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Nationals Avoid Arbitration With Mason Thompson

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The Nationals announced they’ve avoided arbitration with reliever Mason Thompson. The team did not reveal salary terms. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected him for an $800K salary that is marginally above the $760K league minimum.

Thomspon, who turns 27 in February, underwent Tommy John surgery early in Spring Training. He obviously missed the entire season but could return relatively early in 2025. A former Padres draftee, Thompson went to the Nats at the 2021 deadline in the trade that sent veteran reliever Daniel Hudson to San Diego. Thompson made 102 appearances for Washington between 2021-23. He posted a 4.57 earned run average with a middling 17.8% strikeout rate.

This was the first of the righty’s three seasons of arbitration eligibility. Washington had a nine-player arbitration class before waiving Ildemaro Vargas. Catcher Riley Adams and relievers Derek Law and Tanner Rainey are potential non-tender candidates before tomorrow evening’s deadline.

Nationals Select Eddie Rosario, Jesse Winker, Matt Barnes

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The Nationals announced this morning that they’ve selected the contracts of right-hander Matt Barnes, outfielder Eddie Rosario, and outfielder Jesse Winker. In corresponding moves, right-hander Mason Thompson and left-hander Jose A. Ferrer have been placed on the 60-day injured list. The club’s 40-man roster is now at capacity.

That Barnes made the roster is hardly a surprise. A veteran of ten major league seasons, the 33-year-old is coming off a down season with the Marlins that saw him struggle to a 5.48 despite a decent 4.15 FIP. Prior to his down 2023 campaign, however, Barnes had long been one of the more reliable late-inning relief arms in the game with the Red Sox. Barnes posted a 3.91 ERA with a 3.42 FIP from 2016 to 2022, striking out an excellent 31.3% of batters faced during that time while walking 11.3%. Those seven seasons saw the right-hander pick up 47 saves and 96 holds as a mainstay toward the back of the club’s bullpen. Barnes figures to receive another chance at a late-inning role in D.C. now that he’s made the team, where he’ll compete for high-leverage work with fellow veteran arms Hunter Harvey and Tanner Rainey ahead of closer Kyle Finnegan.

That both Rosario and Winker made the roster is somewhat more surprising. After all, both are defensively limited left-handed hitters who profile best as part of a platoon. That overlap didn’t deter the Nationals from rostering them both, however, and both outfielders certainly have a case to make the roster in isolation. Rosario has typically been a roughly average hitter throughout his career, as exemplified by him .255/.305/.450 with a wRC+ of exactly 100 in 142 games with the Braves last year. Those numbers are more or less in line with his career output of .268/.305/.460 (102 wRC+), though its worth noting that his career numbers are dragged down somewhat by a brutal 2022 season that saw him hit a paltry .212/.259/.328 while he battled vision problems. That issue appears to have been rectified by a laser eye procedure, however, and Rosario seems to be a good bet to produce average numbers as a regular in left field, even as his 23.6% strikeout rate last year is a far cry from the 16.5% figure he posted during his peak seasons with the Twins from 2017 to 2020.

As for Winker, the 30-year-old was among the more productive hitters in the league during his five-year tenure with the Reds, slashing an excellent .288/.385/.504 in 413 games from 2017-21, which included an All Star nod during the 2021 season. Winker was shipped to the Mariners ahead of the 2022 season, however, and took a step back at the plate during his time with the club as he hit a roughly league average .219/.344/.344 during his time with the club. Winker fell even further upon being traded to the Brewers prior to last year, as he struggled to a .199/.320/.247 slash line while battling neck injuries. While Winker doesn’t offer the same reliable production as Rosario, he could be the far more impactful bat if he can regain the form he enjoyed during his time with the Reds.

With young outfielders Alex Call and Jacob Young having been optioned to Triple-A last night and manager Davey Martinez telling reporters (including Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post) that Stone Garrett will begin the season on the injured list, however, the club clearly feels comfortable entering the season with an outfield mix that will prominently feature both Rosario and Winker. With Lane Thomas and Victor Robles entrenched as regular options in right and center field, respectively, Winker and Rosario will join first baseman Joey Gallo as left-handed hitters in the club’s lineup with Joey Meneses serving as a right-handed complement to all three. Assuming Gallo will be afforded regular at bats at first base, that would leave at least one of Rosario or Winker to remain in the lineup against left-handed hitters. Given Winker’s abysmal .205/.321/.338 slash line against southpaws, it seems likely that the bulk of starts against lefties will go to Rosario, at least until Garrett returns from the injured list.

That Ferrer and Thompson will start the season on the 60-day IL is hardly a surprise. Thompson is rehabbing Tommy John surgery while Ferrer is dealing with a back strain that Martinez (as relayed by Nusbaum) has indicated will keep him from throwing for another 4-6 weeks.

Mason Thompson To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Nationals right-hander Mason Thompson will undergo Tommy John surgery on Friday, with Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com among those to relay the news. As noted by Zuckerman, this will be the second time the righty will be undergoing the procedure, with the first occurring when he was a high schooler.

A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that Thompson would be shut down due to an elbow injury. At that time, manager Dave Martinez confessed that the team was “a little concerned,” so they likely had some inkling that today’s news was possible.

It’s undoubtedly a frustrating setback for both Thompson and the team. The now-26-year-old came over to the Nationals from the Padres in the 2021 Daniel Hudson trade and now has 106 games of MLB experience under his belt between those two clubs. He has logged 103 1/3 innings, allowing 4.53 earned runs per nine. His 17.7% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate are both subpar, but his 51.1% ground ball rate is quite strong.

The Nats are rebuilding and will likely have plenty of innings available for young pitchers this year, allowing them to continue to develop while showcasing their abilities to the league. Unfortunately, Thompson won’t be able to take advantage of that opportunity. Since Tommy John rehab generally takes over a year, he’ll miss the entire 2024 season and perhaps the early portions of 2025 as well.

The club will have to pivot to other options with Thompson no longer in the mix for this year’s bullpen innings. They have given minor league deals to various veterans such as Derek Law, Matt Barnes, Richard Bleier, Luis Perdomo and Jacob Barnes.

The Nats will likely transfer Thompson to the 60-day injured list once they need his roster spot. If that comes to pass, he’ll spend the whole year there, receiving major league pay and service time. He would cross three years of service in that scenario and qualify for arbitration next winter, though missing the entire year will make him unlikely to receive a substantial raise. The Nats could also designate him for assignment, but injured players can’t be put on outright waivers, meaning he’d have to be put on release waivers. They could then try to re-sign him to a minor league deal but Thompson would be free to explore opportunities with other clubs.

Rizzo: Nationals Unlikely To Make Additional Major League Signings This Offseason

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The bulk of the shopping in a quiet Nationals offseason looks to be complete. General manager Mike Rizzo told the team’s beat writers Wednesday the Nats aren’t likely to add any more free agents on guaranteed deals between now and Opening Day (X link via Andrew Golden of the Washington Post). It’s still possible that they’ll add some veterans on minor league deals with spring training invitations.

Rizzo’s comments seemingly close the door on any potential late additions of note to a Nationals club that has been poking around the starting pitching market. “I just couldn’t find that starting pitcher that was going to impact us at this time, for not only the right amount of years but the right salary at this time,” Rizzo said Wednesday (via MASNsports.com’s Mark Zuckerman).

The Nationals have only signed three players to big league deals this offseason — none for more than Joey Gallo’s $5MM (as can be seen in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker). Beyond Gallo, the Nats signed reliever Dylan Floro and infielder/outfielder Nick Senzel to one-year deals worth $2.3MM and $2MM, respectively. They’ve also added outfielder Jesse Winker, lefty Richard Bleier and first baseman/outfielder Juan Yepez on minor league pacts this winter.

As it stands, the Nationals will deploy a rotation including Patrick Corbin, Josiah Gray, MacKenzie Gore, Jake Irvin and Trevor Williams. That group combined to start all but 19 of Washington’s games in 2023 — Chad Kuhl, Joan Adon and Jackson Rutledge started the others — a season in which the Nationals ranked 25th in the Majors with a 5.02 ERA and 29th in each of FIP (5.30), SIERA (4.95) and K-BB% (9.7%).

The Nats are surely hoping for better performances from young starters like Gore and Gray, both of whom were lauded as top prospects prior to breaking into the big leagues. Both hurlers posted respectable ERAs with middling grades from fielding-independent metrics, in no small part due to sub-par walk rates and (in Gore’s case especially) struggles with the long ball. Gore is the only Nationals starter who posted an above-average strikeout rate in 2023 (26%). Corbin and Williams are the only two who had better-than-average walk rates (7.2% and 8%, respectively).

Washington also has several more arms on the rise, with the aforementioned Rutledge, lefty DJ Herz and right-hander Cade Cavalli among them. Cavalli would likely have been in the Nats’ rotation in 2023 were it not for a spring elbow injury that led to Tommy John surgery.

Rizzo didn’t provide much of an update on Cavalli beyond the fact that his rehab is progressing nicely. An early-summer return seems like a best-case scenario for the hard-throwing 25-year-old, and Zuckerman indeed notes that he’s shooting to be MLB-ready sometime in June.

Rutledge tossed 20 innings in last year’s debut after delivering solid run-prevention numbers between Double-A and Triple-A — albeit with sub-par command. Herz, acquired from the Cubs in exchange for Jeimer Candelario, posted a 3.43 ERA in 22 Double-A starts last year, fanning an impressive 32.4% of his opponents. He too struggled with command issues, however, walking opponents at a grim 13.9% clip.

On the bullpen front, the Nats could be down at least one candidate early in the season. Skipper Davey Martinez said Wednesday that righty Mason Thompson will be shut down for the next two weeks before being reevaluated for an elbow injury (X link via Golden). Martinez conceded that the team is “a little concerned” about the issue but declined to go into further details.

Thompson, 26 next week, has spent the majority of the past three seasons with the Nationals and pitched 100 1/3 innings of 4.57 ERA ball with a 17.8% strikeout rate, 10% walk rate and 50.6% ground-ball rate.

Nationals Promote Jackson Rutledge

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September 13: The Nats have now made it official, recalling Rutledge with righty Mason Thompson optioned in a corresponding move.

September 12: The Nationals are recalling pitching prospect Jackson Rutledge to make his major league debut tomorrow against the Pirates, skipper Dave Martinez told reporters (including Bobby Blanco of MASNsports.com). Grant Paulsen of 106.7 FM The Fan first reported Rutledge was en route to Pittsburgh this afternoon.

Rutledge, 24, was Washington’s first-round draftee back in 2019. A Texas junior college product, the 6’8″ righty has appeared among the Nats’ top 10 prospects at Baseball America entering each of the last four seasons. He’d been nagged by injury concerns early in his professional career but he has shown a promising raw arsenal.

As one might expect given his size, Rutledge has a mid-90s fastball and a mid-80s slider which BA suggests could be a plus offering. The outlet placed him seventh among Washington minor leaguers on their midseason update, writing that he has a chance to stick at the back of a major league rotation.

Rutledge has made 23 minor league starts this season, splitting the year almost evenly between the top two levels. He worked to a 3.16 ERA over 12 outings for Double-A Harrisburg before posting a 4.44 mark in 11 starts at Triple-A Rochester. Overall, he has allowed 3.71 earned runs per nine through 119 innings. His 21.3% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk percentage are both middling, but the results were solid enough for the Nats to give him an initial look.

Washington added Rutledge to the 40-man roster last winter to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. They’ll need only to make an active roster transaction to accommodate his promotion tomorrow. He could take three or four starts down the stretch as he tries to put himself on the radar for a spot in next year’s starting staff.

Every Team’s Initial September Call-Ups

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Each season as the calendar flips to September, we see a flurry of transactions around Major League Baseball. Active roster sizes jump from 26 to 28 for the season’s final month, with teams permitted to bring up no more than one additional pitcher. We’ve already covered a host of transactions with 40-man roster implications throughout the day at MLBTR. Here’s a full round-up of teams’ initial September roster moves.

American League West

Houston Astros:

Los Angeles Angels:

Oakland Athletics

Seattle Mariners

  • Reinstated LHP Matthew Boyd from 60-day injured list
  • Recalled OF Taylor Trammell from Triple-A Tacoma
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Texas Rangers

  • Selected contract of RHP Jesus Tinoco from Triple-A Round Rock
  • Recalled OF Nick Solak from Triple-A Round Rock
  • Corresponding move: Transferred RHP Josh Sborz to 60-day injured list

American League Central

Chicago White Sox

  • Recalled OF Adam Haseley from Triple-A Charlotte
  • Recalled RHP Matt Foster from Triple-A Charlotte
  • Corresponding move: None required

Cleveland Guardians

Detroit Tigers

Kansas City Royals

  • Selected contract of RHP Daniel Mengden from Triple-A Omaha
  • Recalled OF Nate Eaton from Triple-A Omaha
  • Corresponding move: None required

Minnesota Twins

  • Added LHP Austin Davis (previously claimed off waivers from Red Sox) to active roster
  • Selected contract of OF Billy Hamilton from Triple-A St. Paul
  • Corresponding move: Transferred OF Trevor Larnach to 60-day injured list

American League East

Baltimore Orioles

  • Selected contract of 1B Jesus Aguilar from Triple-A Norfolk
  • Recalled LHP DL Hall from Triple-A Norfolk
  • Corresponding move: Designated INF Richie Martin for assignment

Boston Red Sox

New York Yankees

  • Recalled SS Oswald Peraza from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre
  • Activated INF Marwin Gonzalez from paternity list
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Tampa Bay Rays

  • Reinstated RHP Matt Wisler from the 15-day injured list
  • Recalled INF Jonathan Aranda from Triple-A Durham
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Toronto Blue Jays

  • Recalled RHP Casey Lawrence from Triple-A Buffalo
  • Added OF Bradley Zimmer (claimed off waivers from Phillies this week) to active roster
  • Corresponding moves: None required

National League West

Arizona Diamondbacks

Colorado Rockies

  • Recalled INF Alan Trejo from Triple-A Albuquerque
  • Recalled RHP Chad Smith from Triple-A Albuquerque
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Los Angeles Dodgers

  • Reinstated LHP Clayton Kershaw from 15-day injured list
  • Recalled 3B Miguel Vargas from Triple-A Oklahoma City
  • Corresponding moves: None required

San Diego Padres

  • Recalled INF Matt Beaty from Triple-A El Paso
  • Recalled RHP Reiss Knehr from Triple-A El Paso
  • Corresponding moves: None required

San Francisco Giants

National League Central

Chicago Cubs

  • Selected contract of RHP Jeremiah Estrada from Triple-A Iowa
  • Recalled INF David Bote from Triple-A Iowa
  • Corresponding move: Transferred Wade Miley from 15-day injured list to 60-day injured list

Cincinnati Reds

Milwaukee Brewers

  • Recalled RHP Luis Perdomo from Triple-A Nashville
  • Recalled OF Esteury Ruiz from Triple-A Nashville
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Pittsburgh Pirates

  • Recalled RHP Johan Oviedo from Triple-A Indianapolis
  • Recalled OF Calvin Mitchell from Triple-A Indianapolis
  • Corresponding moves: None required

St. Louis Cardinals

  • Selected contract of OF Ben DeLuzio from Triple-A Memphis
  • Recalled RHP James Naile from Triple-A Memphis
  • Corresponding moves: None required

National League East

Atlanta Braves

  • Reinstated IF Orlando Arcia from 10-day injured list
  • Added recently-claimed RHP Jesse Chavez to active roster
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Miami Marlins*

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

  • Selected contract of RHP Vinny Nittoli from Triple-A Lehigh Valley
  • Recalled C Donny Sands from Triple-A Lehigh Valley
  • Corresponding moves: None required

Washington Nationals

  • Recalled C Tres Barrera from Triple-A Rochester
  • Recalled RHP Mason Thompson from Triple-A Rochester
  • Corresponding moves: None required

*Marlins moves reported by Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link)

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.

Nationals Select Carl Edwards Jr.

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The Nationals announced a trio of roster moves, including the selection of Carl Edwards Jr.’s minor league contract to the active roster.  To create space on the 26-man and 40-man rosters, the Nats optioned right-hander Andres Machado to Triple-A and moved right-hander Mason Thompson to the 60-day injured list.

Once Edwards tosses his first pitch for the Nats, it will mark eight MLB seasons for the right-hander, and six different big league teams.  Edwards has seen only sporadic action from 2019-21, tossing 27 1/3 total innings for his five previous teams.  In 2021, Edwards had an 11.12 ERA over 5 2/3 total innings with the Blue Jays and Braves (despite only tossing one-third of an inning for Atlanta, he was still awarded a World Series ring for his contribution to the championship season).

Edwards was a much more prominent member of another title team, tossing 36 regular-season innings and then 6 1/3 postseason innings for the Cubs in 2016.  The righty posted some quality results out of Chicago’s bullpen from 2015-18 before struggling badly over the last three seasons.

Washington signed Edwards to a minor league deal during the offseason, and he has shown signs of a turn-around at Triple-A Rochester.  Edwards has an 0.63 ERA, a 50% groundball rate, a 34% strikeout rate, and an eight percent walk rate over his 14 1/3 innings for the Red Wings.  Considering how the Nationals bullpen has been quite shaky thus far, D.C. has nothing to lose in seeing if Edwards has gotten himself back on track.

