The Nationals have signed first baseman Lewin Diaz to a minor league deal, according to ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. The deal reportedly comes with an invite to minor league Spring Training.
Diaz, 27, signed with the Twins out of the Dominican Republic back in 2014. After several years with Minnesota that saw him advance to the Double-A level, Diaz was swapped to the Marlins in exchange for Sergio Romo during the 2019 season. From there, it wouldn’t be long until Diaz made his big league debut as he received a 14 game cup of coffee at the big league level during the shortened 2020 season. He struggled in his first taste of big league action, slashing a paltry .154/.195/.205 with a wRC+ of just 9 across his first 41 plate appearances in the majors.
That meager production didn’t stop Miami from sticking with Diaz as a left-handed bat off the bench over the next two seasons however. From 2021 to 2022, Diaz garnered 302 plate appearances for the Marlins across 98 games. He managed to hold his own somewhat in 2021 with a .217/.270/.518 slash line in 89 trips to the plate against right-handed pitching, though his numbers against southpaws remained abysmal. Unfortunately for Diaz and the Marlins, the first baseman’s fortunes turned in 2022, when he slashed just .164/.224/.288 with a wRC+ of 44 in 174 trips to the plate.
After parts of three seasons in the big leagues with little to show for it, Diaz was designated for assignment by the Marlins early in the 2022-23 offseason. He rode the transactional carousel throughout much of the offseason last year, moving from Miami to Pittsburgh to Baltimore on the waiver wire before being traded to Atlanta and returning to the Orioles on waivers. Baltimore eventually managed to sneak Diaz through waivers successfully in mid-January and outrighted him to Triple-A as a potential lefty hitting complement to Ryan Mountcastle, though the club ended up utilizing the breakout of Ryan O’Hearn to fill that gap on the roster rather than Diaz’s services.
That left Diaz to spend the entire 2023 season in the minor leagues, where he slashed a solid .268/.362/.442 across 118 games. The solid season at Triple-A continued Diaz’s track record of solid work at the level; the lefty owns a slash line of .258/.341/.479 across 274 career games at the level. Now, Diaz is poised to join a Nationals club that recently saw Dominic Smith depart the organization for free agency. This spring, he’ll likely have the opportunity to earn a spot as the club’s first baseman, a role which he’ll likely compete with Joey Meneses for barring further external additions.
Sergio Romeo?
Looks like a young George Sisler to me! Breakout season coming!
I thought this was one of the players included in the Yelich trade, but that’s a different Díaz.
Can’t wait for an article in the coming days about how the Braves have traded for him.
He hit a lot of his home runs against the Nats, but sadly, he won’t be able to play them on this contract.
Jeepers….when did this website become MiLB Trade Rumors?
Literally since day one.
Lewin plays first base at a level that is rarely seen. if he could play a season at the position, he would not just be a candidate for a gold glove, he would be in play for the platinum one.
Unfortunately, he just can’t hit.
I strongly believe Lewin is the best defensive 1B in baseball, even better than Walker (ARI).
The Marlins should bring him back.
#BringLewinBack
Round and round we go, where Lewin Diaz stops no one knows.
Will Washington be Diaz’ only stop this winter or will it be another round of musical chairs?
FINALLY! The middle of the order bat Rizzo has been promising. Look out Atlanta….
He’ll never see action.
Interesting power numbers. Low risk signing
Overstatement to say he is competing with Meneses for 1B job, Lewin is just depth waiting in the wings hoping to have another brief shot in the show.
Be still my heart. It may be asking too much to hope he hits enough to be trade bait at first base.
Asking way too much.