Nationals Outright Donovan Casey
Nationals outfielder Donovan Casey has gone unclaimed on waivers, tweets Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. He’s been assigned outright to Triple-A Rochester. Having never been outrighted before in his career, Casey doesn’t have the right to elect free agency.
Casey was one of four players whom the Nats acquired from the Dodgers in last summer’s Max Scherzer/Trea Turner blockbuster. He was generally regarded as the final piece of that deal, but he carried a .296/.362/.462 line at Double-A at the time of the trade. He mashed over 12 games at that level in the Washington system as well, but he’s not performed well since getting bumped up to the top minor league level. Casey hit just .179/.245/.291 with a massive 38.8% strikeout rate in 38 Triple-A contests last year.
Despite the rough showing in Rochester, Casey earned a spot on the Washington 40-man roster this past offseason. He had a brief appearance on the big league roster this April but didn’t get into a game, and he’s spent the rest of the year on optional assignment back to Rochester. He’s had another tough season with the Red Wings, hitting .219/.283/.364 with a 32.5% strikeout percentage and just a 6.7% walk rate across 252 trips to the plate.
Washington bumped Casey from the 40-man roster when they claimed reliever Jake McGee from the Brewers on Tuesday. The 26-year-old will stick in the organization after making it through waivers and try to earn his way back onto the 40-man with a strong showing over the final couple months of the year.
Injury Notes: Harper, Schwarber, Daza, Harris, Canterino
Reigning NL MVP Bryce Harper, on the shelf due to June surgery to repair a broken left thumb and also playing through a torn UCL in his right elbow, is backing off his throwing program due to ongoing stiffness in his right elbow, Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson told reporters this week (link via Scott Lauber of the Philly Inquirer). Harper played through that ligament tear for months before an errant Blake Snell heater broke his left thumb and forced him to the injured list, though he’d been limited to DH work because the elbow tear prevented him from throwing.
Offseason Tommy John surgery is a possibility, though there’d been some hope that after receiving an injection in May, Harper might yet be able to gut it out and play right field upon returning. For now, the Phils are just going to “concentrate on the hitting” aspect of Harper’s recovery, per Thomson, who added that there’s “no doubt in my mind” Harper will be back in the lineup this season. He still needs to regain some flexibility in his thumb, from which doctors removed three pins back on Aug. 1. Given the lengthy layoff, Harper will also need a minor league rehab assignment of some length.
More on other injury situations from around baseball…
- In another concern for the Phillies, Kyle Schwarber left today’s game with what Thomson told reporters (including The Athletic’s Matt Gelb) was a mild right calf strain. Schwarber will undergo tests but is currently considered day-to-day. With an NL-leading 34 home runs, Schwarber has provided his typical power in his first season in Philadelphia, and the Phillies can only hope that the calf strain won’t require a lengthy IL stint.
- Outfielder Yonathan Daza suffered what the Rockies described as a left shoulder sprain in today’s game against the Cardinals. Daza suffered the injury while making a running catch to rob Nolan Arenado of a hit in the first inning, as the momentum took Daza to the ground and he immediately grabbed at his shoulder. Now in his third MLB season, Daza has hit .299/.345/.367 over 307 plate appearances with Colorado in 2022, getting the majority of playing time as the Rockies’ starting center fielder.
- Will Harris has yet to pitch in 2022, and the veteran reliever has now suffered another setback in the form of a groin injury. (The Washington Post’s Andrew Golden was among those to report the news.) Harris underwent thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in June 2021 and then a related pectoral surgery last March, but the righty seemed to be on the way back when he started a minor league rehab assignment in late July. However, Harris hasn’t pitched with the Nationals‘ Triple-A affiliate since August 2, bringing fresh doubt as to whether or not he can return to a big league mound before the season is over. It is possible Harris has already thrown his last pitch as a National, since his three-year, $24MM deal with the team is up at season’s end.
- Twins pitching prospect Matt Canterino will undergo Tommy John surgery this month, as initially reported by SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson (Twitter link). Canterino has been plagued by elbow injuries for the better part of two seasons, limiting the right-hander to just 60 total innings since the start of the 2021 minor league season. As Twins assistant GM Jeremy Zoll told The St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Betsy Helfand and other reporters, “it felt like we didn’t have any more stones to turn over, and Matt was feeling like surgery was the right call for him to try and get him back up and running from there.” Canterino was the Twins’ second-round pick in the 2019 draft, and he has an impressive 1.48 ERA and 39.16% strikeout rate over 85 career innings in pro ball. As per the normal timeline for TJ recovery, Canterino won’t be back until August 2023 at the absolute earliest, and it is quite possible he’ll be sidelined until Spring Training 2024.