Thompson was placed on the 10-day IL exactly one month ago due to right biceps tendinitis.  He had been hoping to start throwing by the end of April, but with no further updates on his progress, it would seem like Thompson will need more time to recover.  Mid-June will now be his earliest possible return date, as the 60-day IL window begins from his initial placement on the 10-day injured list.

Injured List Placements: Thompson, Bolt, Cabrera

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Catching up on some of today’s injury news…

  • Nationals right-hander Mason Thompson was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right biceps strain.  Washington called up Hunter Harvey from Triple-A in the corresponding move, with the former Orioles top prospect getting his first look with his new team since the Nats claimed him off waivers from the Giants two weeks ago.  Thompson threw only three pitches before being forced out of last night’s outing against the Mets.  X-rays are negative, and Thompson is also undergoing an MRI today, Washington manager Dave Martinez told MLB.com’s Jessica Camerato and other reporters.
  • The Athletics placed Skye Bolt on the 10-day IL with a right oblique strain.  Left-hander Adam Kolarek was called up from Triple-A.  After debuting with five games for Oakland in 2019, Bolt didn’t see any action in 2020 and then played in 34 total games with the Giants and A’s last season.  Bolt has some big numbers with Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate but hasn’t brought that pop to the majors, with only an .090/.116/.164 slash line over 71 career plate appearances in the Show.
  • Edward Cabrera has been placed on the minor league injured list, as the former Marlins top prospect is dealing with a right biceps injury.  Beyond the delayed start that everyone faced for Spring Training, Cabrera’s spring work was also delayed by a visa issue, hence his extra time in the minors.  While this particular injury isn’t thought to be too serious, Cabrera did miss two months last season due to an inflamed nerve in that same right biceps.  Among the many highly-touted young arms in the Marlins organization, Cabrera is one of the most promising, regularly featuring on top-100 lists over the last three seasons.  The right-hander made his MLB debut last season, posting a 5.81 ERA over 26 1/3 innings for Miami.

Nationals Expected To Activate Josiah Gray, Mason Thompson

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In trading away much of their current roster before yesterday’s trade deadline, the Nationals prioritized talent that was close to Major League ready. The hope and expectation was that many of the players acquired over the past few days will soon join Juan Soto, Victor Robles, and company in DC to begin shaping the next Washington contender.

As such, it is expected that Mason Thompson — acquired from the Padres in the Daniel Hudson deal — will be activated and placed on the active roster later today, while Josiah Gray — a key piece in the Max Scherzer trade — will be activated to join the rotation later this weekend, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter links). They won’t need a corresponding roster move to add Thompson, as the Nats played with only a 25-man roster for yesterday’s game.

Gray immediately becomes the most interesting starter in the Nationals’ rotation — as well as the most important. There’s little reason to hold him in the minors for any length of time, except for the fact that the 24-year-old has very little pitching experience in the grand scheme of things and only 15 2/3 innings at Triple-A. Looking to maximize the three-year window following this season before Juan Soto hits free agency, the Nats have little time to waste in letting Gray try to establish himself as a pro-ready starter.

Besides, the Nationals have very few options in the upper minors, and they need to fill two rotation spots after trading Scherzer and Jon Lester. Gray will slot right into the rotation behind Patrick Corbin and Joe Ross, with Erick Fedde and Paolo Espino likely to hold down the other two spots.

The same is true in the bullpen, where the departures of Brad Hand and Hudson leave glaring holes. Kyle Finnegan has stepped in as the closer for now, but in the long-term, the rest of the bullpen is largely up for grabs. Tanner Rainey has been off all season, though they certainly hope he can find himself again before the year is out. Wander Suero has long been a middle reliever who sometimes plays up into a setup role for manager Dave Martinez. Will Harris should be a key man, but he can’t seem to stay healthy.

Thompson, 23, should have every opportunity to carve out a role for himself. Baseball America ranked him as the Padres’ 15th-ranked prospect in the midseason report — and he figures to be considerably higher in a talent-poor Nationals system. BA pegged him for middle or late relief, noting a 94-98 mph heater, 12-to-6 curve, and above-average change-up.

All in all, it’s prove yourself season in Washington, where Thompson, Gray, as well as Lane Thomas, Carter Kieboom, Luis Garcia, and probably Keibert Ruiz should have the next two months to prove they are ready to be regular Major Leaguers.

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