Nationals Place MacKenzie Gore On Injured List
The Nationals announced today that left-hander MacKenzie Gore has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right ankle impingement. Right-hander Mason Thompson has also been placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to September 20th, in his case due to right biceps tendinitis. Righties Julian Fernandez and Orlando Ribalta have been recalled in corresponding moves.
Gore started last night’s game against Atlanta and wasn’t at his best. He faced 13 opponents but recorded just six outs while allowing four earned runs on four hits and four walks while striking out three, throwing 71 pitches in the process. Perhaps his ankle was bugging him and the Nats decided not to push him any further, since they’re eliminated and aren’t playing for anything in the remainder of the campaign.
His health will be a situation to watch in the coming weeks and months, as he has a chance to be one of the most notable trade candidates this winter. It’s not a guarantee that the Nats make him available, but he did garner interest ahead of the trade deadline. The Padres reportedly tried real hard to bring him back to San Diego, though the Nats reportedly asked for a five-player package headlined by Leo De Vries, who is one of the top prospects in the league. De Vries ended up going to the Athletics in the Mason Miller trade instead.
It’s possible that Washington revisits trade possibilities this winter. Dealing Gore would be a notable subtraction from their big league roster. However, he is now down to two remaining years of club control, as he’s slated for free agency after 2027. Gore is represented by the Boras Corporation. While it’s not true that Boras clients never sign extensions, it is generally true that it’s more challenging to sign players with that agency.
The Nats don’t currently appear close to contention, as they sport a 64-93 record, one of the worst in the majors. The club surely hoped to come out of their lengthy rebuild a while ago but has struggled to do so. The lack of progress led to president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez getting fired back in July. Reportedly, there are systemic issues in the organization beyond the decisions coming from the front office and the dugout.
Going into this winter, the Nats still have to decide on a new front office leader. Mike DeBartolo is currently the interim general manager but the club is speaking with external candidates. It’s unclear at that point if the club wants to make an aggressive push to contend in the near term or continue the attempts to add young talent.
If the club is not going to be aggressive, then there’s an argument for making Gore available. With just two years of club control, he’d be wasted on a team not trying to win. On the other hand, his value may not be at an apex. He was quite strong earlier this year but has faded more recently.
In the first half, he tossed 110 1/3 innings with a 3.02 earned run average, 30.5% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate. In the second half, he’s added 49 1/3 innings with a 6.75 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate and 12.8% walk rate. He spent less than two weeks on the IL in early September due to shoulder inflammation. He was able to return but is now going back on the IL yet again.
Teams would still be interested in Gore given his two years of control and affordability. He is making just $2.89MM this year. He’ll be due raises in arbitration over the next two years but will still be underpaid relative to pitchers signed in free agency.
Put all together, it will be an interesting decision for whoever ends up running the Washington front office. If they think the rebuilding process is going to take another year or two, it makes sense to listen to offers on Gore. If his recent downturn leads to tepid offers, they could hold him and try again at next year’s deadline, though that path also comes with the risk of him suffering a significant injury before they get a chance to trade him.
Photo courtesy of Eric Hartline, Imagn Images
Nationals Place Orlando Ribalta On 15-Day IL, Promote Cole Henry
The Nationals are calling up right-handed pitching prospect Cole Henry, according to Joe Will of 247Sports. Henry will take the roster spot of fellow righty Orlando Ribalta, as the Nats announced that Ribalta has been placed (retroactive to April 10) on the 15-day injured list due to a right biceps strain.
After posting a 13.50 ERA over his first 3 1/3 MLB innings in 2024, Ribalta has a 5.87 ERA in 7 2/3 frames out of Washington’s bullpen this year. Most of the damage came in his first outing of 2025, when the Phillies tagged Ribalta for four runs over two innings of work. He last pitched on Tuesday, when Ribalta allowed a run over three innings and 58 pitches in a relief outing against the Dodgers.
More will be revealed about the severity of Ribalta’s biceps strain once manager Davey Martinez meets with reporters later today, but even in the best-case scenario, it would seem like the righty will be out for more than the 15-day minimum. With Ribalta now sidelined, the Nationals have turned to the 25-year-old Henry as a fresh arm for the bullpen, and given Henry his first look at the MLB level.
A second-round pick for the Nats in the 2020 draft, Henry has logged only 130 1/3 innings over five pro seasons due to a variety of injuries. Most recently, a lat strain limited him to 16 1/3 total innings with high-A Wilmington and Double-A Harrisburg in 2024. While Henry has started 34 of his 44 games in the minors, he transitioned into relief work this past spring, with an eye towards joining the Nationals bullpen as a long man.
