Yankees Acquire Amed Rosario

The Yankees are poised to acquire infielder Amed Rosario from the Nationals, per a report from Jack Curry of YES Network. New York will send right-hander Clayton Beeter and outfielder Browm Martinez to the Nationals in exchange for Rosario’s services. Both club’s subsequently announced the deal. Both Rosario and Beeter were already on their club’s 40-man roster, meaning no further roster maneuvering was necessary to complete the transaction.

A former top prospect who spent the first four seasons of his career with the Mets, Rosario returns home to New York but will now suit up for the Bronx down the stretch. The 29-year-old signed has now been moved at the trade deadline in three consecutive seasons and figures to offer the same value to the Yankees that he offered to the Dodgers and Reds in recent years: a versatile, right-handed bat capable of crushing left-handed pitching. Rosario’s overall slash line of .270/.310/.426 (105 wRC+) this year is solid but not especially exceptional, but a look under the hood reveals an excellent 126 wRC+ in 93 trips to the plate against southpaws this season. That’s par for the course for Rosario, who has posted a 120 wRC+ against lefties for his career across nine seasons in the big leagues.

A Yankees team that ranks as the best offense in baseball against left-handed pitching (120 wRC+) this year may not seem like an obvious candidate for a lefty masher like Rosario, but a great deal of that production comes from Aaron Judge and his absurd 219 wRC+ against left-handed pitching. Even setting aside the fact that Judge is headed for the injured list due to a flexor strain in his elbow, lefty hitters in the lineup like Trent Grisham (78 wRC+), Ben Rice (89 wRC+), and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (76 wRC+) all have below-average numbers against same-handed pitching this year. Rosario has handled every position on the diamond except for first base and catcher during his career, so he should be able to spell a number of those players against lefties as needed.

His most likely platoon partner appears to be fellow deadline acquisition Ryan McMahon, however. McMahon appears ticketed for a regular role as the club’s third baseman, but has an anemic 58 wRC+ against left-handed pitching. Plugging Rosario (who has spent parts of nine seasons at shortstop in addition to 30 career starts at the hot corner) into the lineup at third in McMahon’s place against lefties would afford the Yankees an extremely effective platoon at the position, turning a longtime soft spot in the club’s lineup into a clear strength. The moves to add McMahon and Rosario seem likely to take the Yankees out of the market for further infield help. They had been tied previously to prominent names on the trade market like Eugenio Suarez and Willi Castro, but now seem much more likely to focus their deadline efforts on improving a pitching staff beleaguered by injuries over the final days leading up to the deadline.

As for the Nationals, the club makes its first sell-side trade of the summer and in doing so adds a pair of prospects who could contribute in the future. Clayton Beeter is the bigger name of the two, a top 20 prospect in New York’s system according to MLB Pipeline who has already made five career appearances in the big leagues. A second-round pick by the Dodgers in 2020, Beeter has surrendered eight runs on nine hits and five walks while striking out six across 7 1/3 innings of work in the majors so far but has looked impressive at Triple-A for the Yankees over each of the past two seasons, with a 2.56 ERA over 56 1/3 innings of work at the level since the start of the 2024 campaign.

Beeter has struck out a very impressive 35.1% of opponents at the level this year, although his 17.0% walk rate suggests some serious issues with Beeter’s command. Even so, a controllable relief arm who’s already on the cusp of the big leagues and is capable of throwing multiple innings is an intriguing addition for a Nationals club that has the worst bullpen ERA in the major leagues this year. In addition to Beeter, the Nats have also acquired Martinez. The 18-year-old outfielder signed with the Yankees out of the Dominican Republic and made his pro debut last year. He’s yet to make his stateside debut but has slashed an incredible .404/.507/.632 in 18 games in the Dominican Summer League this year. Browm is surely years away from the majors and is unranked within the Yankees’ system, but could be an exciting prospect for the Nationals if he can continue to prove himself after he begins his stateside career.

Going forward, the Nationals figure to continue listening on a number of other trade candidates on their roster. Right-handers Kyle Finnegan and Michael Soroka are perhaps the most noteworthy potential rentals the club could move, but Josh Bell and Andrew Chafin are also pending free agents. Perhaps the Nationals will listen on some more controllable pieces like first baseman Nathaniel Lowe as well, although it would be a shock to see the club move someone more valuable like prized left-hander MacKenzie Gore.