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Nationals Place Trevor Williams On Injured List With Elbow Sprain

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The Nationals announced a series of roster moves this morning, headlined by their placement of right-hander Trevor Williams on the 15-day injured list due to a right elbow sprain. Right-hander Ryan Loutos was recalled to the MLB roster to replace Williams. In an additional move, Washington has activated catcher Keibert Ruiz from the 7-day concussion-related injured list and optioned catcher Drew Millas to Triple-A.

Williams, 33, has been part of the Nationals’ rotation all year but struggled badly with his results. The righty is sporting a 6.21 ERA across 17 starts and 82 2/3 innings this year. That’s the third-worst figure in baseball among pitchers with at least 80 innings of work this year. Brutal as the results have been, it’s perhaps worth noting that Williams has gotten quite unlucky according to the underlying metrics. His .347 BABIP allowed is nearly fifty points higher than his career mark, and a 61.6% strand rate suggests he’s been the victim of poor sequencing as well. Williams’s 4.08 FIP and 4.45 FIP paint him as a roughly average fifth starter based on his performance this year, despite the rough run prevention numbers.

In terms of strikeout and walk rate, Williams hasn’t been all that different than 2024. Last year saw him pitch to a dazzling 2.03 ERA in 66 2/3 innings, but his results then were much better than the metrics suggested they should have been. Taken together, Williams’s strong but abbreviated 2024 and his brutal first half this year paint a picture of a mid-to-back of the rotation arm: 30 starts, a 4.34 ERA, a 3.51 FIP, and a 4.23 SIERA. Perhaps there would’ve been a pitching-needy club or two who would have viewed Williams as a decent innings-eating arm to bet on for a low-cost flier this summer, but today’s injury news will throw a wrench into that possibility.

The exact details surrounding Williams’s injury are not yet known, but any injury involving a pitcher’s elbow is concerning and will typically be treated with an abundance of caution to avoid further damage. Williams figures to be out for several weeks at the very least and could miss much longer than that. A clearer timeline for his return to action figures to be available with time, but Mark Zuckerman of MASN reports that Williams himself suggested that the injury is “comparable” to the flexor strain that cost him more than three months last year. A similar timeline for his recovery this time around would likely put an end to his 2025 campaign.

For the time being, Williams will be replaced on the roster by Loutos. The righty was plucked off waivers from the Dodgers earlier this year but has surrendered eight runs (six earned) in just 4 1/3 innings during his time in a Nationals uniform. He’ll help eat innings for now, but the club will need to replace Williams in the rotation eventually. Cade Cavalli and Shinnosuke Ogasawara are both on the 40-man roster and could be called upon, though Cavalli has struggled at Triple-A this year while Ogasawara is currently pitching at High-A as he works his way back from an injury.

As for Ruiz, the catcher was placed on the 10-day IL after being struck by a foul ball while in the dugout on June 24, but was later moved to the concussion-related IL after experiencing headaches. He figures to resume getting the lion’s share of playing time behind the plate going forward, with Riley Adams serving as his backup. The eight-year, $50MM extension the Nats signed Ruiz to prior to the 2023 season hasn’t worked out so far, and he’s hitting just .247/.278/.320 in 66 games this year. Even so, the former top prospect is still just 26 years old and it’s not outside the realm of possibility that his numbers could improve given how common it is for catchers to be relatively late bloomers at the big league level.

Nats Notes: Nuñez, Chapparo, Williams

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The Nationals announced last night that infielder Nasim Nuñez was optioned to Triple-A Rochester after the game. A corresponding move wasn’t announced, but the Washington Post’s Andrew Golden reported not long after the Nuñez move that fellow infielder Andrés Chaparro is being called up for the first his first big league look of the 2025 season.

Nuñez has had a bizarre tenure with the Nats so far. Washington originally selected him out of the Marlins organization in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft, scooping him up primarily due to his defensive prowess at shortstop. Nuñez stuck on the roster all season in 2024, appearing in only 51 games and taking only 78 plate appearances, during which he batted .246/.370/.262 with no home runs. A double was his lone extra-base hit on the season. It’s rare that a team can roster a player all season with such limited usage, but the Nats were firmly in rebuild mode last year and thus could make it work.

The 2025 season has played out similarly. Nuñez, now 24, has appeared in only 23 of the Nationals’ 53 games since his recall from Rochester in early April. He’s averaged less than one plate appearance per game in that time, taking 49 turns at the plate and hitting .186/.271/.233. Nuñez has one year and 58 days (1.058) of MLB service time dating back to Opening Day 2024 but still has only 127 major league plate appearances despite never landing on the injured list.

For a player who’d never played in Triple-A at the time of his selection in the Rule 5 Draft, that lack of reps feels particularly problematic — at least from a developmental standpoint. Nuñez hadn’t even hit well in two seasons of Double-A ball.

