How I see it today for the Washington Nationals Opening Day roster. Much of the roster will depend on health, and the only projected players for that roster with injuries are Amed Rosario with a knee issue, and Andres Chaparro with oblique injury. If Rosario is back soon, he should make the roster. The roster battles are for the final bench spot, final starting rotation spot, and the two final bullpen spots.
Here we go:
Position players:
1. Nathaniel Lowe
2. CJ Abrams
3. Josh Bell
4. Luis García Jr.
5. James Wood
6. Keibert Ruiz
7. Jacob Young
8. Paul DeJong
9. Dylan Crews
10. Alex Call
11. Amed Rosario
12. Riley Adams
13. Juan Yepez (final bench spot)
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14. Nasim Nuñez
15. José Tena
16. Andrew Knizner
17. Robert Hassell III
18. Andrés Chaparro
19. Trey Lipscomb
20. Stone Garrett
21. Darren Baker
22. Drew Millas
23. Cayden Wallace
24. Brady House
25. Andrew Pinckney
26. Daylen Lile
27. Yohandy Morales
Pitchers:
1. MacKenzie Gore
2. Michael Soroka
3. Kyle Finnegan
4. Jake Irvin
5. Jorge López
6. Trevor Williams
7. Jose A. Ferrer
8. Lucas Sims
9. Derek Law
10. Colin Poche
11. Eduardo Salazar (7th reliever)
12. Mitchell Parker (5th starter)
13. Orlando Ribalta (8th reliever)
—
14. Jackson Rutledge
15. Shinnosuke Ogasawara
16. DJ Herz
17. Evan Reifert (Rule-5 decision)
18. Brad Lord
19. Clay Helvey
20. Zach Brzykcy
21. Cade Cavalli
It’s getting close to time for another round of cuts, which I’d expect to include basically everyone south of #19 on the position player list. Not sure about pitchers; they might want to see Lord and Reifert again (for whatever reason) before cutting them, which in Reifert’s case would probably mean losing him for good as a Rule-5 draftee.
Zooming in, the close contests as I see them are between Yepez and Nuñez for the last bench spot, with Tena in the mix as well — this is assuming Chaparro has an oblique strain, as I think he’s otherwise at the forefront of this battle — and Ribalta and Rutledge for the last bullpen spot, unless the Nats decide they’re carrying Reifert no matter what; Lord is probably on the periphery of that battle after his disastrous outing yesterday, especially since the Nats would need to clear a roster spot for him.
With Herz’s issues this spring and Ogasawara looking frankly overmatched, Parker is clearly favored right now to slot into the rotation…although that isn’t officially settled. Ditto the backup catcher spot with Adams, who has been very sloppy defensively but hasn’t been seriously pushed by Knizner and Millas, neither of whom have hit a lick this spring.
Just under two weeks to go for Opening Day on March 27.
