The Nationals have released outfielder Stone Garrett, reports Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post. Garrett opened the season in Triple-A Rochester. He was designated for assignment in spring training but cleared waivers and remained with the organization as a non-roster player.
The 2025 season hasn’t been kind to the 29-year-old Garrett. He’s tallied 51 plate appearances with the Red Wings and recorded an anemic .087/.176/.130 batting line with a mammoth 43.1% strikeout rate. He has just one hit and 13 strikeout in his past 31 plate appearances with Rochester.
Garrett has appeared in parts of three major league seasons between the Nationals and Diamondbacks. In that time, he’s a .276/.341/.492 hitter — 25% than league average, per wRC+. There’s plenty of reason to take that output with a hefty grain of salt, though. Garrett has benefited from a .369 average on balls in play and has gone down on strikes in 30.2% of his major league plate appearances.
Big league playing time has been scarce for Garrett in recent seasons, thanks largely to injury. He suffered fractures in his fibula and ankle when crashing into the outfield wall at Yankee Stadium in 2023 and spent more than eight months recovering. He logged just six MLB plate appearances in 2024 and spent the rest of the season between Double-A and Triple-A, where he hit only .249/.348/.333 in 79 games.
At his best, Garrett has shown himself to be capable of clobbering left-handed pitching. He’s a career .279/.333/.541 hitter when holding the platoon advantage, and while his BABIP (.362) and strikeout rate (30.8%) even in those situations point to regression, his power against lefties is legitimate. He’ll need to show more than he did in Rochester this year, but the track record and two remaining minor league option seasons should help him find a minor league deal with another club.
Pearl Jam will gladly take him back as lead guitarist.
Reaching
I thought this dude played in Metallica. It’s a stone cold awesome rock and roll name. It’s actually too cool for baseball.
Mike McCready
I met Eddy Vedder at a Seattle Sonics game right when the album 10 was going viral in ’93-ish. Really chill and friendly and signed my ticket stub.
I met him at an all flannel fundraiser two weeks ago along with Jose Canseco. Stone will be moving to Michigan & changing his name to Rock Garrett. He’s then going to post free metal signs in front of pawn shops in lower Detroit on May 13, 2025. You can take that the bank.
When you are hitting .087 in AAA doesn’t bode well finding another minor league deal with another team.
Watch the Mariners sign him and he becomes Victor Robles 2.0
Robles replacement
Stone’s last injury really set him back. Before that he was developing into something of a fan underdog favorite. It’s too bad his career with the Nats is ending like this but this Nats fan wishes Garret all the best in his next ventures.
The rare player with a way better MLB triple slash than minor lg triple slash who could never stick.
Not paying this guy a penny more
Go get him Stearns.
Given the NATS OF jam in the farm, not a hard decision.