Washington Nationals Receive Unexpected Spring Boost from Struggling Rookie

The Washington Nationals have a quality young core to build around, and one of their 2024 trade acquisitions has joined them with a strong spring showing.

Washington Nationals third baseman Andres Chaparro hits an RBI single against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Washington Nationals have a very strong core of prospects, both making recent MLB debuts and among the farm system levels.

CJ Abrams, Dylan Crews, James Wood, Luis García Jr., and Brady House are some of the most notable young pieces. However, one player has made his case this spring to potentially be added to that group, and that is Andrés Chaparro.

Chaparro was a trade acquisition by the Nationals mid-season in 2024, in exchange for veteran Dylan Floro. He did not have a good run with Washington, producing .215/.280/.413 slash lines with 15 RBI, 12 runs, four home runs and 24 strikeouts to seven walks. However, he was solid in the field, as in 102 innings he had 80 putouts, nine assists, 11 turned double plays and no errors.

In Triple-A Rochester he was solid for the 10 games he spent there, hitting .286/.419/.657 with 10 RBI, seven runs, four home runs and nine strikeouts to eight walks. It seemed like he needed a full offseason with the team to really hone in on his skills and develop a bit, and if spring training this season is anything to go off of, it may have worked.

He has had quite a few chances to prove his worth this spring, playing in nine of the Nationals' 11 games so far, and he has produced .444/.474/.667 slash lines, with five RBI, three runs, a home run, two strikeouts to one walk, and a whopping 1.141 OPS. He has been hitting the cover off the baseball, and has remained strong in the field at first base.

The difficulty to finding playing time for him is the addition of Nathaniel Lowe in December, which makes his path at first base extremely difficult. Additionally, the acquisition of Josh Bell makes things even more murky, as his primary position is first base when not the designated hitter.

With that said, he may be someone Washington keeps on the roster as infield depth, in an attempt to find a position for him throughout the season. Or, maybe he goes back to Triple-A for a time, and continues to work at third base, which he had tried to manage previously. Then if Paul DeJong is off the team next offseason, he will be able to work there instead.

Regardless, when a team finds talent, they find a way to keep the player around on the roster. Chaparro has been very effective this spring, and the Nationals will likely do what they can to keep him around.