Evan Lee throwing a side session with his pitching coach; Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats
As we broke news yesterday, Evan Lee was officially called up to the roster today and will make his debut start against the Mets. The call-up has only 30 starts on his pro record with 12 relief appearances, and here he is, called up directly from Harisburg Double-A. Lee was a reliever in college at Arkansas as a two-way player, and the Washington Nationals drafted him in 2018 in the 15th round, and decided to convert him to a starter because his three-pitch mix was impressive. The lefty throws a low 90’s fastball that can touch over 95 mph and his curveball has a unique grip and is his best pitch. Lee has spent his time in Double-A improving his changeup and added a cutter over the winter.
After the game, Alcides Escobar said that his leg “injury” was actually just a cramp, but manager Dave Martinez said the team would be proactive and have an infielder brought to the stadium today, just in case. Well, Escobar was placed on the 10-day IL with a strain, and as we broke news early this morning, Luis Garcia was going to be called up. Who knew that the drive was over 5 hours from Rochester to the team hotel in Manhattan? Well, Garcia knew, and he made the drive and is in the lineup today and starting at shortstop. After hyperextending his arm last week, he only sat out one game and has scuffled in the games leading up to yesterday. Probably not great timing for Garcia, but we will see what he can do with this opportunity.
As we also sourced in news that the Nats would not need to add a long reliever today since Patrick Corbin was able to pitch into the fifth inning last night so the team did not have to call-up Jackson Tetreault who would have served as a long reliever. Martinez needed to use three relievers yesterday, and one of them, Francisco Perez, pitched last night and was optioned back to Triple-A Rochester to make room for Lee.
All nine relievers on the roster are available today including Paolo Espino who threw the bulk of the game on Monday due to Erick Fedde‘s short start. Obviously Martinez would like to not use Espino who threw 48 pitches less than 48 hours ago.
Washington Nationals vs. New York Mets
Stadium: CitiField, Queens, New York
1st Pitch: 12:10 pm EDT
TV: MASN; SNY; MLB App (out-0f-market only)
Nats Radio: 106.7 The Fan and via the MLB app
Lineups (subject to change without notice):
OK, for the fans who have been clamoring for it, there’s Luis Garcia starting at SS. https://t.co/sQavit7MAN
— Talk Nats ⚾ (@TalkNats) June 1, 2022