Virtually no scouting report on Nuñez has suggested he comes with substantial upside at the plate, but being limited to a total of 158 plate appearances between the majors and (briefly, earlier this season) his first taste of Triple-A work doesn’t give Nuñez much of a chance. He’s gone 15-for-18 in stolen base attempts (many as a pinch-runner) and indeed graded out as a plus defensive shortstop.

The Nationals have effectively been carrying Nuñez as a designated pinch-runner/late-inning defensive upgrade for more than a year. He was on the active roster for the entire month of May and received all of eight plate appearances. Seldom do players in today’s game find themselves used with this level of infrequency. The move back down to Triple-A should give Nuñez some much-needed reps in the batter’s box.

In his place, the Nats will summon the 26-year-old Chaparro, whom they acquired from the D-backs last summer in exchange for veteran reliever Dylan Floro. Chaparro opened the season on the injured list due to an oblique strain but has been hot since his activation in early May. The righty-swinging slugger has played in 20 games and totaled 82 plate appearances with Rochester this year, slashing .296/.390/.606 with six homers, four doubles, a 12.2% walk rate and a 24.4% strikeout rate.

Chaparro made a brief big league debut last year, getting into 33 MLB games and slashing .215/.280/.413 with four home runs. He played third base previously in both the D-backs and Yankees systems, but the Nats have used him exclusively at first base and designated hitter in both Triple-A and the big leagues.

There should be opportunity at both spots in the majors. Designated hitter Josh Bell has at least posted passable numbers as a left-handed hitter in 2025, but the veteran switch-hitter has posted a disastrous .051/.178/.103 batting line in 45 plate appearances when swinging from the right side of the dish. Nathaniel Lowe’s splits at first base aren’t quite that pronounced, but he’s still hit very poorly in lefty-versus-lefty situations.

It’s feasible that Chaparro could find himself with a bigger role sooner than later. Bell has been a disappointment after signing a one-year deal in free agency and will be a DFA candidate before long if he can’t improve his overall .179/.274/.342 line on the season. Lowe is a trade candidate, though the fact that his bat has tanked after a strong April showing doesn’t do his market any favors.

One other area where many Nats fans might hope to see some change would be in the rotation, where righty Trevor Williams has struggled, but it doesn’t sound as though there’s anything planned on that front just yet. Asked about the security of Williams’ spot in the rotation after another rough start yesterday, manager Davey Martinez told the Nats beat: “Yeah, he’s in our rotation” (link via Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com). Martinez cited Williams’ pitch count as a reason that he was hooked after 4 1/3 innings, but he’d also allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits.

The 33-year-old Williams, who signed a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $14MM over the winter, has averaged fewer than five innings per start in 2025. He’s only completed six innings twice in 13 starts this year. He’s currently sitting on an ugly 5.91 earned run average, and over his past eight starts, Williams has been torched for a 6.41 ERA with just a 16.3% strikeout rate.

Williams’ 5.91 ERA is nearly three times the 2.03 mark he posted last year in nearly the same sample of work (66 2/3 innings in 2024; 64 innings in 2025). He never seemed likely to sustain last year’s success, which was buoyed by an 80% strand rate, career-low 4.2% homer-to-fly-ball ratio, and a .267 average on balls in play (second-lowest mark of his career, behind 2018’s .261). The extent to which he’s regressed has been a surprise, however. The fluke pendulum has swung the other direction on Williams’ strand rate, going from abnormally high to abnormally low — just 60.4% in 2025. That’s more than 12 points below both the league average and Williams’ career mark.

It’s not all bad luck, though. Williams didn’t have much margin for error with an 88.9 mph average fastball last year, but he’s on even thinner ice now with a “heater” that’s sitting 87.6 mph on the year. An already poor 9.4% swinging-strike rate has fallen to 8.4%. Williams is giving up more contact, particularly within the strike zone, and opponents have seen notable upticks in their average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard-hit rate against the veteran righty.

Unless Williams can turn things around, it’s hard to see how he can hang onto that rotation spot long-term. MacKenzie Gore is finally breaking out as one of the sport’s premier arms, and rotationmates Mitchell Parker, Jake Irvin and Michael Soroka have all been at least serviceable, albeit unspectacular.

Williams is aided by the fact that there’s very little depth that’s pushing for his spot. Lefty DJ Herz is already out for the season due to Tommy John surgery. Josiah Gray won’t be back from his own UCL repair until late in the season, at best. Shinnosuke Ogasawara is on the minor league injured list, as is top prospect Jarlin Susana. Other depth arms like Andry Lara and journeyman Adrian Sampson have struggled this year as well.

Former top prospect Cade Cavalli is a notable exception, as he’s in a tear in Triple-A during his first full season back from Tommy John surgery. Cavalli has a 1.52 ERA and 30-to-6 K/BB ratio over his past 23 2/3 innings. The longer the now-26-year-old Cavalli continues to excel, the tougher it’ll be to maintain the status quo at the back of the staff.

Mike Rizzo Discusses Nationals’ Rotation Plans, Offseason Moves

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The Nationals made a surprise addition to their already crowded rotation mix yesterday when they signed southpaw Shinnosuke Ogasawara to a two-year deal. President of baseball operations Mike Rizzo spoke to reporters (including Mark Zuckerman of MASN and Spencer Nausbaum of the Washington Post) today about the club’s rotation plans for 2025 and where Ogasawara fits into that picture.

Ogasawara, 27, has posted a 3.28 ERA in 596 innings of work over the past four seasons with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Chunichi Dragons. While that’s a solid performance, the lefty’s lackluster 13.6% strikeout rate last year raised plenty of eyebrows when he was posted by the Dragons last month. That skepticism about his ability to make such a profile with such few strikeouts work in the majors led Ogasawara to sign a modest deal that guarantees him just $3.5MM, well below the going rate for even back-end starters in free agency. Rizzo expressed confidence in Ogasawara as a starting-caliber option despite those concerns, but stopped short of fully guaranteeing him a rotation spot or even an active roster spot to open the season in his discussion of the club’s rotation plans.

“We signed [Ogasawara] to be a starting pitcher for us in the big leagues,” Rizzo told reporters, including Zuckerman. “Of course, he’ll have to earn that spot in the rotation. I think there’s going to be great competition for the five spots in the rotation by some good, young, talented players. If he’s not ready for the big leagues, then we could always option him to Triple-A and bring him up sometime during the season. But we anticipate him battling out for a rotation spot, and I think it’s going to be a fun competition to watch.”

That most tracks with Andrew Golden of the Washington Post’s reporting on the state of the club’s rotation. Golden characterizes right-hander Michael Soroka, left-hander MacKenzie Gore, and right-hander Jake Irvin as the three players locked into Opening Day rotation spots if healthy. That leaves two spots in the rotation for Ogasawara, veteran right-hander Trevor Williams, and young southpaws Mitchell Parker and DJ Herz to compete for, though it’s worth noting that Williams himself indicated earlier this month that he’ll be part of the club’s Opening Day rotation. That would leave just one spot for Ogasawara, Parker, and Herz to compete for. Ogasawara seems likely to be the favorite for that role headed into Spring Training, though all three have options remaining and Golden suggested that he or even Williams could be pushed to a bullpen role if Parker and/or Herz look particularly good coming out of camp.

The club’s approach of adding plenty of depth to the rotation to ease their reliance on up-and-coming youngsters without blocking them meshes will with the club’s overall philosophy for this winter. As Nausbaum notes, Rizzo told reporters that given “where [the club is] at right now,” the club was cautious about signing free agents with a qualifying offer attached due to the associated loss of draft capital and international bonus pool money. The club’s reluctance to target qualified free agents led the club to bring in a number of short-term reinforcements this winter.

That includes not only their trio of rotation additions but also Nathaniel Lowe, Josh Bell, Amed Rosario, and Jorge Lopez. All of those veterans come with either one or two seasons of control, preventing them from blocking the young players and prospects that the Nationals have been building around since they first began what has become a lengthy rebuild back in 2021. The club’s fortunes appear to be on the upswing headed into 2025 with that group of intriguing youngsters in the rotation and an outfield that currently projects to feature full seasons from James Wood and Dylan Crews in the corners. Cade Cavalli, Robert Hassell III, and Brady House are among the other noteworthy prospects in the club’s pipeline who have yet to establish themselves in the majors but could arrive at some point this season.

That reluctance to block top prospects and young players seems to have played a significant role in how the club’s offseason has played out to this point. Early in the winter, the Nationals were among the teams most frequently connected to Christian Walker before he ultimately signed with the Astros. Walker, of course, received a Qualifying Offer from the Diamondbacks that may have limited the Nationals’ interest in him and led to them pivoting towards the additions of Lowe and Bell. It’s also possible that the club’s desire to avoid blocking young players contributing to them not signing second baseman Gleyber Torres. Torres made clear shortly after he signed with the Tigers that the Nats were among the teams pursuing him but that they had wanted him to move to third base in order to accommodate 24-year-old Luis Garcia Jr. after he enjoyed something of a breakout season in 2024. When Torres landed elsewhere, the Nationals opted to sign Rosario, who has moved around to a number of positions all throughout his career and should have no trouble playing out of position if needed.

MLBTR Podcast: Brent Rooker’s Extension, Gavin Lux, And Catching Up On The Holiday Transactions

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Trevor Williams To Open Season In Nationals’ Rotation

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The Nationals brought Trevor Williams back on a two-year, $14MM free agent deal this week. The veteran righty spoke with the Washington beat (including Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post and Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com) this afternoon and indicated he’ll be part of Dave Martinez’s rotation.

While that’s not surprising in isolation, it potentially sets up a camp battle if Washington sticks with a five-man staff. They signed righty Michael Soroka to a $9MM deal to work as a starter. The Nats are also bringing back four pitchers who started at least 19 games last season: Jake Irvin, MacKenzie Gore, Mitchell Parker and DJ Herz.

All four of those returning arms had productive campaigns. Gore is a former top prospect who posted a 3.90 earned run average while striking out nearly a quarter of opponents across 32 starts. He’ll certainly be in the rotation. Irvin led the team with 187 2/3 innings and turned in a 4.41 ERA with decent underlying metrics. The 27-year-old righty did seem to wear down in the second half, as he allowed a near-6.00 ERA after taking a 3.49 mark into the All-Star Break. He still seems likely to be a starting pitcher himself.

If Washington wanted to begin the year with a five-man staff, that could leave Parker and Herz battling for a job if everyone comes through Spring Training healthy. Herz showed more swing-and-miss ability, fanning nearly 28% of opponents with a 12.9% swinging strike rate in 19 starts as a rookie. The southpaw’s 9.4% walk rate was the highest of any of Washington’s starters, though. Herz has had far more worrisome walk numbers in the minors, including a massive 19% clip over 10 Triple-A starts last year.

Parker, 25, profiles as a steadier back-end arm. He made 29 starts during his debut campaign and turned in a 4.29 ERA through 151 innings. He struck out 20.6% of opponents against a tidy 6.7% walk percentage. Parker doesn’t throw quite as hard as Herz does and doesn’t miss bats at the same rate, but he looks the part of a league average starter.

Washington used a six-man rotation when Williams returned from injury late last season. Patrick Corbin, who is now a free agent, was on hand in the role that Soroka would play this year. That’d be the simplest solution if all six starters are available on Opening Day. Each of Gore, Irvin, Parker and Herz have minor league options, though, so the Nats could send anyone from that group to Triple-A if they wanted to move to a five-man staff.

Prospect Cade Cavalli will be in the mix after missing nearly two full seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. Nusbaum writes that Cavalli, who made his big league debut with one start in 2022, is likely to open the year in the minors. That’s designed to allow the team to monitor his workload since he has only thrown 8 1/3 minor league innings over the last two years. Cavalli is expected to factor into the MLB staff at some point in the season.

Nationals Re-Sign Trevor Williams

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The Nationals officially announced the re-signing of Trevor Williams to a two-year free agent deal. It’s reportedly a $14MM guarantee for the John Boggs & Associates client. The veteran right-hander turns 33 next April.

The last time Williams was a free agent, he signed a two-year, $13MM pact with Washington. Despite an uneven performance over the past two seasons, he showed enough upside to convince the club to bring him back on an almost identical deal. In 2023, the righty was an innings eater for the Nationals, providing them with 144 1/3 frames in 30 starts. It was the first time he passed the 100-inning threshold since 2019. However, there was little else to like about his performance. No NL pitcher (min. 140 IP) had a higher ERA than Williams that year. He also finished among the bottom five in strikeout rate, SIERA, and xERA. Things turned especially sour at the end of the year; he gave up 33 runs (32 earned) in 35 2/3 innings over his final eight starts.

The 2024 season was a completely different story. Williams got off to a red-hot start, pitching to a 2.22 ERA across 11 outings in April and May. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to do the one thing he did well in 2023: stay on the field. A flexor muscle strain in his pitching arm kept him out for nearly four months from May to September. He continued to see great results in two starts upon his return (10 IP, 1 ER, 12 K), but he finished the year with just 13 starts and 66 2/3 innings under his belt.

Most of the underlying data indicates Williams wasn’t quite as dominant as he seemed on the surface. His .267 BABIP and 4.2% home run-to-fly ball ratios were well below his career averages, while his 80.2% left-on-base percentage was well above his typical rate. His 22.7% strikeout rate marked a significant improvement from the year before, but it was only a touch above league average for a starting pitcher. Thus, his 3.96 SIERA was significantly higher than his 2.03 ERA.

Regardless, Williams was still a productive starter when he was on the field, even if the peripheral numbers suggest he was more of a mid-rotation arm than an ace. If he can figure out how to combine the best parts of his 2023 and ’24 seasons, he will be well worth a $7MM annual salary over the next two seasons. Of course, it’s far from a guarantee that he’ll be able to do that. Williams has reached 30 starts just twice in his nine-year MLB tenure, and he came into the 2024 season with a career 4.48 ERA and 4.66 SIERA. He is also entering his mid-thirties. In theory, his excellent command should help him thrive as an older starter. Then again, he could be in real trouble if he loses any more velocity on his four-seam fastball. It was a valuable pitch in 2024, but at 88.9 mph, it’s already one of the slowest heaters in the league.

Williams will return to a Nationals rotation that also features de facto ace MacKenzie Gore, free agent acquisition (and project) Michael Soroka, and a handful of mid-to-back-end types who broke out for Washington last year: Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker, and DJ Herz. Top prospect Cade Cavalli will also factor into the equation, although Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post notes that the team will be monitoring Cavalli’s innings in 2025 and could option him to Triple-A to begin the year. Meanwhile, Josiah Gray is recovering from Tommy John surgery and will be out for most (if not all) of the 2025 campaign. It’s unclear how manager Dave Martinez will set up his rotation to begin the season, but barring an injury or a disastrous performance this spring, it feels safe to presume that Williams be one of the starting five (or six?) come Opening Day.

Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Athletic first reported the Nationals were re-signing Williams on a two-year, $14MM deal.

Nationals Activate Trevor Williams

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September 20: The Nationals announced today that Williams has officially been reinstated, as expected. In corresponding moves, they optioned right-hander Zach Brzykcy and transferred Adon to the 60-day IL.

September 18: The Nationals are planning to reinstate Trevor Williams from the 60-day injured list on Friday, tweets Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. The right-hander will get the start at Wrigley Field in his first MLB outing since the end of May. They’ll need to create a 40-man roster spot but could move Alex Call or Joan Adon to the 60-day IL if they don’t anticipate either player returning this season.

That would position Williams to make a pair of starts before the end of the season. It’s a bigger development for the pitcher than it is for the team. Washington is only trying to play spoiler at this point, but Williams is an impending free agent. The 32-year-old has been out for more than three months after being diagnosed with a flexor strain in his throwing arm. There’s only so much he can do in two starts to answer teams’ questions about his durability. That said, getting back on the mound and showing the caliber of stuff he had early in the season is certainly preferable to ending the year on the shelf.

The injury cut short one of the best stretches of Williams’ career. He worked to a 2.22 ERA in 56 2/3 innings covering 11 starts. He punched out an average 21% of batters faced while getting ground-balls at a 46% clip. Williams isn’t overpowering but he throws a lot of strikes and had dramatically changed his home run fortunes. He led the National League with 34 home runs allowed en route to a 5.55 earned run average over 30 starts last season. He’d surrendered just two longballs (0.32 per nine innings) through the first couple months this year.

There was some level of luck with Williams’ early-season results. He probably wouldn’t have maintained an ace-caliber ERA over a full season. Williams had clearly taken a step forward relative to last year, though, an improvement that coincided with an increased reliance on his breaking stuff at the expense of his four-seam fastball. The injury also robbed the rebuilding Nationals of a chance to flip Williams at the deadline. He won’t be a candidate for a qualifying offer, so they wouldn’t get any kind of compensation if he walks in free agency.

Washington has a rotation consisting of Jake Irvin, MacKenzie Gore, Mitchell Parker, DJ Herz and Patrick Corbin. Zuckerman notes that they’ll go to a six-man staff once Williams returns through season’s end. Corbin is playing out the final couple weeks of his $140MM free agent deal. The other four pitchers are under club control for an extended time.

Each of Irvin, Gore, Parker and Herz has turned in an ERA between 4.07 and 4.44 on the season. That group has tailed off in the second half, though, and none of them look like budding top-of-the-rotation arms. Gore probably has the highest ceiling, but he has yet to truly put everything together over an extended stretch. With Josiah Gray likely to miss next season and Cade Cavalli’s injury history, the Nats need to add at least one high-end starter if they hope to compete for a playoff spot in 2025.

Nationals Select Darren Baker

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September 1: The Nationals have officially announced the selection of Baker’s contract. Right-hander Trevor Williams was transferred to the 60-day IL to make room for Baker on the 40-man roster, and righty Zach Brzykcy has been recalled from the minors to fill the additional pitching roster spot created by today’s roster expansion. Brzykcy’s first appearance will be his MLB debut. The righty’s impending call-up was firs reported by Talk Nats.

August 31: The Nationals are planning to select the contract of second baseman/left fielder Darren Baker on Sunday, according to the Talk Nats feed (X link).  Some space will need to be cleared on Washington’s 40-man roster, but a corresponding move on the active roster might not be necessary, since rosters expand from 26 to 28 players on Sunday.

A 10th-round pick for the Nats in the 2021 draft, Baker isn’t considered one of Washington’s top 30 prospects by either Baseball America or MLB Pipeline.  However, he has been red-hot at the plate in August, building his season-long slash line to .285/.348/.340 over 483 plate appearances with Triple-A Rochester.  While he doesn’t offer much power, Baker makes a lot of contact and is a threat on the basepaths, with 38 steals in 43 attempts this season.

