VIERA, Fla. - The 30 Nationals pitchers are placed into six groups during workouts. Gio Gonzalez’s group - 1B, if you want to be specific - is not only loaded with some serious talent but also some funny characters. Doug Fister, Jordan Zimmerman, Jerry Blevins and Craig Stammen round it out.

Sunday’s morning workout began with this quintet’s first bullpen session, where all pitch simultaneously for eight minutes. It was quite the scene to watch Gonzalez, Fister and Zimmermann on three successivde mounds, displaying their repertoires.

But as the horn sounded signaling all pitchers to shuffle to the next workout station, that’s when the fun began. It was Group 1B’s turn at bunting drills on an adjacent field and a crowd of fans followed.

Gonzalez was the last of the five to step in the box to receive pitches from the JUGS machine delivered by pitching coach Steve McCatty. Let’s just say it didn’t go so well. Gonzalez, who has hit three home runs in his Nationals career, struggled mightily to lay down a bunt.

Jeers rang out from his pitching mates as ball after ball glanced off his bat into foul territory.

“How about (reaching) some grass out here,” someone called to Gonzalez.

The guys mockingly eggedon the crowd to support Gonzalez. And the crowd responded with chants of “Gio! Gio! Gio!”

This drew the attention of manager Matt Williams, who had made his way over to the drill.

“Hey, skip, (Gonzalez) was good until you showed up,” one of the players shouted.

The encouragement from the fans didn’t help and the taunts from his teammates continued.

Laughs came from on and off the field before McCatty said, “Come on. End a good one.”

Gonzalez finally laid down a decent bunt toward the pitcher’s mound. Actually, it would have probably resulted in a rally-ending double play in a game situation, but, hey, it was in fair territory.

Everyone cheered. Gonzalez was relieved. And then with perfect timing, Williams sarcastically shouted, “Gio, I missed that last one.”

More laughs.

I talked to Gonzalez after about the pressure-filled yet comedic session.

“That’s unbelievable,” Gonzalez said. “Starting right off the bat, a chant for bunting. I had Craig Stammen, I had freaking the crowd, I had Matt Williams, I had the Lerner family there. I guess all eyes on me with the bunting session. No pressure, right? Don’t worry about tightening up a little bit. That was fun. I was making sure that the first session was actually pretty cool. Got it down. And then the crowd came in and I was like, ‘Oh, God, here we go. Don’t disappoint them.’ So much for having Jordan, Doug and Stammen in your group. No pressure at all for that one.”

Definitely some fun early in spring training but also a bit of evidence of how good this team’s chemistry is as it prepares for a season with championship aspirations.

Check out the video below: