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Nationals Reinstate Hunter Harvey, Transfer Jackson Tetreault To 60-Day IL

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The Nationals have announced that they reinstated right-hander Hunter Harvey from the 60-day injured list. To create room on the active roster, fellow righty Joan Adon was optioned to Triple-A Rochester. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, righty Jackson Tetreault was transferred to the 60-day IL.

Harvey was a first round pick of the Orioles in 2013 but has had his career trajectory repeatedly derailed by injuries. He pitched a few innings out of Baltimore’s bullpen in each of the 2019-21 seasons, but they gave up on him this offseason and put him on waivers. He was claimed by the Giants, who put him on waivers again, this time landing with the Nats. He pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings this year before landing on the injured list in April.

He will reach arbitration this winter but will still have three years of control remaining. For a rebuilding club like the Nats, they can see if Harvey can make good on the promise that once made him a first round draft pick and Baseball America’s #68 prospect in the league in 2015.

As for Tetreault, he will now be ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial IL placement, which was on July 4. He’s dealing with a stress fracture to the scapula, or shoulder blade, of his throwing arm. Given the seriousness of that injury, it wasn’t likely he’d return in the next couple of months, making this transfer largely a formality.

Jessica Camerato of MLB.com reported Harvey’s presence before the official announcement.

Mets Have Interest In Nelson Cruz

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The Mets are among the teams with interest in Nationals slugger Nelson Cruz, reports the New York Post’s Jon Heyman.

At this stage of his career, Cruz is strictly a designated hitter. Apart from one game at first base with the Rays in 2021, he hasn’t played the field since 2018. The Mets have frequently used their DH slot to give their regulars a half-day off, though the closest things they have to regular designated hitters are J.D. Davis and Dominic Smith. Both players have shown offensive prowess in the past but are having down years so far in 2022, making it fairly logical that the Mets would be thinking about upgrades.

Through 128 plate appearances coming into tonight, Smith is hitting .221/.297/.327 for a wRC+ of 83, a far cry from the 134 he put up in 2019 and the 166 during the shortened 2020 campaign. It’s a second straight season of diminished production for Smith, as he also put up a line of .244/.304/.363 last year, 86 wRC+. As for Davis, he had a wRC+ between 118 and 137 in the previous three seasons but is down to 98 this year, with a line of .240/.328/.338 coming into tonight’s action. There’s a bit more reason for optimism in the case of Davis, as he’s still hitting the ball hard. Statcast gives him good marks on basically every batted ball metric, including placing him in the 98th percentile in terms of average exit velocity. However, it seems the Mets are willing to look outside the organization to consider a change.

The Nationals underwent a big roster teardown last year, trading away many of their best players for prospects. In the offseason, they signed a number of veterans to one-year deals, with Cruz getting the largest and the most notable of the contracts. With the club knowing they were entering a noncompetitive rebuild year, his $15MM deal was clearly designed with a midseason trade in mind. As expected, the club is currently sporting a recording of 30-55, the second-worst in the National League.

However, Cruz isn’t exactly holding up his end of the bargain, as he’s hitting just .241/.322/.369 for a wRC+ of 94. That’s fairly similar to the production he put up with the Rays after last year’s midseason trade from the Twins. His batting line in a Rays’ uniform last year was .226/.283/.442, 96 wRC+. That means it’s been almost a full season’s worth of below average offensive production for the 42-year-old.

It’s still likely that some team takes a shot on Cruz based on his track record, but it’s unlikely the Nats will get the huge return they may have envisioned. Last year, the Twins sent Cruz and Calvin Faucher to the Rays in exchange for Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman. That deal seems to have worked out very well for the Twins, with Ryan emerging as a key piece of their rotation, though Strotman is struggling in the minors. Cruz was hitting .294/.370/.537 at the time of the deal for a wRC+ of 141, which surely helped the Twins net a return that the Nats are unlikely to match.