Nationals Notes: Abrams, Garcia, Hernandez, Franco, Corbin
The Nationals could soon be in line for a shakeup of their infield. Top shortstop prospect C.J. Abrams was arguably the centerpiece of the six-player return for Juan Soto and Josh Bell. The Nats immediately optioned Abrams to Triple-A Rochester, but Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post writes that the club is likely to soon recall the 21-year-old to the majors.
Once Abrams makes his way to Nationals Park, he’s likely to play everyday at shortstop. Dougherty indicates the organization views Abrams as their long-term franchise shortstop, which is hardly a surprise after the club made him a key piece of such a monumental trade. The former sixth overall pick only has a .232/.285/.320 line through his first 46 big league games, but he owns an impressive .311/.366/.503 mark in his first taste of Triple-A action. Baseball America rated him as the sport’s #11 overall prospect on their latest update.
The Nats have already been turning to a young player at shortstop. Luis García has been one of the organization’s more promising prospects for years, but he’s still just 22 years old. The 6’2″ infielder has drawn praise from evaluators for his pure hitting ability. He’s hit plenty of line drives in his limited big league time, but he’s also shown an extremely aggressive approach. García carried a .290 batting average into play tonight, but he’d reached base at just a .295 clip based on a microscopic 0.9% walk rate. (That’s gone up slightly, as he did draw a free pass in tonight’s game).
The jury may still be out on García’s offensive upside, but it’s apparent he’s miscast as a shortstop. Prospect evaluators were divided on his ability to stick at the position long-term, and the results in his big league time have been ghastly. In 568 2/3 career innings at shortstop, García has rated a staggering 19 runs below average by measure of Defensive Runs Saved. Statcast’s Outs Above Average has him at 17 plays below par. As Mike Petriello of MLB.com observed this afternoon (Twitter link), public defensive metrics have rated the Nationals’ shortstops as by far the worst collection of defenders in the majors this season. That’s not entirely on García — the since-released Dee Strange-Gordon and Alcides Escobar also struggled — but it’s clear the team could use a better defender to anchor the infield.
García won’t lose his spot in the starting lineup on a rebuilding team, though. Once Abrams is in the big leagues, García is likely to kick to the other side of the second base bag. He’s rated as a below-average but not quite so disastrous defender at the keystone. Still, there’s reason for Washington to challenge their young players in non-competitive seasons. That’s particularly true with the team rostering a couple of aging veterans who are playing out the final few months of one-year contracts.
Second baseman César Hernández and third baseman Maikel Franco have each played the majority of games this season, but neither has performed well. Hernández owns a .241/.305/.306 line through 476 plate appearances. The switch-hitting infielder has incredibly not connected on a single home run all season after popping a career-high 21 longballs last year. Franco has only a .228/.255/.337 showing in 373 trips to the plate. Among players with 300+ plate appearances, only Tigers second baseman Jonathan Schoop has a lower on-base percentage (.240) than Franco’s .255.
Clearly, neither player is going to be a key piece of the rebuild. The club’s hope of cashing either in for future value at the trade deadline has come and gone, with both struggling so badly there was no real interest from contenders. With that in mind, Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com wonders whether Hernández and Franco will even hold their roster spots for the rest of the 2022 season. Zuckerman notes that Franco may be in better position to remain in the lineup. While Abrams’ arrival should push Hernández out of the starting lineup, journeyman Ildemaro Vargas stands as Franco’s biggest competitor for reps at the hot corner with Carter Kieboom out for the season.
Hernández and Franco aren’t the only struggling veterans on a club that’s 39 games under .500. Southpaw Patrick Corbin has been one of the sport’s least effective starters. After allowing six runs and failing to make it out of the first inning in a start against the Phillies on Saturday, Corbin carries a 7.02 ERA through 110 1/3 innings. That’s easily a personal worst, but Corbin has been well below-average for three straight years after an excellent first season in Washington. Since the beginning of 2020, he owns a 5.98 ERA through 65 starts.
Manager Dave Martinez told reporters (including Andrew Golden of the Washington Post) that the club will take advantage of a team off-day on Thursday to skip Corbin’s next turn through the rotation. That’s a temporary measure designed to afford the left-hander more time to work with pitching coach Jim Hickey, and the club is apparently not considering permanently removing Corbin from the starting five. “I want to leave this year with a positive moving forward to next year because, regardless of what anyone thinks, he’s going to be one of our starters next year and the year after that,” Martinez said of Corbin.
The 33-year-old is under contract for two seasons beyond this one. He’s due around $24MM next season and will make a bit more than $35MM come 2024. Given Corbin’s struggles, it’s hard to envision the Nationals getting out from under any of that money. With Washington likely to be rebuilding over the next two seasons anyhow, the club can live with some struggles from Corbin as he picks up innings as part of an uncertain rotation.
A.J. Preller, Mike Rizzo Discuss Juan Soto Trade
We’re a week removed from one of the biggest blockbusters in MLB history, the deal that sent Juan Soto and Josh Bell from the Nationals to the Padres for five young players and first baseman Luke Voit. Jeff Passan of ESPN takes a long look into the process that eventually led to the deal in a piece that’s well worth a read in full.
A Soto trade seemed unfathomable around a month before the deadline, with Washington general manager Mike Rizzo flatly stating the club wouldn’t deal him. That was before Soto passed on a 15-year, $440MM extension offer that apparently represented the Nationals final offer. At that point, Rizzo and his staff reversed course and turned their attention to the trade market. Passan writes the Nationals identified the Padres, Dodgers, Yankees, Cardinals, Mariners, Rays, Rangers and Blue Jays as a preliminary list of teams with the kind of young talent to pull off a deal.
According to Passan, the Nats had whittled that down to a trio of the Cardinals, Dodgers and Padres by the final week of July. With St. Louis reportedly reluctant to include Dylan Carlson in a package that also included a number of top prospects, Los Angeles and San Diego became the final two. Passan relays that San Diego and Washington higher-ups really gathered momentum late into the evening of August 1, the night before the trade deadline. A late entrant to discussions was the inclusion of Bell, one of the top rental bats available, to convince the Friars to part with high-upside 18-year-old pitcher Jarlin Susana. By the middle of the night on August 1-2, Passan reports, the parties agreed to the package of young talent that’d go back to Washington pending review of medical records the next morning. (Passan adds the humorous anecdote that San Diego president of baseball operations A.J. Preller then continued working deep into the night on additional trade possibilities before falling asleep in the middle of a conversation with a member of his scouting staff).
While the initial iteration of the deal included Eric Hosmer going to Washington, the first baseman exercised his limited no-trade protection to block the deal. San Diego pivoted and traded Hosmer to the Red Sox, and Passan writes that San Diego and Washington had each previously agreed that one of Voit or Wil Myers could take Hosmer’s place in the event he refused to waive his no-trade clause.
“We did as well as we could do,” Rizzo opined to Passan. “You lost a Hall of Famer at 23, but I think we expedited our reboot. When you’re looking at the alternative, the same narrative would’ve been out there this winter. If you don’t trade him now, what are you doing in the offseason? I give the Padres’ ownership credit. And I give A.J. credit because he’s not afraid to make a trade like this. And I give our ownership credit.”
Preller went into detail about his team’s involvement in the Soto discussions during an appearance this afternoon on The Show, a podcast from the New York Post with Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman. The San Diego baseball operations leader confirmed the Nationals identified his system as one of a handful that could support a blockbuster of this magnitude early in the process.
“We could tell we were going to be one of the final teams if we wanted to participate,” Preller told the Post. “You never know if you’re going to be the team. It’s like anything else, there’s going to be two or three teams that all have really strong packages. … There was just a lot of debate and discussion for us over the next few weeks about the right thing to do, the right players to give up.”
Once the sides were nearing agreement on the prospect return, the onus fell on San Diego to push the deal across the finish line, Preller explains. “At the end, you have to decide. Do you want to do this or not? That’s kind of the gut-check at the end, when the Nats put it on you: ‘this five or six-player package gets it done.’ That’s when you come back into the room with your small group of people and (owner) Peter Seidler. It’s on the table if we want to do this. And if we don’t do it, ultimately we have to live with the fact that he may go elsewhere. … At the end of the day, you have to make that decision.”
