parody account, @JWerthsBeard, has more than 17,800 followers. Camillo said the Nationals have already started brainstorming ideas for promotions for '16. “We are already considering a Chia pet involving Bryce Harper’s hair for next season,” she said.
