The Nationals announced Friday that they’ve claimed right-hander Michael Rucker off waivers from the Phillies and opened a spot on the 40-man roster by designating infielder/outfielder Travis Blankenhorn for assignment. Rucker was optioned to Triple-A Rochester. Washington’s 40-man roster remains at capacity.
The 30-year-old Rucker was designated for assignment by the Phillies earlier this week when they selected Nick Nelson’s contract from Triple-A. The Phils picked Rucker up in a cash deal with the Cubs back in February after he’d been designated for assignment in Chicago. He never got into a game with the Phillies in the majors, instead spending most of the season on the 60-day injured list owing to an arterial vasospasm in his right hand. The Phils reinstated and optioned him prior to the trade deadline. He’s pitched 26 minor league innings this season and been tagged for a 6.58 ERA, with the bulk of the damage coming in Triple-A.
Grim as Rucker’s run-prevention has been, his 26.7% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate are both fine marks (particularly the former). He’s also kept the ball on the ground at a strong 45.2% clip. Rucker, however, has been plagued by an astronomical .479 average on balls in play during his time with the IronPigs.
As recently as 2022, Rucker was a solid member of the Cubs’ bullpen. He pitched a career-high 54 2/3 innings and logged a 3.95 ERA with a 21.8% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate in that time. His followup effort in 2023 resulted in a more troubling 4.91 ERA in 40 2/3 frames, but his strikeout and walk numbers remained generally serviceable and his grounder rate spiked to a strong 51.4%. Overall, Rucker carries a 4.96 ERA in 123 1/3 innings as a major leaguer.
As for Blankenhorn, he’s spent the past two seasons as a depth option in the Nationals’ system, appearing in a combined 23 games and batting .145/.232/.210 in 69 trips to the plate. Those are obviously woeful numbers but come in a small sample; Blankenhorn popped 23 homers for the Nats’ Rochester affiliate last season while batting .262/.360/.517, and he’s tallied another 26 big flies in Triple-A this year while hitting .238/.322/.499.
Originally a third-round pick by the Twins back in 2015, Blankenhorn has bounced around the diamond in his pro career, seeing time at all of the non-shortstop infield positions and in both outfield corners. He’s a career .154/.230/.264 hitter in exactly 100 big league plate appearances but carries a more productive .254/.343/.489 slash and 74 homers in 363 Triple-A games. This is Blankenhorn’s final minor league option season. He’ll presumably clear waivers and soon become a minor league free agent, whether by rejecting an outright assignment or by exercising that right at season’s end.
Blankenhorn is still around?!
Blankenhorn only on optional assignment for a couple weeks at most. Is that long enough for it to count as his final option year?
more bum moves, love to see it :3
Rucker the Chucker, he’s a poster boy for a AAAA pitcher.
How much more team control do the Nats have over Rucker?
Blankenhorn had a couple of good chances to show what he could do on the MLB squad and didn’t help himself.
The White Sox could have used his power this year.
The new clubhouse lawyer lol
You stink, Steve Adams. “Grim as Rucker’s run-prevention has been“ is NOT PROPER ENGLISH. You can’t just leave “as” out at the start of the sentence. It isn’t optional, just like correct grammar isn’t optional for professional writers like Adams.