The Washington Nationals have a pretty simple decision in front of them: Yohandy Morales has done enough to force the issue.
The AAA corner infielder has been one of the loudest bats in the organization all season, hitting .303 with 21 homers and a .930 OPS. Those are the kind of numbers that jump off the page, and Morales has backed them up with real power production. He leads all Nats prospects in home runs and has been a constant threat to leave the yard.
For a while, though, the underlying profile gave Paul Toboni reason to slow-play the promotion. Morales had a very low in-zone contact rate, and for most of the season he was putting the ball on the ground more than 50% of the time. That’s a tough combination to carry into the majors, even when the box score looks as strong as his has.
Lately, though, the shape of his season has started to change. Morales has been striking out less and lifting the ball more.
His ground-ball rate, which had been closer to 54% a couple months ago, is now down to 49.3%. That’s still not a perfect profile, but it’s a meaningful step in the right direction.
July has brought another encouraging sign: fewer empty at-bats. Morales has just 6 strikeouts in 30 at bats this month. The sample is small, but it fits with the idea that he’s making the adjustments needed to handle a bigger stage.
The power, meanwhile, hasn’t gone anywhere. Morales already has four homers in July, including a two-homer game the other day.
At 6’3 225 pounds, he brings serious raw pop, and he can drive the ball to all fields. Even without pulling the ball in the air all that much, he still finds ways to get to his power because the exit velocities are consistently strong.
That combination of improving process and obvious thump is why this feels like the right moment. There isn’t an everyday job waiting for Morales, but there are ways to get him at-bats. He could work as Luis Garcia Jr’s platoon partner, pick up starts at third base, and slide into the DH mix from time to time.
Blake Butera has already shown he can be flexible with playing time, and that same approach could work here. Right now, Andres Chaparro’s .157 batting average stands out for all the wrong reasons, and he’s been getting pinch-hit chances in key spots without delivering. If Garcia needs to come out against lefties, Morales would make a lot more sense in that spot than Chaparro does.
There’s also the roster angle. The Nationals would need to clear a 40-man spot for Morales, but that’s not exactly a roadblock. He is Rule-5 eligible this offseason, so the club is going to have to make room for him soon anyway, and there are plenty of potential DFA candidates already on the roster.
Morales has done the work. The numbers are strong, the power is real, and the underlying trend lines are finally moving the right way. At this point, giving him a shot feels less like a leap and more like the obvious next step.
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The Nationals are turning to another left-handed arm for the bullpen, selecting Tom Cosgroves contract and giving him a chance to join the active roster. The move comes after Brad Lord landed on the 15-day injured list, a shuffle that had been easy to anticipate once Washington needed another healthy option in the relief mix.
Cosgrove is a recent pickup from the Astros and has barely had time to settle in with the organization, making just one appearance for Triple-A Rochester since arriving. With the roster picture changing quickly, Washington is giving itself another look at a pitcher it brought in to provide depth and flexibility as the bullpen keeps evolving. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Made A Pitching Move That Could Reshape Their Depth Chart
The Nationals pitching pipeline took another turn this week, with the organization making a move that could ripple through the depth chart as the big league club keeps sorting out its relief picture. It comes against the backdrop of a busy minor league slate, where Rochester dropped a tight 8-7 game at Worcester, Harrisburg kept rolling with an 8-3 win over Erie, and Fredericksburg and the FCL Nationals also turned in wins that offered a snapshot of how much arms and bats are being tested across the system.
For Washington, the larger question is less about one box score than about how the club balances immediate needs with long-term depth. The minor league results show a system with some momentum in spots and some frustration in others, but the pitching shuffle is the part that matters most at the top level. However the next round of decisions plays out, it figures to say plenty about which arms the Nationals trust to help now and which ones they want to keep close for later. [Read more 🡒]