Obviously, Preller and his group decided to pull the trigger, although he indicated the club wasn’t narrowly focused on a Soto deal. Preller confirmed to the Post that San Diego was involved in discussions with the Angels about Shohei Ohtani. He said there was some but not entire overlap in the young players of interest to both Washington and Anaheim but indicated the Angels were ultimately unwilling to part with Ohtani. Heyman reported last week that Angels owner Arte Moreno wouldn’t sign off on an Ohtani trade while Mike Trout is on the injured list.
Padres fans and/or anyone interested in additional details about San Diego’s trade talks will want to check out Preller’s interview with Heyman and Sherman in full. Preller also discussed the necessity of balancing a roster with star talent and depth, the acquisition of All-Star reliever Josh Hader from the Brewers, plans for rehabbing star Fernando Tatis Jr., and his team’s struggles against the Dodgers among other topics.
Nationals Claim Jake McGee, Designate Donovan Casey
The Nationals announced that they have claimed left-hander Jake McGee off waivers from the Brewers. Outfielder Donovan Casey was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
McGee, 36, is a veteran in his 13th MLB season, having previously suited up for the Rays, Rockies, Dodgers, Giants and Brewers. He signed a two-year deal with the Giants prior to the 2021 season, which went great for a while. He threw 59 2/3 innings for San Fran last year with a 2.72 ERA, 24.3% strikeout rate, 4.2% walk rate and 35.9% ground ball rate.
Unfortunately, the wheel of fortune has swung him around in the complete opposite direction this year, as he struggled badly with the Giants before being released, signing with the Brewers, struggling some more and then getting designated for assignment. Between the two clubs, he has an ERA of 7.00 on the year, with a 12.4% strikeout rate that’s barely half of what he registered last year.
In the short term, the move is sensible enough for the Nats, as they didn’t have a lefty in their bullpen prior to this move. Picking up McGee won’t cost really them anything financially, as the Giants are on the hook for the remainder of his salary with the Nats just paying the prorated league minimum.
From the big picture, however, the move is a little curious. The Nats have made a series of high profile trades in the past year-plus, shipping out Max Scherzer, Trea Turner, Josh Bell and Juan Soto, clearly signaling that they have no faith in their team’s ability to compete in the near future.
In order to grab the 36-year-old McGee, the Nats won’t break the bank, but they are risking losing Donovan Casey, a 26-year-old outfielder they just acquired last year in the Scherzer/Turner deal. Casey hit .269/.329/.430 between Double-A and Triple-A last year, with 16 home runs, 26 doubles, two triples and 22 stolen bases. He got added to the club’s 40-man roster in the offseason based on that showing and was considered the #16 prospect in the system by Baseball America coming into the year.
Casey has definitely had a down season here in 2022, hitting .219/.283/.364 for a wRC+ of just 71. He’s struck out in 32.5% of his plate appearances while walking just 6.7% of the time. Still, despite that tepid showing, it’s a bit surprising to see the Nats send him out onto the waiver wire in order to grab a couple months of a veteran reliever in a season when they’re 36-75, the worst record in all of baseball. With the trade deadline now passed, the Nats will only have the option of placing Casey on outright waivers or release waivers. He has never been outrighted before in his career, nor does he have three years of MLB service time, meaning he would be ineligible to reject an outright assignment if he clears waivers.
Injury Notes: Gore, Bryant, Flaherty, Twins
Newly acquired Nationals lefty MacKenzie Gore will resume throwing this Friday, manager Dave Martinez told reporters this weekend (Twitter link via Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post). Gore, the former No. 3 overall draft pick and top pitching prospect in the sport, has been sidelined since July 25 due to elbow soreness. A previous MRI did not reveal structural damage, however, and the Nats were clearly comfortable with Gore’s medical records upon reviewing them in advance of the Juan Soto blockbuster that sent him from San Diego to Washington. Presumably, he’ll require a minor league rehab stint before jumping into the big league mix for the Nationals, but Friday’s throwing session will be an important first step to monitor as he begins that progression. Assuming good health, Gore looks poised to play a pivotal long-term role in the Nationals’ rotation, joining Josiah Gray (acquired in last summer’s Max Scherzer/Trea Turner deal) as a building block acquired at the deadline.
Gore absolutely overpowered opponents through early June, pitching to a 1.50 ERA with a 30% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate across the first 48 innings of his career. He’s been tagged for 27 runs in 22 innings since that time, however, working with diminished velocity along the way. Gore only pitched 50 1/3 innings last year (plus some work at the team’s Spring Training complex while going through a mechanical reset), so workload was always expected to be something of an issue in 2022. The Nationals have not made clear the extent to which they’ll monitor his innings moving forward.
