Latest Washington Nationals Camp Cuts Offer Opening for Foreign Prospect

The Washington Nationals made more cuts recently, opening a door for a former Top 25 international prospect.

Mar 15, 2024; Port St. Lucie, Florida, USA; Washington Nationals pitcher Andry Lara (23) pitches in the sixth inning against the New York Mets in the Spring Breakout at Clover Park | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals announced another round of cuts from their big league camp Friday with Opening Day fewer than three weeks away, including a promising step forward for a once-coveted international prospect.

After a stellar 2024 campaign with Double-A Harrisburg, Venezuelan pitcher Andry Lara was optioned to Triple-A Rochester Friday evening along with reliever Cole Henry. Meanwhile, another pair of arms in right-handed pitcher Joan Adon and southpaw Konnor Pilkington were reassigned to minor league camp.

Lara signed with the Nationals in 2019 for $1.25 million as one of the cycle's more highly-touted foreign-born prospects, ranked as the No. 21 overall player and second-best pitcher per MLB Pipeline.

The Venezuelan's first full season in Washington's farm system came in 2022 as he fell well short of his aforementioned pedigree, posting worse than a 5.50 ERA in over 100 innings with Single-A Fredericksburg, and was similarly disappointing the following campaign with A+ Wilmington.

4 more cuts from big league camp and surprised that Cole Henry was cut at this point. The other 3 cuts:

Reassigned to Minor League camp:
RHP Joan Adon
LHP Konnor Pilkington

Optioned to Triple-A Rochester

RHP Andry Lara

— Talk Nats (@TalkNats) March 7, 2025

The 6-foot-4 righty took a massive step forward in 2024, however, quickly earning promotion to Double-A Harrisburg where his ERA dipped down to 3.63 thanks to a superb close to the season. Lara surrendered just seven earned runs in his final five starts, a stretch that included a dominant 25:6 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a particularly dazzling one-hit outing against Bowie.

Lara made his first career Spring Training outing on Feb. 25, allowing one hit in an inning of work against the Miami Marlins, but faced his first real big-league adversity March 4 against the St. Louis Cardinals, yielding a go-ahead, two-run home run to Yordalin Pena in the top of the ninth. His assignment to Triple-A Rochester marks another step closer to The Show for Lara.

Henry's assignment, meanwhile, came as a bit of a surprise to many Nationals fans, with the 6-foot-4 pitcher and former LSU star appearing one of the more formidable arms in the Nationals bullpen this spring.

The 25-year-old righty has not allowed an earned run in 4.2 innings of work these past couple of weeks, managing an impressive nine strikeouts and zero walks during this stretch as well. Henry previously made two starts for Triple-A Rochester in 2022, allowing four earned runs and a homer, while he spent much of last season alongside Lara in Harrisburg,