We’re back to a single column for the first time in three years. Yay?
Notables is a catch-all to answer the “what-about__________?” comments. It does tend to tilt to older players for obvious reasons, and this year it includes a few guys who have had surgery (but not enough or room on the page to warrant a M*A*S*H category).
The goal is to avoid repeats: You either play your way back or you don’t. But it’s hard with some guys due to attention or draft position.
Orelvis Martinez
Martinez was signed as a free agent at the tail end of the 2025 season after the Toronto Blue Jays DFA’d him after posting a career-low .636 OPS. The knock on Martinez is that he’s more power than contact. Unfortunately, it’s hard not to notice that that comes on the heels of an 80-game suspension for PEDs in 2024.
Branden Boisserie
Boissiere returned to AA after flaming out in 2024 and posted an .819 OPS in 51 games. He has the benefit of playing a position (1B) that the Nats have not much depth, though it’s improved with the pickup of Abimelec Ortiz in the MacKenzie Gore trade.
Tyler Stuart
Stuart developed Nats elbow in 2025 and will most likely not appear north of Florida in 2026. When healthy, his signature pitch was a mid-90s FB with sink, a low-80s sweeper, and work-in-progress changeup. While the Nats have a fetish for tall RHPs, none have had sustained success.
Alejandro Rosario, RHP
Rosario may have been a throw-in with the MacKenzie Gore trade, given that (A) he had Tommy John surgery that will keep him out until 2027 (B) he hasn’t pitched since 2024. The just-turned-24-y.o. will be Rule 5 eligible in December 2026.
Sean Paul Liñan, RHP
Picked up in a deadline trade with the Dodgers, Liñan went on the I.L. three times in the regular season and made two (2) appearances in the AFL before going into witness protection. While one would like to think his AFL stint was merely to check on his health and was shut down to avoid further issues, the Nats have a long history of hiding injuries.
Eriq Swan, RHP
A converted shortstop who became a pitcher in college, Swan has the size (6’6″, 240) the Nats covet but (you knew there would be) has had difficulty throwing strikes and commanding his high-90s FB, which is not unusual for a thrower learning to pitch. Seems likely to repeat High-A.
Anthony Arguelles, RHP
Aeguelles was the fifth-best pitcher on the 2025 Blue Rocks, but turned 25 in August. On the short side (5’10”) Arguelles relies on working the lower half of the zone and using deception. Signed as an NDFA in August 2023 despite an unimpressive showing in the MLB Draft League.
Liam Sullivan, LHP
Sullivan split time between the FCL and the FredNats in ’25, making roughly seven starts at both stops with dominant results in Florida and mediocre nos. for Fredericksburg. Sullivan missed most of ’24 due to injury after being drafted in the 13th Rd. in ’23. Throws the classic arsenal with a low-90s FB but has yet to pitch at a level appropriate to his age.
Luke Johnson, RHP
A four-year starter at UMBC, Johnson signed too late in ’24 to play in the FCL, instead making two starts in the MLB Draft League. He worked mostly in relief in the FCL, dominating as you’d expect a 23-y.o. pitching to 20- and 21-y.o.’s. In Low-A his results were much more pedestrian with a low K-rate (6.5) and a high WHIP (1.47).
Merritt Beeker, LHP
After a brief stint in Low-A in ’24, Beeker pitched all year long for the FredNats and put up impressive numbers 1.85/2.99/1.12, 11.1 K/9IP in 63⅔ IP). Alas, like a lot of the pitchers here, he was old for the level, having turned 24 this past November.
Isaac Lyon, RHP
Lyon was the “other guy” in the trade the Jose Ferrer trade to Seattle that netted Harry Ford. The 10th Rd. pick for the Mariners out of Grand Canyon University, made four starts for Low-A Modesto in the hitter-friendly California League. He lost twice and posted a pitcher’s slash of 7.30/6.52/1.52 across 12⅓ innings.
Darrel Lunar, RHP
A “DSL Guy” on the 2025 Watchlist, Lunar was sent to Florida after a single season. His production in the FCL was pedestrian: 4.93/4.20/1.60, 9.3 K/9IP, 4.7BB/9IP, but he was nearly two years younger than his peers and those numbers were the 5th best on the team F-Nats pitchers.