Some more health situations to monitor around the league…
- Rockies outfielder Kris Bryant is currently in a walking boot due to a case of plantar fasciitis, and there’s no timetable for his return to the field, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post writes within a broader look at another disappointing season for the Rockies. Colorado signed Bryant to a seven-year, $182MM contract over the winter but have thus far received just 42 games and 181 plate appearances from the former Rookie of the Year and NL MVP. Bryant’s power was MIA early in the year while playing through a back injury that required two IL stints, but he did bat .330/.398/.567 with 13 extra-base hits (five homers, eight doubles) in 108 plate appearances between his most recent trips to the injured list.
- Cardinals righty Jack Flaherty believes issues with his mechanics led to his latest trip to the injured list, per MLB.com. The starter spent most of the season on the injured list due shoulder problems, returning to make three starts in June before returning to the 60-day IL. That means he’s ineligible to return until late August, though he has started throwing this week, trying to iron out those mechanical issues and potentially starting a rehab assignment soon. “You start doing things incorrectly for a while and then you repeat it over and over again — eventually something is going to flare up,” Flaherty says. “The goal was to clean things up and sharpen things up so that that doesn’t happen. That’s what we’ve been working on, so hopefully things stay that way.” If he can return before the season is out, he could provide a boost to the rotation down the stretch, though the Cards added Jose Quintana and Jordan Montgomery at the deadline to proactively address the situation.
- The Twins expect righties Josh Winder and Bailey Ober to begin throwing bullpen sessions Tuesday, tweets Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com. Winder has been widely regarded as a top-100 prospect this year and has given Minnesota 45 1/3 frames of 3.77 ERA ball in his big league debut, but shoulder troubles have slowed him of late (as has been the case in past seasons as well). Ober has made 27 starts for the Twins dating back to 2021, pitching to a 4.14 ERA along the way and serving as a generally solid back-of-the-rotation arm. He’s been out since June 1 due to a groin strain that proved more severe than originally believed. The Twins remain hopeful that each of Winder, Ober, outfielder Trevor Larnach and right-hander Kenta Maeda (recovering from 2021 Tommy John surgery) will be able to return in September, tweets Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Meanwhile, Darren Wolfson of SKOR North tweets that right-hander Randy Dobnak will head out on a minor league rehab assignment Thursday, giving the Twins some additional depth on the horizon.
Nationals Claim Alex Call From Guardians
Outfielder Alex Call has been claimed off waivers by the Nationals from the Guardians, per announcements from both clubs. Call had been designated for assignment by the Guards on Friday. He has been optioned by the Nationals to Triple-A. The Nats had an open 40-man roster spot, meaning no corresponding move will be necessary.
A third round draft pick of the White Sox, Call switched organizations in the trade that sent Yonder Alonso from Cleveland to Chicago. He was selected to the big league club and made his MLB debut in July. Though he drew four walks in 16 plate appearances, he didn’t impress much otherwise in his small sample. He currently has a line of .167/.375/.167 in his brief MLB career. In 71 Triple-A games this year, he has an excellent .280/.418/.494 line for a wRC+ of 146, with almost equal walk and strikeout rates of 16.1% and 16.4%, respectively.
Of course, the Nationals made huge headlines in recent weeks with the lead-up to the Juan Soto deadline trade, arguably the most significant transaction in history. By giving up on a generational talent that they could have kept around through the 2024 season, they’ve clearly waved a white flag on near-term competitiveness. As such, it makes sense that they would be interested in taking fliers on controllable players such as Call. He will head to Rochester as outfield depth and try to work his way up to a big league club that currently has Victor Robles, Lane Thomas, Yadiel Hernandez and Josh Palacios as part of the regular outfield mix.
