Josh Hartle didn’t need long to make an impression in his Nationals organization debut. The left-hander, acquired Monday in the Foster Griffin trade with the Guardians, spun 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts Thursday night for Double-A Harrisburg in a 3-2 win over Chesapeake at Prince George’s Stadium.
It was a sharp first outing in a new uniform for Washington’s new No. 28 prospect, who retired the first 13 hitters he faced. The ball left the infield only twice during that stretch, and the lone run charged to Hartle scored after he was already back in the dugout.
Hartle was one of four prospects the Nationals received for Griffin, along with fellow left-hander Will Dion, right-hander Kendeglys Virguez and outfielder Nick Mitchell. But he stands out in the group for a few reasons. He was the only one to crack the club’s Top 30 Prospects list after the deal, and he brings a polished feel for pitching that makes him especially intriguing.
That trait has mattered in Washington before. The big league club helped unlock Griffin’s potential and turn him into an All-Star, and Hartle arrives with a similar kind of appeal: not overwhelming velocity, but real craft.
Before the wheels wobbled a bit in his junior season at Wake Forest, Hartle looked like a possible first-round pick entering 2024. As a sophomore All-American, he piled up 140 strikeouts in 102 2/3 innings and sat near the top of draft boards.
Then came a rougher junior year, when his stuff and command didn’t quite carry the same snap. He fought through 15 starts and finished with a 5.79 ERA, though enough of the ceiling remained to convince the Pirates to take him in the third round.
His time in Pittsburgh was brief. Hartle appeared in just one game before being traded to the Guardians in December 2024 for right-hander Luis Ortiz.
Cleveland sent the 6-foot-6 southpaw to High-A to begin 2025, and that’s where everything started to click. He posted a 2.35 ERA in 22 appearances, allowed only two homers in 103 1/3 innings and finished with Midwest League Pitcher of the Year honors.
This season opened a little differently at Double-A Akron. Upper-level hitters weren’t nearly as eager to chase his mix, which includes a pair of low-90s fastballs, an above-average slider, an upper-80s cutter and a changeup.
The ERA got dinged by a few rough outings, but the .263 average against told the more honest story: he was getting hit. Even so, Hartle finished strong before the Deadline, giving up one run over his final three starts across 16 2/3 innings while allowing just five hits, all singles.
The thing that keeps Hartle interesting is the shape of his game. Before Thursday’s start, his 55.8 percent ground-ball rate led all qualified Double-A pitchers in 2026.
Across all of affiliate ball, only Rockies left-hander Austin Newton was higher at 56.8 percent. At the major league level, only Phillies All-Star Cristopher Sánchez was running a better mark at 57.7 percent.
If strikeouts aren’t the whole package, then pounding the ball into the dirt becomes the next best answer. Hartle has done that as a big, funky lefty, and now he’ll do it in an organization that has already shown it can develop that kind of arm.
The Nationals have built a recent track record with taller left-handers who don’t rely on overpowering radar-gun readings. Mitchell Parker and Jake Bennett were both top-five-round Draft picks this decade, DJ Herz was acquired and developed into a big league rotation piece in 2024, and Andrew Alvarez - a 12th-round pick - has grown into a dependable swingman. Hartle now gets his shot in that same pipeline.
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