Washington Nationals Need Veteran Addition To Help Upgrade Third Base Situation
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Heading into the offseason, the Washington Nationals had several needs that they were looking to address.
Fixing all of them in one offseason was going to be a challenge, especially since ownership wasn’t ready to spend big on a roster deemed not quite ready to push for a playoff spot.
Despite some spending restraints, general manager Mike Rizzo did a good job of raising the team’s floor with veteran additions.
The corner infield spots were identified as needing upgrades the most and multiple moves were made to shore things up.
At first base, Nathaniel Lowe was acquired from the Texas Rangers in a trade. Josh Bell was signed in free agency as insurance and to handle most of the designated hitter at-bats. Juan Yepez is vying for a spot on the bench as well in spring training.
He has been working diligently on his defensive versatility, even playing some outfield and third base to improve his odds of making the Opening Day roster.
If he proves capable of handling some reps at third base there could be some at-bats available as they have one of the worst situations in baseball at the hot corner in the opinion of Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report.
The MLB writer has placed them at No. 29 in his third basemen rankings, with only the Milwaukee Brewers being worse.
However, Reuter has listed Jose Tena as the starter with highly-touted prospect Brady House as the next man up.
It may not impact their standing in the rankings too much, but that very well won’t be the starter for Washington on Opening Day at the hot corner.
The Nationals signed veteran Paul DeJong on Feb. 16 to a one-year deal and he will very likely be the starting third baseman to start the season.
2024 was the first time in his career that he handled a defensive position outside of the middle infield and he more than held his own. According to several statistics on Baseball-Reference, he was an above-average defender at the position.
It is important that DeJong be able to hold his own defensively as CJ Abrams has struggled with his glove; having two net negative defenders on the left side of the field would be a burden on the pitching staff.
In addition to the defensive acumen he has shown, he also brings some much-needed power to the lineup.
DeJong hit 24 home runs between the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals last year, has a 162-game average of 26 and a career home run rate of 4.3%, which is well above the league average of 3.2%.
It would be anyone’s guess how much further he would move them up the rankings, but things definitely aren’t as bad as second worst in the MLB.