NL Notes: Diamondbacks, Nationals, Reds
The Diamondbacks have removed Mark Melancon from the closer’s role, writes Theo Mackie of the Arizona Republic. Melancon was signed in the offseason to a two-year, $14MM deal, and there’s still value to be extracted from that deal, even if Melancon doesn’t return to the ninth inning. After all, Melancon may still receive some save opportunities, but the Diamondbacks will explore a situation-based approach for the rest of the season. Let’s check around the league for other roster updates…
- The Nationals have released southpaw Josh Rogers, who elected free agency after clearing outright waivers. Infielder/outfielder Dee Strange-Gordon has also been granted his release. Strange-Gordon was in his second stint with the Nationals this season, but he requested a release after not being called up to the Major League club, per Bobby Blanco of MASNsports.com. As for Rogers, the 28-year-old began the year in the Nats’ rotation, making three starts before a move to the bullpen. In all, Rogers posted a 5.13 ERA/6.42 FIP over 26 1/3 innings.
- Kyle Farmer‘s run of 192 consecutive starts at shortstop will end with a move to the hot corner, writes Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Youngster Jose Barrero is getting the call-up from Triple-A, and he’ll be given the rest of this season to showcase his ability to be a regular at the position. Farmer, meanwhile, will move to third base and, in the long term, probably back into more of the utility role that he played for most of his career before taking over as the Reds regular shortstop in 2021. Farmer was a substantial defensive upgrade over Eugenio Suarez at the time, but his defensive metrics (-4 OAA, -1 DRS) at shortstop suggest there’s still room to improve for the Reds as a franchise.
Nationals, Connor Sadzeck Agree To Minor League Deal
The Nationals are signing reliever Connor Sadzeck to a minor league contract, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (on Twitter). The right-hander elected free agency after being outrighted off the Brewers roster last week.
Sadzeck got into just two games with the Brew Crew, allowing three runs in as many innings. That marked his first major league action in three years, as he’d last suited up at the MLB level with the Mariners in 2019. Sadzeck, who also pitched for the Rangers the season before landing in Seattle, has a 2.75 ERA through 36 big league innings. That hasn’t been supported by his peripherals, through, as he’s struck out a below-average 21.8% of batters faced against a huge 16.4% walk rate.
Despite the lack of recent big league experience, Sadzeck has been flat out dominant in Triple-A this year. The 30-year-old signed a minor league deal with Milwaukee over the winter and made 24 appearances at Triple-A Nashville. He threw 28 innings of 0.96 ERA ball, fanning 30.7% of opponents with a more palatable (though slightly elevated) 10.5% walk percentage.
During his brief big league stint in Milwaukee, Sadzeck averaged 95.1 MPH on his fastball. That’s a bit below the 96-97 MPH range in which he worked during his earlier major league action, but he still brings a plenty live arm. Washington’s bullpen has a 4.23 ERA and a 12.6 point strikeout/walk rate differential on the year, each of which are bottom ten figures leaguewide. There should be an opportunity for Sadzeck to earn a spot for the stretch run if he continues to pitch well with their highest affiliate in Rochester.
Nationals Release Alcides Escobar
The Nationals announced they’ve placed infielder Alcides Escobar on unconditional release waivers. The move clears an active roster spot for Luke Voit, who is expected to join the club tomorrow. Washington’s 40-man roster count drops to 39.
Escobar has spent the past season and a half in the nation’s capital. The veteran had been playing on a minor league deal when the Nats acquired him last July while Trea Turner was battling an injury. Washington brought Escobar almost immediately to the big leagues, and he became the primary shortstop after Turner was dealt to the Dodgers at the trade deadline. It was his first MLB action in three years, and the longtime Kansas City shortstop acquitted himself well.
Through 349 plate appearances, Escobar hit .288/.340/.404 with four home runs and a trio of steals. He didn’t walk often or hit for much power, but he only struck out at a 16% clip and hit for a high enough batting average to remain productive. Unsurprisingly, he no longer rated as highly with the glove as he had at his peak, but he was a valuable enough experienced presence that Washington signed him to a $1MM extension last October.
Escobar’s 2022 production hasn’t been good, however. He’s seen his offensive output plummet to .218/.260/.282 through 131 trips to the plate. He’s striking out more often than average (24.4%) for the first time in his career, and he’s collected just six extra-base hits (four doubles and two triples). Escobar has also been charged with five errors in 307 2/3 innings at shortstop, and he’s lost playing time as the rebuilding Nats have looked to younger players. Luis García has taken over as the primary shortstop, and while the 22-year-old is miscast there, Washington just brought in rookie shortstop C.J. Abrams in the Juan Soto trade.
Given Escobar’s struggles, it’s hard to envision another team claiming him on waivers. The 35-year-old would be a free agent if he passes through unclaimed and seems likely to explore minor league opportunities elsewhere.