Since the Nats are so far out of contention and Cruz is heading back into free agency at season’s end, it’s likely that they will take the best prospect package they can find. That means it’s unlikely the Mets and Nats make perfect trading partners, as Heyman’s report notes that the Mets hope to hang onto all of their top prospects. This lines up with reporting from Bob Nightengale of USA Today from a few days ago, which suggested the Mets would prefer to take on large contracts as opposed to giving up important young players. That would seem to suggest the two clubs have misaligned priorities, though it’s possible the Nats aren’t able to get top prospects from any team, based on Cruz’s diminished production over the past year. Heyman adds this lack of willingness to deal top prospects makes it unlikely the Mets land either Josh Bell or Willson Contreras, but makes Cruz and Trey Mancini better fits. The Mets’ interest in Mancini was reported last week.

Given the rebuild, the Nats’ payroll is the lowest it’s been in about a decade, outside the shortened 2020 campaign, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. That presumably means they don’t need to move Cruz just for financial reasons. For their part, the Mets are right up against the new fourth luxury tax line of $290MM. Jason Martinez of Roster Resource estimates that the Mets have already surpassed the line, calculating their luxury tax number to be $290.1MM. The aggressive spending has worked out for them thus far, as they are currently 51-31, trailing only the Dodgers among NL teams and giving them a 2 1/2 game lead over Atlanta in the East. They will surely look to be aggressive between now and the August 2 trade deadline in order to supplement their roster for a postseason run.

Phillies Claim Sam Clay

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The Phillies have claimed left-handed reliever Sam Clay off waivers from the Nationals, per a team announcement. Clay, who was designated for assignment by the Nats last week, has been optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley for the time being.

The 29-year-old Clay is a former fourth-round pick of the Twins who has spent the past two seasons with the Nationals organization. The southpaw inked a Major League deal with the Nats before ever pitching in a big league game, with the Washington front office likely drawn to his solid minor league season in 2019, which featured an eye-popping 71.2% ground-ball rate.

Clay, however, hasn’t panned out as hoped in D.C. He debuted last season with 45 innings of 5.60 ERA ball and, while his 60.1% grounder rate was brilliant (as advertised), his 15.9% strikeout rate and 10.3% walk rate were both sub-par. Clay has had a decent run in Triple-A Rochester, where he as a 3.10 ERA with a 21.7% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 64.5% ground-ball rate through 20 1/3 innings, but he’s been hit hard in 4 1/3 Major League frames so far. Overall, he has a 6.02 ERA in 49 1/3 MLB innings, all coming out of the Nationals’ bullpen.

Clay has a minor league option remaining beyond the current season, high-end ground-ball tendencies and a decent track record in the upper minors, so he’s a sensible enough flier for the Phillies to take. Then again, with so much of Clay’s game predicated on forcing opponents to beat the ball into the ground, a Phillies team that ranks 27th in the Majors in Defensive Runs Saved both third base and shortstop (and 29th overall in DRS) isn’t necessarily the best fit. That’s not to say a ground-ball pitcher can’t succeed on their staff, of course, but Clay’s best trait isn’t necessarily going to be supported by the fundamental makeup of his new club’s roster.

Nationals Place Jackson Tetreault On IL With Stress Fracture In Shoulder

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Prior to today’s game, the Nationals announced that starter Jackson Tetreault has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a stress fracture of the right scapula. His roster spot has been given to reliever Jordan Weems, who has been recalled.

The Nationals have seen their rotation options dwindled by injuries throughout this season, as Stephen Strasburg, Joe Ross, Anibal Sanchez and Seth Romero are all currently on the injured list. That’s created opportunities for younger players to get auditions at the big league level, with Tetreault being one of them.

Tetreault, 26, began his season with the Triple-A Rochester RedWings and made 12 starts. Over 58 innings, he registered a 4.19 ERA, along with a 20.9% strikeout rate, 9.6% walk rate and 42.3% ground ball rate. That was enough to get him up to the majors, making four starts for the Nats. He has a 5.14 ERA so far, but with a paltry 9.4% strikeout rate, elevated 10.4% walk rate and a 40.4% ground ball rate. His ERA is likely being suppressed by a .260 BABIP and 65.7% strand rate, leading all of the advanced metrics to place him about a run higher, give or take.

The club didn’t provide an estimate on how long they expect him to be sidelined. It’s perhaps worth nothing that a stress fracture of the scapula is the same ailment that’s kept Jacob deGrom out of action for the past three months. However, each injury is different and there’s no guarantee that Tetreault’s rehab will take the same amount of time as deGrom’s. Still, the scapula, or shoulder blade, is a significant part of a pitcher’s throwing motion. With the Nats well out of competition this year, there will be no real need to rush Tetreault back to the mound.

With Tetreault out of action, the club will need to patch a hole in their rotation in the coming days. The recall of Weems won’t help in that regard, as he’s strictly a reliever. Joan Adon and Cory Abbott are among two of the options, as they are on the 40-man roster and have been starting in the minors.

NL East Notes: Soto, Mets, Rocker

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In addition to the 13-year, $350MM extension offer that Juan Soto reportedly turned down prior to the lockout, it was recently reported that Soto rejected a second offer after the lockout. The specific financial details of that second offer haven’t been publicly revealed, but Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that it was for “at least” $400MM.

$400MM would be a significant symbolic barrier to cross, as it would be the first time an MLB player surpassed that threshold. The current record for the largest guarantee is the $365MM in new money given to Mookie Betts when he agreed to an extension with the Dodgers. Soto says that he’s still open to an extension, but it seems like it might take more than a record-breaking contract to get it done.

Other notes from the NL East…

  • From the same Nightengale piece, he relays that the Mets plan on being aggressive at the trade deadline but without giving up their top prospects. Instead, they would prefer to make deals by taking on large contracts from other teams. This wouldn’t be the first time they considered this approach, as the Mets reportedly were in discussions with the Padres this offseason on a deal that would have sent Dominic Smith to San Diego in exchange for Chris Paddack, Emilio Pagan, Eric Hosmer and $30MM to help cover Hosmer’s salary. The deal ended up falling through due to the Mets’ medical staff growing concerned with the medical records of Paddack, who ended up requiring Tommy John surgery after being traded to the Twins instead. The new CBA added a fourth luxury tax line at the $290MM mark, which the Mets have pushed themselves right up against. Jason Martinez of Roster Resource estimates their current luxury tax number to be $289.4MM, but it seems the division-leading Mets are willing to push over the line in order to bolster the club for the final push. They apparently won’t be dipping deep into their farm system, which is ranked the 16th in the league by Baseball America, but should get a boost at the upcoming draft when they will make two out of the first 14 picks.
  • The reason the Mets have an extra first round draft pick is because of last year’s Kumar Rocker saga. The Mets selected him 10th overall and were apparently going to offer him a $6MM bonus, $1.26MM above slot value, until they grew concerned by something in his throwing elbow during a post-draft medical evaluation and withdrew their offer. Now a report from Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan of ESPN relays that Rocker underwent shoulder surgery in September. Rocker’s agent Scott Boras characterized the procedure as “a minor scope” in the piece. Rocker signed with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the independent Frontier League in preparation for re-entering the draft this year. Through five starts, he’s pitched 20 innings with a 1.35 ERA, 32 strikeouts and four walks. Despite the surgery, Jim Callis of MLB.com believes that Rocker has shown himself healthy enough to be selected at some point in the first round of the draft, which begins on July 17.

Juan Soto Leaves Game With Left Calf Tightness

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  • Juan Soto left today’s Nationals’ game with an apparent hamstring injury. It was later revealed to be tightness in Soto’s left calf that prompted his departure. He will have an MRI and be re-evaluated tomorrow, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Obviously, it would be crushing for the Nationals to lose Soto for any amount of time. Even with him, the Nats don’t have much hope for postseason play, but Soto remains the best and brightest attraction at Nats Park.

The Phillies have placed starter Ranger Suarez on the 15-day injured list because of lower back spasms, retroactive to June 30, per the club. The Phillies had boasted one of the healthier rotations this season before losing both Suarez and Zach Eflin to the injured list this week. A corresponding roster move will likely be made before Tuesday’s game against the Nationals. The Phillies have an off day tomorrow to set up their rotation. In other injury news…

Aaron Barrett To Retire

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After 11 professional seasons, right-hander Aaron Barrett announced (via Twitter) that he is retiring from baseball.  The 34-year-old said he’ll pitch in his final game on Monday, July 4, as a member of the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate.

Barrett began his pro career when the Nationals selected him in the ninth round of the 2010 draft, though Barrett had also been taken (but didn’t sign) in the 2006, 2008, and 2009 drafts by the Dodgers, Twins, and Rangers, respectively.  This began a run in the Washington that lasted until Barrett inked a minor league deal with the Phillies this past winter, and Barrett’s final season has been a struggle, with a 13.86 ERA over 12 1/3 innings for Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

As Barrett put it in his goodbye message, “I went into this year thinking this could be my last run.  I gave it EVERYTHING I had.  It didn’t go the way I thought it could.  That’s life!  It’s time for me to start the next chapter of my life.”

Barrett appeared in parts of four MLB seasons, with most of that work coming in the 2014-15 seasons when he posted a 3.47 ERA over 70 innings and 90 relief appearances.  The rest of his big league resume consists of four total innings across the 2019-20 campaigns.  The gap in between those Major League stints perhaps defines Barrett’s character, as his promising was sidetracked by both a Tommy John surgery, and then a fractured humerus bone.

The latter injury was particularly devastating, as Barrett broke his arm in horrific fashion while pitching, and extensive surgery was required.  However, Barrett’s long road back eventually led him to once again pitch in the majors — fans may recall the viral video of Double-A manager Matt LeCroy fighting back tears while telling Barrett that he had been promoted back to the Nationals’ active roster.  While Barrett only tossed 2 1/3 innings for the 2019 Nationals, he was still part of a World Series championship team.

We at MLB Trade Rumors congratulate Barrett on his career, and we wish him the best in his post-playing endeavors.

Juan Soto Open To Extension Discussions With Nationals

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JULY 2: In another update from Dougherty, he reports that the Nationals’ latest offers to Soto haven’t included any deferred money.  Just about all of the Nats’ biggest expenditures in recent years have included heavy deferrals — for instance, Stephen Strasburg’s seven-year, $245MM contract contained $80MM is deferred money.

JULY 1: Soto spoke with Dougherty on Friday, backtracking somewhat on his previously expressed desire to play out his arbitration years to test free agency. “Everybody wants to go to free agency and see how the market is going to be for them,” Soto told the Post. “But for me, I really don’t know if I want to go there or if I want to stay here. I feel really good here. We’ll see what’s going to happen. For me, right now, the plan that we always have is go year by year. But you don’t know what the future has for you.”

Asked whether he’d consider signing an extension with the Nats, Soto replied “Yes. Why not?” He suggested he’s content with Boras and the front office discussing potential terms during the season, saying he prefers to “to be far from (negotiations) because I want to concentrate on the game.”

JUNE 30: The Nationals made an extension offer to Juan Soto at some point this spring, writes Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. Specific timing of the proposal isn’t clear, but Dougherty adds that it’s believed the offer was made before Soto’s agent Scott Boras visited Nationals Park in late May. Soto rejected the offer, but Dougherty characterizes discussions between the two sides as “active.”

It’s at least the second offer the Nationals have put forth to the face of the franchise within the past 12 months. In February, Soto told Enrique Rojas of ESPN he’d rejected a long-term overture made prior to the lockout. Rojas reported the pre-lockout offer would’ve been for 13 years and $350MM guaranteed. Dougherty reports the Nationals went beyond $350MM in their spring proposal, but specific terms are unknown. Both Dougherty (Twitter link) and Britt Ghiroli of the Athletic (on Twitter) hear that rumors of a 13-year, $425MM offer are inaccurate.

In any event, the relatively recent proposal is the latest indication the Nationals are hopeful they can keep Soto around for the long haul. It’s at least somewhat notable that discussions remain open even after Soto again declined. In his February interview with Rojas, the two-time Silver Slugger Award winner expressed a desire to proceed year-by-year through the arbitration process in anticipation of reaching free agency at the end of the 2024 season. That wasn’t due to any expressed animosity towards the Nationals organization, but rather a desire to market himself to all 30 teams with a good chance at a record-setting payday.

Without specific terms of the proposal, it’s impossible to pin down precisely where the latest offer stacked up among the biggest in major league history. At worst, it’d have marked the third-largest guarantee ever. Only two players have ever topped the $350MM mark. Mookie Betts received 12 years and $365MM from the Dodgers on his July 2020 extension, while Mike Trout took home ten years and $360MM in new money on his March 2019 extension.

As was the case when Soto turned down $350MM over the winter, many fans are sure to bristle at the notion of rejecting a proposal at an even greater amount. That’s particularly true in the context of what’s been a relative “down year,” at least in comparison to his pre-2022 performance. Soto enters play Thursday with a .224/.375/.437 slash line. Those are the lowest such marks of his career across the board, as he’d hit at least .282 with an on-base percentage above .400 and a slugging percentage north of .500 every season from 2018-21.

Nevertheless, the first three months of this season are unlikely to have a depressing effect on Soto’s long-term value. For one, his relatively underwhelming numbers would still be a strong showing for the majority of players. Soto’s on-base and slugging marks are decidedly above the respective .312 and .394 league figures. His .224 batting average is certainly not ideal, but that’s in large part attributable to a .225 average on balls in play that’s the fifth-lowest number for qualified hitters. Soto’s average exit velocity and hard contact rate are down somewhat, so the lesser batted ball results can’t be chalked up solely to misfortune. Yet his quality of contact metrics have still been solid, and considering he entered the season owner of a .330 career BABIP, Soto seems likely to enjoy better ball-in-play results moving forward.

Owner of a .290/.424/.534 career line with more walks than strikeouts, Soto is still on track for an eye-popping payday. He amazingly won’t turn 24 until October and would hit free agency in advance of his age-26 season. Once there, he still looks a good bet to top the record $36MM average annual value for position players over more than a decade, assuming he stays healthy. A deal in excess of $400MM seems likely, and it’s not out of the question Soto and his reps could set their sights on the half-billion dollar mark. (Getting to $500MM would likely require a 13-year term at an AAV just shy of $38.5MM).

There’s of course some risk for Soto in continuing to turn down offers that’d make him among the highest-paid players in league history. Every player has some risk of a drop-off in performance or severe injury. Soto, though, will have already banked more than $25MM in arbitration earnings by the end of this season. He’ll go through the arb process twice more and figures to make another $50+MM over the next couple years before reaching the open market.

Discussions with Soto come against a backdrop of possible change for the Nationals. The Lerner family has been looking into sale possibilities for the past few months. A potential ownership shakeup has led to some uncertainty for president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez, each of whom are in the final guaranteed year of their contracts and have 2023 options that need to be decided upon next month.

The roster has undergone a major overhaul dating back to last summer’s trade deadline. Washington has kicked off a rebuild and seen the departures of key contributors to their 2019 World Series team like Max Scherzer, Anthony Rendon and Trea Turner. The Nats enter play tonight 20 games below .500, and they’re certain to move impending free agents Josh Bell and Nelson Cruz over the next four and a half weeks. They’ve not given much, if any, consideration to dealing Soto in a franchise-altering blockbuster. Rizzo flatly shot down speculation about a Soto trade four weeks ago, saying the Nationals “have every intention of building this team around” him.

Héctor Gómez of Z101 was first to report fairly recent discussions between Soto and the Nationals this afternoon.

Nationals Exercise 2023 Options On Mike Rizzo, Dave Martinez

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The Nationals announced that they have exercised the 2023 contract options of both president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and manager Dave Martinez.

This concludes a bit of drama that has been surrounding the team in recent months. It was reported in May that both Rizzo and Martinez were in the final guaranteed years of their respective deals. Given that the club was mired in a roster teardown and that the Lerner family was exploring a possible sale of the club, it was certainly noteworthy that the team’s manager and primary front office member were both in lame duck status.

However, the organization has given itself a small bit more certainty about its future, with Rizzo and Martinez each locked in for at least one more season. Back in May, there were conflicting reports about Martinez’s salary for next year, with Bob Nightengale of USA Today placing it at $4MM, while Jon Heyman of the New York Post said $3.5MM. However, in reporting on today’s news, Nightengale used the $3.5MM figure. Jesse Dougherty of The Washington Post relays that Martinez met with Lerner Sports COO Alan Gottlieb today, ahead of the July 15 deadline for the club to decide on both options.

