Nationals Place Nasim Nunez on Bereavement List, Recall Former Top Prospect
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The Washington Nationals got a much-needed day off on Thursday following a six-game sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres during their West Coast road trip.
But even with no game taking place, the Nationals made a roster move.
The team announced that they will be without infielder Nasim Nunez for at least the next few days, as he was placed on the bereavement list. Outfielder Andrew Pinckney was recalled to take his place, which will be his second stint in the bigs.
Players who get placed on the bereavement list step away from the team for a period of at least three days and at most seven days. That designation is given to those who are dealing with death or severe illness in their immediate family, so thoughts and prayers are with Nunez and his family at this time.
Andrew Pinckney Gets Second Shot in the Majors
Pinckney, who was a former top 30 prospect for the Nationals, gets a second crack at The Show after he was with Washington from Aug. 4-Sept. 2 when James Wood was on the injured list. During that time, Pinckney hit a home run as his first career hit off of Philadelphia Phillies ace Cristopher Sanchez. He also finished his first stint in the bigs with a .273/.320/.500 slash line, that lone homer, a triple and two RBIs across 13 games and 22 at-bats with eight strikeouts and one walk.
The 25-year-old slugger has had a power surge the past two seasons, as he hit 20 home runs with Triple-A Rochester in 2025 before launching 14 this year through 99 games. He has high hard-hit rates and barrels the ball a good amount. However, he ranked in the third percentile with a swing rate of 39.1%, while he also whiffed 33.3% of the time, which was in the 14th percentile.
That caused him to mainly be a boom-or-bust hitter, as he did some damage when he made contact with the ball, but he struggled to do so consistently. The hope is that changes this time around, and he'll have roughly a week to prove what he can do whenever he's penciled into the lineup.
Infield Situation Gets More Complicated
When the Nationals announced that two-time All-Star shortstop was getting shifted over to second base for the majority of the time to finish the season, the main goal of that was to see how this infield looked with elite defender Nasim Nunez manning shortstop while Abrams slid over to the keystone.
However, that plan largely did not come to fruition. Abrams was frustrated with the decision and made it known publicly. He then hurt his ankle, which caused Washington to utilize him more as the designated hitter. Now, Nunez is going to miss some time, which will reduce how much Abrams plays at second base before this year comes to a close.
All in all, after the Nationals revealed this seismic decision, they only got to see Abrams at the keystone six times, with five of them being starts. That is not enough data to give the organization an idea of what he might look like there in a game setting, which could complicate things this winter.
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Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he worked at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad became the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continued to cover Penn State athletics. Currently, Brad is the Publisher for Washington Nationals On SI and covers multiple teams across the On SI network. He is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, where he and his co-host discuss topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai