The Nationals have agreed to a minor-league deal with righty J.J. Hoover. Remaining terms of the pact are not yet known.
Hoover, 31, has thrown in parts of seven seasons in the majors, including a brief stint last year with the Brewers. He was bumped from the Milwaukee roster early in the season but never ended up joining another club.
All told, Hoover carries a 4.17 ERA with 9.3 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 through 285 MLB innings. He sported a career-high swinging-strike rate of 12.0% in his last full season (2017, with the Diamondbacks), so there’s reason to believe he could be a big league contributor. For the Nats, Hoover represents a fairly notable depth piece to support the high-powered, high-risk relief unit they have compiled.
Welcome to Washington and we wish you the best of luck!
Dam!
Hoover… He sucks!
2 bad seasons under his belt. worth a fllyer
He had 2 bad seasons with the Reds; has he not pitched the last couple of years?
If the Nats use Hoover as their fireman, they should check his fire bucket for gasoline. The man can’t throw strikes and then there’s the whole grand salami problem.
” has he not pitched the last couple of years?”
2017 3-1 3.93 ERA 1.77 WHIP 54k 41.1IP
That aint pretty but it is something
JJ is another of RIzzo’s under the radar signings that may very well pan out. No he is not going to get a whole lot of save ops but he has been a back end of the pen option for his whole career. Three out of his first four seasons he had a sub 3 ERA. He sports a hold total for his career of 44 in seven seasons
The down side is the career ERA 4.17. But a closer look shows the amount of deviation from year to year is off the charts. He struggled early last year to the tune of 20.25 ERA in 1.1 IP for the Brew Crew and was subsequently released. That is not a lot of pitches to get your feet under you.
So here’s the rub- the reason this is a good signing Hoover give Rizzo some real potential for the sixth inning competition. Hoover prob. wont through 60IP under a three ERA but the mid threes is not outrageous.. As we saw last year middle relief was often where the game was won or lost especially if there are injuries in the starting rotation
Good luck with that hope that this signing might pan out. Look at his HR/9. Doubt he reinvents himself.
Not a matter of reinventing…
Not really a piece that we have to have. But as a flyer on a sixth inning guy he is depth
Best move the Reds made this offseason? Not signing J.J. Hoover to any sort of deal. He was atrocious
Amen ! to that, I thought he was serving up Big Macs some where glad he is going to be serving up hr’s for the Nats not us again !!
As reds fan this guy here sucks
Reds fan also… good luck WAS. I called this guy “Ball 4”. He’d get behind in the count and either walk a guy or groove one. Stuff was always pretty good, and this guys always seemed really nice, but REALLY dumb. There was actually talk of Hoover being the closer when Iglesias was in the starting rotation, but Iglesias minor arm injuries & Hoovers struggles sealed Iglesias’ fate as closer.
Cheap depth piece at triple A with past success in the majors. Some seasons good, some bad. Let’s see if he can contribute anything this season.
I love JJ Hoover so much I wish he’d have been identical triplets and his brothers were signed by the Cubs and the cardinals.
As it stands now, the Nats pen is probably Doolittle, Rosenthal, Suero, Barraclough, Grace, Miller, and maybe Glover? I don’t get the reference to it being “high powered”, “high risk”?