This Seems To Be Why Nationals Haven't Promoted Yohandy Morales Yet
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The Washington Nationals have a 24-year-old top prospect who has slashed .344/.416/.600 with 13 home runs, 11 doubles and 36 RBIs through 53 games at Triple-A this season. That comes after the same player blasted 11 homers with 49 RBIs during his first experience at that level last year. He also plays first and third base, which have been needs on the major league roster.
Yet, Yohandy Morales -- who was a second-round pick in the 2023 draft -- has not been called up to the MLB in his career. It's an interesting situation, and plenty of fans have scratched their heads wondering why that's the case.
Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic (subscription required) shed some light on why he's yet to make his big league debut, and why he'll remain in the minors until he consistently improves upon these three things: in-zone whiff, chase rate and groundball rate.
In-Zone Whiff and Chase Rate
One of the clear weaknesses of Morales' game is his swing-and-miss. In 2025, he struck out 164 times in 128 total contests, and his K rate was 30.4% across 95 Triple-A games. Even with the improved output this season with Rochester, he's still struck out 54 times.
Much of that has to do with how often he chases pitches. Last year, Morales had a chase rate of 32.4%. That is a worrying figure when it comes to his projection for the next level, and it's one of the reasons why Washington has kept him on the farm despite their situation at the infield corners. So far this season, the slugger has improved how much he chases with chase rate of 30.5%. But that's still a high number that creates cause for concern.
As for his in-zone whiff, that is also something he needs to work on. Morales made contact with pitches inside the zone 77.4% of the time in 2025. That number has increased to 78.7% this year, but it's still far from the MLB league average mark of around 85-87%.
Continuing to improve those numbers while he's in the minors will help ensure that he can be successful in the majors. Because right now, despite his incredible raw numbers, the underlying metrics create a cloudy future for Morales when he gets to the MLB.
Improving Groundball Rate
Perhaps the biggest concern when it comes to Morales is how often he hits a ground ball. In 2025, he hit a grounder 50.8% of the time in Triple-A. That number has increased to 53.2% this year.
It's pretty remarkable that he's been able to blast 24 total home runs with Rochester based on how often he hits ground balls. And one can only imagine what he might do if he launches the ball in the air more often.
The Nationals seem like they are going to try and make these adjustments to Morales' approach before he gets to the bigs. And by doing that, the hope is he'll become a slugging infielder for them that will add even more pop to their lineup going forward.
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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