Baker has primarily played second base and left field during his minor league career, but might not get a ton of action at either position since Luis Garcia Jr. and James Wood (both left-handed batters, like Baker) are established in everyday roles.  Baker has played a bit of center field so he could get some platoon work up the middle with Jacob Young, and he could join the DH mix with the likes of Juan Yepez, Andres Chaparro, and veteran Joey Gallo.

Baker will be making his MLB debut whenever he appears in a game, but the 25-year-old is no stranger to the big leagues.  The son of legendary manager Dusty Baker, Darren became known to fans when he was just three years old, and working as a batboy for the father’s Giants team during the 2002 World Series.  During Game 5, Baker was running towards home plate to pick up Kenny Lofton’s bat after a two-run triple, and might have been run over by baserunner David Bell if J.T. Snow hadn’t quickly grabbed the youngster out of harm’s way after Snow scored earlier on the play.

That incident led to the league instituting a rule that all batboys had to be at least 14 years old, and thus “the Darren Baker rule” has already ensured Baker some level of notoriety within baseball history.  Now, he can create a new name for himself by officially becoming a Major League player, and continuing the Baker family’s on-field legacy in the game.  (Current fans may know Dusty Baker best as a manager, but the elder Baker was a two-time All-Star and former NLCS MVP during an outstanding 19-year playing career.)

Nationals Preparing To Be Deadline Sellers

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The Nationals have been on the periphery of the postseason picture for much of the season but are preparing to approach the trade deadline as a seller, per Ken Rosenthal, Katie Woo and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. Washington will be open to offers both on potential free agents and players signed/controlled for only one additional season, per the report. The Nats’ group of impending free agents include outfielder Jesse Winker, lefty Patrick Corbin, righty reliever Dylan Floro, struggling slugger Joey Gallo and the currently injured Trevor Williams. Of even more interest will be outfielder Lane Thomas, setup man Hunter Harvey and closer Kyle Finnegan, each of whom is controlled through the 2025 season via arbitration.

The vibe in D.C. is high at the moment following the debut of top-ranked prospect James Wood and the All-Star selection of shortstop CJ Abrams. But Washington has dropped 11 of its past 15 games to fall seven under .500. At 16.5 games back in the NL East, there’s no hope of surging back to the front of the division, and in the Wild Card chase, the Nats are 5.5 games back of the third spot with six teams to pass in order to get into the fray.

The Nationals are already three years into a rebuilding process that kicked off in 2021 with trades of Max Scherzer, Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber (among many others) and continued into the summer of 2022 with the deadline blockbuster that shipped Juan Soto to San Diego in exchange for a package of five young players headlined by Abrams, Wood and current staff leader MacKenzie Gore. Selling off some short-term pieces at this year’s deadline isn’t a sign that said plan has faltered or a setback necessarily; for much of the season, the Nats appeared ahead of schedule but are now settling into the type of position most expected them to occupy heading into the 2024 campaign.

Among Washington’s slate of rental players, Winker stands as the most productive healthy option. He’s back in vintage form after a pair of seasons ruined by knee and neck injuries that both required surgery in the 2022-23 offseason. In 337 trips to the plate, the former Reds, Brewers and Mariners outfielder is hitting .268/.382/.436 with ten home runs and a career-high 12 steals. Winker’s 13.6% walk rate is more than five percentage points ahead of the league average, and he’s striking out at a manageable 22.3% clip.

Winker has long had platoon issues, but the Nats have given him 80 plate appearances against southpaws this season and he’s held his own, hitting .250/.344/.363. It should be noted that his small-sample production against lefties is aided by a bulky .358 average on balls in play and comes in spite of a huge 29% strikeout rate (10 points higher than his mark against righties). Winker probably can’t be expected to continue his output against lefties, but he’s punishing righties just as he always has when healthy: .275/.397/.465 with nine of his 10 home runs and six of his 17 doubles. Winker signed a minor league deal with a $2MM base salary, making him an ultra-affordable option for any team seeking a quality left-handed bat to add to its DH/outfield mix.

Floro, 33, is in the midst of a nice rebound season. He’s on a one-year, $2.25MM deal and has produced 43 2/3 innings of 2.06 ERA ball. His 20.5% strikeout rate is a couple percentage points shy of average, but his 6.4% walk rate is a couple points better than par. Floro sports a strong 50.4% grounder rate as well. However, he’s yet to allow even one home run this season, and it’s not sustainable for any pitcher to see every single one of his fly-balls stay in the park. Metrics like SIERA (3.50) and xFIP (3.45), which normalize homer-to-flyball rate, view Floro as a solid arm but not the dominant force his raw ERA might suggest. He should still draw plenty of interest as an affordable veteran with some track record.

Corbin’s $35MM salary is going to nullify any trade interest unless the Nats are willing to pay down almost the entire sum. The first season of his six-year, $140MM contract with the Nats went beautifully, as Corbin helped lead a deep rotation and stepped up as a key postseason arm en route to Washington’s Cinderella World Series run. He’s posted a 5.60 ERA since, including a 5.49 mark in 100 frames this year.

