The Nationals announced that they have outrighted hurler James Bourque and catcher Raudy Read to Triple-A Fresno. They now have 34 players on their 40-man roster.
The right-handed Bourque, a 14th-round pick of the Nationals in 2014, has been used sparingly in the majors so far. The 27-year-old debuted with the Nats in 2019 and has since thrown a mere 4 2/3 innings, including four this season. Bourque owns a 5.56 ERA with 10.9 K/9 and 6.2 BB/9 in 43 2/3 frames at the Triple-A level.
Read, 27, has also seen little action in the bigs, where he picked up four hits in 22 plate appearances from 2017-19. He didn’t appear in the majors in 2020, but Read has batted a respectable .272/.311/.511 with 20 home runs in 380 Triple-A plate appearances.