6:45 pm: It’s a minor league contract, reports Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter link). He’ll report to Triple-A Rochester.
3:19 pm: The Nationals are signing veteran utilityman Derek Dietrich, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). Robert Murray of FanSided previously reported the sides were closing in on an agreement.
Dietrich signed a minor league deal with the Yankees over the offseason and spent most of the year with their top affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He took 215 trips to the plate with the RailRiders and hit .215/.413/.393 with five home runs. Dietrich’s deal contained an opt-out clause, which he triggered last week upon not being added to the major league roster.
The blend of left-handed power, strong walk and hit-by-pitch rates, and high strikeout totals he showed at Triple-A has become typical in recent seasons. Between 2019-20, Dietrich tallied 381 MLB plate appearances and posted a .189/.332/.462 line with 24 homers.
It’s unconventional production, but Dietrich generally offers solid results on the whole. By measure of wRC+, he’s been an above-average hitter in every year since his 2013 rookie campaign, with the free bases and power enough to compensate for the very low batting averages. Dietrich’s also shown some defensive flexibility, appearing at each of first, second and third base and in the corner outfield over the course of his career. Advanced defensive metrics have never been fond of his work at any position, but he’s at least been versatile enough for teams to find ways to plug his bat into the lineup.
The Nationals depth has been challenged in recent weeks. Primary utility infielder Jordy Mercer landed on the injured list with a quad strain last week. More notably, slugging outfielder Kyle Schwarber suffered an apparently significant hamstring injury that seems likely to require an extended absence. The Nats have relied on Josh Harrison in left field in recent days, pressing Alcides Escobar into action at second base. That has left the Nats without a true backup infielder — excluding Ryan Zimmerman, who’s limited to first base at this point in his career.
3 straight homers Trea Soto Derek, who pimps it the most?
Dietrich has no reason to act the way he does. Hes been released by half the organizations in the game it seems.
He sucks
Agree wholeheartedly. I still remember him hitting a homer for the Reds in Pittsburgh, and then standing at home plate admiring it until it was practically over the wall. When someone good does that, to me that’s one thing. When you’re Derek Dietrich, to me you don’t do that without someone throwing behind you in your next AB… which is exactly what happened.
cool with him – his high OBP is NOT because he takes a lot of walks
Dude is – you ready for this?
55th all time in HBP
Have you seen his face. I’d bean him too.
just did – no jury in the world would convict you.
poor guy.
3rd in active players.
Anthony Rizzo – 164 HBP / 5726 PA
Starling Marte – 126 / 4455
Dietrich – 123 / 2513
AMAZING! This was def my lol’est baseball discovery this week.
Rizzo 34.9 PA/HBP
Marte 35.3
Dietrich 20.4 (!)
That’s why I like Dietrich. He’s not afraid to lean in artfully and deflect one off the elbow pad (or wherever). I saw that home run with the Reds that Monkey’s Uncle mentioned, and he’s right. Dietrich gave it a long look. As a photographer I appreciate that. Fun to watch, too.
Incredible – I’d have to think he might be #1 all time in hbp/ab
Dietrich covers himself with armor, hugs the plate and basically forces the pitcher to stay off the inside. Between that and the home run poses he’s gotta be one of the most annoying hitters in the league to face. If he could just contact the ball with his bat more than with his body he’d be something.
I hope you also got some good pics of the bench-clearing brawl that happened after Dietrich was thrown at. If you’re into those, that was a doozy (Yasiel Puig was involved, I rest my case).
An inexpensive chance, but seems to me too many swings and misses. He had a great start to 2019 with the Reds & the bottom fell out. Hasn’t cut the mustard since. We’ll see what happens. With all the injuries, pack up your team depth.
I hqvent watched him awhole lot, over all i like him tho. Average sucks but i really dont see how he hurts you as a bench player. gets on base, hits bombs, and can play every where but stright up the middle. Problem is
i think is hes that guy every one knew in high school. full of him self, thinks he is gods gift, his mother prob kisses his ass and thinks he does no wrong. lol most ppl like that peak in high school, become drug addicts and end up wraping cheese burgers.
Id like him on the jays tho, lefty bat
he’s around 6 million in earnings at the age of 30 – that’s a LOT of cheeseburgers
I know it’s been said he’s a super utility you can play all across the diamond, and that’s true, but his defense at any position leaves much to be desired. Streaky hitter for sure, but when you watch him enough you come away with the idea that he’d be a better overall player if he’d ever get over himself.
Cheap sub for Schwarber for the time being. Can acquire someone else later this month if they’re still buyers and the Schwarber news isn’t good. Or a warm body for after the selloff if the Nats keep imploding like last night.
Calling last night an implosion might be unfair, the pitch that the reliever hit out wasn’t a pitch anyone ever hits out and might’ve been luck…
Tough to give up 9 runs on one pitch
A four run start is ok from scherzer without the slam it’s fine
Rationalize it however you want but blowing an 8-0 lead to lose 9-8 is absolutely an implosion.
It wasn’t even a strike. A 96 mph fb below the plate. The guy just went down and golfed it out of the park.
This guy was once so good…even Chris Archer couldn’t drill him.
Dietrich is a hot dog. Tees off on scrubs like Archer, then watches em sail.
But Archer couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat anyway, so he throws the ball 3 feet behind him.
Dietrich was lousy as a Red. Although he at Archer’s lunch (as everyone else seemingly does)
I don’t know, maybe instead of signing bums off the street, they should give Luis Garcia or Kieboom another look….
So are the Nats back to being an older team than the Giants or?
“Relatives: Grandson of Steve Demeter”
Interesting, thanks. I’d never heard of Steve (he barely made the majors), but there was a Don Demeter who played through the 60s as a regular starting outfielder for a few teams. I guess that Steve and Don aren’t related, which I would have expected since they played around the same time and that isn’t the most common last name in the world.
215 5hr is triple A why bother signing him he sucks
If only he played in real life like he did on mlb the show lol
Strong hit by pitch rates
(Chris Archer)
I think nationals need to work on getting bullpen arms rather than position players.