Henry only threw two innings over two Triple-A appearances before his call-up, allowing a hit and three walks over those two scoreless frames. While not the biggest sample size in the world, the Nats will now see if Henry can eat some innings and translate his strong strikeout numbers (30.34% strikeout rate in the minors) to success in the Show.
Nationals Release Harold Ramirez
August 14: Washington announced on Wednesday that they’ve placed Ramirez on unconditional release waivers.
August 13: The Nationals announced that they have selected the contracts of infielder Andrés Chaparro and right-hander Orlando Ribalta, two moves that were previously reported. In corresponding moves, they designated infielder/outfielder Harold Ramírez and right-hander Jordan Weems for assignment.
Ramirez, 29, enjoyed a pair of productive seasons with the 2022-23 Rays, hitting a combined .306/.348/.432 in 869 trips to the plate, but he stumbled badly out of the gates in 2024 and yet to recover. The righty swinger posted a nice .268 batting average in 169 plate appearances with Tampa Bay but couldn’t couple that with any on-base or extra-base value; he managed only a .284 OBP and slugged just .305. Ramirez was designated for assignment on June 7 and released after no team wanted to acquire/claim the remainder of his $3.8MM salary.
Following his release, Ramirez signed a minor league deal with the Nats and was back in the majors just a couple weeks after his release. He’s appeared in 25 games with Washington but hasn’t fared much better at the plate, hitting .243/.273/.365 in 77 plate appearances. The rebuilding Nationals will now use his roster spot to take a look at the younger Chaparro — another right-handed bat that they acquired in the deadline trade sending reliever Dylan Floro to Arizona.
Weems, 31, has been a regular presence in the Washington bullpen since 2022. He’s piled up 136 innings as a Nat but logged a combined 5.03 ERA in that time. Weems sandwiched an impressive 2023 showing between a pair of lackluster seasons in 2022 and 2024. He’s pitched 41 2/3 innings this season but been rocked for a 6.70 ERA with a career-low 17.9% strikeout rate and a career-worst 12.2% walk rate (excluding the 20% walk rate he notched in 5 2/3 innings back in 2021).
Weems reached three years of big league service in 2024 and is out of minor league options. That means the Nats would’ve had to tender him a raise in arbitration this winter and carry him on the big league roster to begin the 2025 season. They’ll instead move on from the right-hander and, as with Ramirez, turn that roster spot over to a more youthful option who’s posted some interesting numbers in the minors this year.
With the trade deadline now behind us, the Nationals’ only course of action with Ramirez and Weems will be to place them on either outright waivers or release waivers. The other 29 clubs will all have a chance to claim them. (Ramirez’s salary is still being paid by the Rays, so he’d only cost a new team the prorated league minimum.) Both will have the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, by virtue of their MLB service time.
Nationals To Select Orlando Ribalta
The Nationals are calling up right-hander Orlando Ribalta, reports Andrew Golden of The Washington Post on X. Ribalta is not yet on the club’s 40-man roster but they have a couple of open spots at the moment. They will only have to make a corresponding move to create an active roster spot.
Ribalta, 26, was selected by the Nats in the 12th round of the 2019 draft. He has been climbing the minor league ladder since then, working exclusively as a reliever, with some very encouraging results here in 2024.
He started the year at Double-A and blew through that level by tossing 18 innings with just two earned runs allowed, leading to an ERA of 1.00. His 11.3% walk rate was on the high side but he counteracted that by his striking out a massive 45.1% of batters faced. He was then promoted to Triple-A and tossed 27 1/3 innings with a 3.62 ERA, 30.7% strikeout rate and 12.3% walk rate.
At the end of May, Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice at FanGraphs ranked Ribalta as the #11 prospect in the system. They focused on his 6’7″ height, noting that players of that size sometimes take longer to get everything working and that Ribalta might be on the verge of a breakout, despite his relatively old age for a debut. The lack of control is clearly a concern but Longenhagen and Ice feel it’s possible that he’s still harnessing his stuff and could continue taking steps forward.
The Nationals have adopted a mantra of “I don’t care how fast you throw ball four” this year and will undoubtedly be focused on helping Ribalta continue to rein in his stuff. They are out of contention this year but can get a look at Ribalta down the stretch to see if he can be a part of their plans for next year and beyond.