One day after CJ Abrams and James Wood were named National League All-Stars, the Nationals have said goodbye to another piece of the Juan Soto trade.
Outfielder Robert Hassell III was designated for assignment on Sunday, his 40-man roster spot needed to make room for the Nats to add left-handed reliever Eddy Yean to the major league roster.
Hassell III has been a Top 10 organizational prospect for his entire time with the Nationals after the deal, and he made his MLB debut last summer, hitting .223 in 70 games.
However, the 24-year-old has been mostly stalled in Triple-A this year, hitting .215 with a .593 OPS, two homers, and 21 RBI in 63 games. That is a far cry from the .310/.383/.456 slash line that earned him a full-time promotion last August.
Hassell III has one minor-league option remaining, and the Nationals have seven days to trade him, release him, or outright him back to Triple-A.
The promotion of Yean continues a busy week of transactions for the Nats’ pitching staff, which has seen them acquire Kyle Nicolas and Tom Cosgrove, claim lefty Matt Krook off waivers from the Athletics, and sign Konnor Pilkington to a minor-league deal, among other moves.
Yean, 25, fills the 26-man roster spot of Zak Kent, who was optioned to Triple-A Rochester on Saturday. He was an international free agent signing of the Nats in 2018 who was sent to the Pirates as part of the December 2020 Josh Bell trade, but returned to the organization last winter as a minor-league free agent.
This season, Yean posted a 3.60 ERA in 40 innings for Rochester, with a 27.3% strikeout rate and 54.1% ground ball rate.
Washington has struggled to find consistency throughout their relief corps this year – Gus Varland, who is now in Triple-A after posting a 6.25 ERA, is still the team’s co-leader in saves with six – and has lost Richard Lovelady and Mitchell Parker (who is out for the season) to the IL in the last couple weeks.
Orlando Ribalta, PJ Poulin (who has served as an opener 10 times this season), and nominal closer Clayton Beeter have had solid seasons and Brad Lord and Andrew Alvarez have performed in swing/long relief roles, but the other three or four bullpen spots have been a revolving door all year.