Rizzo has overseen many different eras of Nationals’ baseball, having first been hired by the team in 2006. After many losing seasons, the club emerged as contenders in 2012 and stayed there for the remainder of that decade, making the playoffs five times and winning the World Series in 2019. However, their fortunes have slipped in recent years, which led to the club undergoing a massive selloff at last year’s trade deadline. That has unsurprisingly led to this season’s 29-50 record, better than only the Reds among National League teams. Martinez, on the other hand, was hired prior to the 2018 season and was at the helm of the team during competitive years, including the World Series victory. Now he has transitioned into overseeing a rebuild, with much of the roster composed of younger players auditioning to be part of the next core.

Despite the extra certainty afforded by these decisions, they also represent a kicking of the can down the road, in a sense. The same lame duck situation could still arise one year from now, unless contract extensions are worked out in the interim. The potential sale of the club still lingers in the air. Then there’s the Juan Soto situation, as the club’s superstar is slated to reach free agency after the 2024 season. Reporting in recent days has revealed that the potential of an extension is still in the cards, though Soto reportedly rejected a 13-year, $350MM offer before the lockout and some unknown, presumably-higher offer after it. That’s still a lot for the club to work out, though they’ve given themselves some time to work on it by knocking a couple of items off the to-do list.

Nationals Designate Sam Clay For Assignment

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The Nationals have designated left-hander Sam Clay for assignment, per a team announcement. His spot on the 26-man and 40-man roster will go to righty Mason Thompson, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Washington also optioned catcher Riley Adams to Triple-A Rochester and recalled fellow backstop Tres Barrera in his place.

Clay, 29, signed a big league deal with the Nats in the 2020-21 offseason despite never having pitched at the Major League level. The former Twins fourth-rounder had posted solid numbers between Double-A and Triple-A in 2019 before the canceled 2020 minor league season, with his enormous 71.2% ground-ball rate likely holding particular appeal for the Nats.

Unfortunately, things haven’t panned out as the Nationals or Clay himself hoped upon signing that deal. He made his big league debut in 2021 when he tossed 45 innings out of Davey Martinez’s bullpen, but Clay’s 5.60 ERA was one of many contributing factors to a disastrous Nationals season. Clay posted an excellent 60.1% grounder rate last year but also turned in a well below-average 15.9% strikeout rate and a fairly bloated 10.3% walk rate.

So far in 2022, things haven’t gone much better. While Clay has a solid 3.10 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 64.5% ground-ball rate in 20 1/3 Triple-A frames, he’s again been ineffective against big leaguers. He’s pitched 4 1/3 innings for the Nats this season, yielding five runs on three hits and three walks as well as four hit batsmen in that time. That shaky performance has inflated his career ERA in the Majors to 6.02.

Clay has a decent track record in the upper minors, one minor league option remaining beyond this season, and a clear ability to induce grounders — all of which could conceivably hold some appeal to another club with different ideas about how to maximize his results. The Nats will have a week to trade him, pass him through outright waivers or release him.

Replacing Clay on the roster will be the 24-year-old Thompson — a hard-throwing, 6’7″ righty who came to the Nats last summer in the deadline deal that shipped reliever Daniel Hudson to the Padres. Thompson, a third-round pick by San Diego back in 2016, pitched just one scoreless inning this season before landing on the injured list with a biceps strain that has kept him out since.

He made his MLB debut last season, tossing 24 2/3 innings between the Padres and Nats. In that time, Thompson logged a 4.01 ERA with more questionable secondary marks, including a 19% strikeout rate and 12.4% walk rate. He sat at 96.3 mph with his sinker and kept 50% of the balls in play against him on the ground, however, and his slider is considered an above-average offering as well.

As for the swap behind the dish, Adams will head to Rochester and presumably receive the regular playing time that has eluded him behind fellow rookie Keibert Ruiz this season. The 26-year-old has appeared in 27 games and tallied just 88 plate appearances so far this season, batting .192/.284/.321 along the way. Adams has plenty of raw power and consistently high walk rates, but he only played in a total of 36 Triple-A games before being called to the Majors. The Nats apparently feel it’d be better for his development to get more consistent looks in Rochester than playing sparsely behind Ruiz.

The 27-year-old Barrera, meanwhile, was hitting .256/.342/.439 in Triple-A and has long projected as a possible backup catcher. The Nats selected him in the sixth round back in 2016, and he’ll now get another look in the big leagues. He appeared in 30 games last season and hit .264/.374/.385 through 107 plate appearances.

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