Brady House Now Showing Why Nationals Believe He's Their Long-Term Third Baseman
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There was some surprise this past offseason when the Washington Nationals didn't directly address the hole they had at third base.
With plenty of notable third basemen on the open market, the front office decided to be passive when it came to that position, opting to bring in veteran Paul DeJong to split time with some of their young players.
But it became clear why the Nationals operated in that fashion: they were keeping the runway open for their star prospect Brady House.
Viewed as the best hitting prospect in Washington's pipeline, the 11th overall pick of the 2021 draft began the year with Triple-A Rochester, putting together a campaign in the minors that made it hard for the Nationals to not give him a look.
With a slash line of .304/.353/.519, 13 home runs and 41 RBIs across 65 games, the call eventually came for House on June 16. However, things didn't click immediately like everyone had hoped, with the 22-year-old having ups and downs like virtually every young player when they face major league pitching for the first time.
Brady House Is Figuring Things Out in September
To the credit of the Nationals, they have stuck with House even through his struggles, giving him a long leash when it comes to finding his stride at this level. Much of that probably stems from him being just about maxed out when it comes to what else he needed to show at the minor league level, but the patience the organization has displayed is starting to reap the reward.
That's because House is seemingly starting to find his groove in September. He entered the month with just two longballs hit over his first 54 games, but with his momentum-creating blast on Friday that got Washington back into the contest, he now sits with two home runs across nine games.
"He's looked a lot more settled, swinging at the right stuff," James Wood said about House and his homer after the game, per Andrew Golden of The Washington Post (subscription required). "He has tons of juice. That was a sweet swing, and it was big for us, just getting us started."
house run pic.twitter.com/xq5kZeiAlx
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 12, 2025
House's home run wasn't a result of doing anything different, though. He swung at the first pitch, something he does 53.2% of the time which is well above the league average of 30.1%. However, he punished a middle-middle breaking ball that was a mistake by the pitcher.
And while the aggressive nature of House is probably not going to change, he can better pair that aggressiveness with results if he recognizes the best pitches to attack instead of just entering an at-bat with a swing-first mentality.
"He's aggressive. He's going to swing," Miguel Cairo said. "What we want him to do is hit it in the strike zone. Don't let the pitcher dictate where you want to swing."
All of that can be learned and developed with more experience at the big league level. But in the meantime, the two longballs he's hit in nine games during the month of September is showing why many people in this organization believe he's their long-term answer at third base.