That said, the veteran has been pitching well of late. Corbin sports a 4.53 ERA dating back to Memorial Day weekend and has delivered a 3.81 ERA in 28 1/3 frames over his past five starts. A team just looking for some veteran innings in the five spot could look at Corbin as a cheap solution if the Nats eat most or all of the remaining salary.

If healthy, Williams might stand as the clearest and most coveted rental piece the Nats have to offer. He made 11 starts, and though he was averaging just five frames per appearances, Williams logged a pristine 2.22 ERA with a solid 21% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate. As with Floro, he’s been extremely fortunate with home runs (just two in 56 2/3 frames), and a solid but unspectacular K-BB profile points to some ERA regression if that home run trend doesn’t continue. But Williams is in the second season of a two-year, $13MM contract and would be an affordable rotation option. He’s been out since early June with a strained muscle in his forearm.

Also on the injured list is Gallo, who was struggling at career-worst levels prior to a hamstring strain. He’s hitting .164/.285/.321 with a glaring 43% strikeout rate and five homers in 165 plate appearances. Between that line and Gallo’s injury, it’s hard to envision any trade value even if he’s healthy enough to return before July 30. He’s more a DFA candidate than a trade candidate.

Looking to the Nationals’ more controllable pieces, Thomas and the bullpen duo of Finnegan and Harvey will draw wide-reaching interest. A deal for Thomas could be difficult to line up, depending on how the Nats price him. At last year’s deadline, Washington was valuing Thomas as an everyday outfielder, whereas many other clubs were viewing him more as a potential platoon piece.

That perception from other clubs won’t be different in 2024. Thomas has never hit righties much but is slashing a dismal .208/.262/.343 against them in 2024. Conversely, he’s always hit well against southpaws and is even better than his career line in 2024, hitting .338/.407/.563. Thomas is an absolute menace to southpaw pitchers, and he’s perhaps deceptively fast. Statcast ranks him in the 94th percentile of MLB players in average sprint speed, and Thomas has already swiped 21 bags — though he’s also been caught seven times. He’s making $5.45MM this season and will be owed one more raise in arbitration this winter before hitting free agency post-2025.

Both Finnegan and Harvey are on track for free agency in the 2025-26 offseason as well. Finnegan has saved 23 games and posted a tidy 2.17 ERA in 37 1/3 frames. He’s averaged a hefty 97.4 mph on his heater while recording a 26.5% strikeout rate, 8.2% walk rate and 42.7% ground-ball rate. After a rough start in terms of his command, Finnegan has reined in the walks, yielding only a 5.8% rate over his past 32 innings.

Harvey was arguably even more appealing for much of the season, though a recent rough patch could have altered that. His $2.325MM salary is less than half Finnegan’s $5.1MM mark, he throws even harder, and his strikeout/walk/ground-ball rates were the better of the two for the bulk of the current campaign.

Some recent struggles have ballooned Harvey’s ERA to 4.40 — more than two runs higher than the 2.08 mark he carried into the month of June. He’s been tagged for 14 runs in his past 12 2/3 innings. In that time, he’s walked 9.1% of his opponents (more than double his rate over the first two months) and been tagged for a grisly 2.13 homers per nine frames. For a pitcher with a lengthy injury history — Harvey still has just 166 2/3 career innings despite debuting in 2019 — that could be a particular concern among bullpen-needy clubs. But the affordable salary, extra year of control, 98.1 mph average heater and K-BB profile should all generate interest.

One other name to consider is journeyman righty Derek Law, who’s posted a 3.35 ERA in 53 2/3 innings of relief already and is controllable through 2025. Law has fanned 21.2% of opponents against a 6.2% walk rate but has been wildly inconsistent dating back to his 2016 debut campaign. He’s earning $1.5MM this season and could be a sensible middle-innings arm for a team looking at low-cost means of deepening the ’pen.

Nats Notes: Deadline, Winker, Hassell, Wood, Crews

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The Nationals have received trade interest in veterans Kyle Finnegan, Hunter Harvey and Lane Thomas but haven’t considered dealing any veteran pieces just yet, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. Washington, even with a sub-.500 record (35-36), is tied with the Padres for the final Wild Card spot in the National League at the moment and has not yet made a determination on how to approach this year’s trade deadline, Morosi adds.

It’s sensible for teams to inquire with the Nats, who entered the season as a playoff long-shot after spending the past two years in a rebuilding pattern. The Nats have outplayed expectations thanks to myriad factors (e.g. breakouts from MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin and Trevor Williams; a stronger-than-expected debut for lefty Mitchell Parker; a big step forward by CJ Abrams; a rebound by Jesse Winker). Those positive developments, plus widespread mediocrity in the National League, have thrust the Nationals into postseason conversations in mid-June. Williams’ recent flexor strain is a big damper on the team’s solid showing this year, but it’s only natural that GM Mike Rizzo and his staff aren’t yet ready to concede that they’ll be deadline sellers.

