The Nationals signed righties Adrian Sampson and Parker Dunshee to minor league contracts this evening. Both players were assigned to Triple-A Rochester, which announced the moves.
Sampson is the far more experienced of the duo. The 33-year-old righty has pitched in parts of five big league seasons. He has worked 292 2/3 innings in a swing role, turning in a 4.43 earned run average. Sampson’s 17.5% strikeout rate isn’t especially impressive, but he throws enough strikes to be a serviceable depth arm. He spent all of last season working out of the rotation for the Rangers top affiliate. Sampson posted a 5.64 ERA with an 18.8% strikeout percentage against a solid 7.2% walk rate through 28 appearances in a tough setting in the Pacific Coast League.
Texas never promoted Sampson last year, and he returned to minor league free agency at season’s end. He’d remained unsigned throughout the offseason but now gets another opportunity. Shinnosuke Ogasawara and prospect Andry Lara are on the 40-man roster and working out of the Rochester rotation. The Nats are light on non-roster rotation depth. Joan Adon and Konnor Pilkington have some big league experience but are working mostly in relief (exclusively in Adon’s case) in the minors this year.
Dunshee, 30, is a former A’s draftee who received a cup of coffee with the Braves last year. He made one appearance for Atlanta, allowing five runs over 2 1/3 relief innings in his big league debut. The Wake Forest product had strong numbers at the top two levels of the Braves’ system, however. He combined for a 3.34 ERA while striking out nearly 32% of opposing hitters over 59 1/3 frames. Dunshee was bombed for five runs in two-thirds of an inning in the Mexican League earlier this year, but he’ll get a chance to work out of Rochester’s bullpen.
Adrian Sampson, one of the rare ballplayers to end their career on a career year. Its hard to believe he never threw another big league pitch after his 2022 season.