Minor League Free Agents
While most of the attention earlier this week was on the Nats paring down its 40-man roster—which saw former prospect Matt Cronin get DFA’d—this also the time of year when minor-leaguers get their first taste of free agency.
Without further ado (level by highest this season):
CATCHER
Low-A – Wilmer Perez
INFIELDERS
AAA – Matt Adams, Frankie Tostado, Richie Martin, Jake Noll
AA – José Sánchez
High-A – Nick Shumpert
OUTFIELDERS
AA – Yasel Antuna, Donovan Casey
LHPs
AAA – Alemao Hernandez, Sean Doolittle, Alex Troop
RHPs
AAA – Junior Fernandez, Hobie Harris, Odalvi Javier, Daniel Mengden, Gerson Moreno, Joel Peguero, Malvin Pena, Wily Peralta, Tommy Romero, Jackson Tetreault
AA – Gerardo Carrillo, Ronald Herrera, Patrick Ruotolo, Nash Walters
High-A – Dakota Donovan, Matt Merrill
Low-A – Pedro González
DSL – Jose Brito
Sorry I don’t have time to research the first-timers, but I think most of you can figure ’em out. As per usual, I don’t think there are any surprises here.
A good reminder as we begin the offseason routine and figure out the 2024: I have nine former watchlisters by a quick eyeball test out of this list of 30 here (which will probably go up to 31 when Cronin passes waivers).
Another reminder: This is the end of the road about about 1/2 to 2/3rds of these guys.
Antuna ($3.9 bonus as a shortstop) hopefully sets him up for life. Scouting staff missed on that one!
Donovan Casey (of the Scherzer/Turner trade) is another long line of prospects who never make it. Same for Carrillo.
Antuna flashed the tools (at least at the plate) that made the scouts drool. I’m not sure if you can ever predict whether a player can translate those tools into generating consistent performance. he didn’t and was a disaster defensively
Shame about Antuna, but didn’t he have Tommy John or some kind of elbow surgery?
Gotta figure this factored into his (non) performance
The list of FAs exhibition of why the musical chairs upstairs
for one stretch of roughly 100 ABs in A+, Jose Sanchez hit .366, walked at over a 10% rate and for the entire year hit .304 with 2 outs and runners in scoring position. all the while playing solid defense at multiple infield positions and being younger than league average
the same year his last 27 ABs produced no hits and only one walk, yet he only struck out once.
he’s never produced again after that last stretch. if anyone ever wonders why it’s so hard to walk away here is exhibit A
The Nats’ 40-man currently stands at 40, so more moves are coming. They have no room to add/protect guys from Rule 5 draft. The deadline for those additions is 11/14. The deadline for non-tenders is 11/17, so both next week.
Players that I don’t expect to remain on the 40 man for very long: Jeter Downs, Alex Call, Stephen Strasburg, Cory Abbott, Robert Garcia, Joe La Sorsa, Andres Machado, Roddery Munoz.