The next six weeks will be pivotal for the Nats. Holding the status quo or even playing winning ball between now and July 30 could push the Nationals to function as buyers. They may not be keen on dealing prospects for short-term rentals in a season like this, but targeting some names with multiple years of club control remaining feels plausible. On the other side of the coin, if the Nats fall a few games back in the standings and/or incur further injury problems of note, then listening on short-term veterans would be far likelier.

All three of the names listed by Morosi are controlled only through the 2025 season. Finnegan and Harvey would both draw widespread interest among contenders, given the perennial demand for bullpen help among playoff hopefuls. Harvey, in particular, has been dominant with a 28.3% strikeout rate and 5.5% walk rate en route to a 2.75 ERA. Finnegan leads the team with 20 saves and a terrific 1.78 ERA, though he’s benefited hugely from a microscopic .157 BABIP and a sky-high 94.7% strand rate — neither of which feels sustainable long-term.

Thomas drew interest at last summer’s trade deadline, but he’s likely someone the Nats value more than many of the teams seeking to acquire him. Washington reportedly priced him like an everyday player on last summer’s trade market — which is also how they use him — but Thomas carries enormous platoon splits and could be seen by other clubs as a player best deployed in a timeshare. He’s batting .327/.390/.588 against lefties this season (166 wRC+) but has an awful .196/.256/.330 output against righties (65 wRC+). His career splits aren’t quite that dramatic but are quite stark: .305/.364/.524 versus left-handers (141 wRC+) compared to .223/.290/.392 versus right-handers (86 wRC+).

The next few weeks will be pivotal for Rizzo and his lieutenants as they chart a course for this year’s deadline planning. If the Nats fall several games out of the race, all three of the names listed by Morosi could feasibly hit the market, and they likely wouldn’t be alone. Third baseman Nick Senzel and reliever Derek Law are also only controlled through 2025 as well. Veterans Dylan Floro and Eddie Rosario are free agents at the end of the current season, as are the aforementioned Williams and Winker.

Speaking of Winker, he had an injury scare over the weekend when he felt knee pain after taking a big turn at first base, slamming on the brakes and (unsuccessfully) diving back to the bag. He exited the game two innings later. Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com reports that Winker underwent an MRI that thankfully came back clean. He’s listed as day-to-day for now.

Winker, 30, isn’t hitting for much power this season but is drawing walks at his typically lofty rate (13.4%) and has made significantly better contact than he did over the past two seasons in a pair of down years with the Mariners and Brewers. He’s batting .265/.378/.390 with six homers and ten doubles through 268 plate appearances. Like Thomas, he’s better utilized in a platoon setting but has been an everyday player in Washington. Winker, to his credit, has a roughly league-average .239/.345/.338 slash in 84 plate appearances against fellow lefties, but he’s a career .210/.325/.338 hitter (89 wRC+) in left-on-left situations, compared to .279/.383/.467 (130 wRC+) against righties.

Eventual trades of Winker, Rosario and/or Thomas could open the door for any number of Nationals farmhands at the big league level. One near-MLB-ready option, Robert Hassell III, doesn’t seem as though he’ll be an option anytime soon, however. The Nats placed Hassell on the minor league injured list last week, and TalkNats.com reports that he’s dealing with another wrist injury and that the team plans to proceed cautiously. Hassell has had multiple wrist injuries in the past, including a broken hamate bone that necessitated surgery.

One of the most notable prospects acquired in the Nationals’ blockbuster trade of Juan Soto to the Padres, Hassell opened the season with a .278/.369/.369 slash in 215 plate appearances at the Double-A level. Those numbers don’t jump out, but they’re about 14% better than average in his currently pitcher-friendly environment, by measure of wRC+. They’re also a sizable step forward from the .225/.316/.324 batting line recorded by Hassell at the same minor league level last year (476 plate appearances).

Both Hassell and uber-prospect James Wood are on the minor league injured list at the moment — the latter due to a hamstring strain. Wood, in particular, could be an option to make his big league debut later this summer, with Andrew Golden of The Washington Post relaying on X today that Wood could return to game action this week. But Hassell could force his way into that conversation as well if he’s cleared to return sooner than later and continues to show improvement over last season. His prospect stock has taken a notable hit since the time of that swap, but he’s maintained strong plate discipline (11.6% walk rate) and cut his strikeout rate from last year’s alarming 31.9% to a far more palatable 21.4% in 2024.

Dylan Crews will also be in the mix, as he’s being promoted to Triple-A, per @PROducerIOTB on X. That’s come on the heels of Crews hitting .274/.343/.446 in Double-A this year while stealing 15 bases.

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