It has been a while since the Nats have made a move, but that should change before too long. There are some obvious moves that could occur, like signing a first baseman or trading MacKenzie Gore. However,
one move that is not as obvious is trading Jacob Young. It is far from a certainty, but it would be something I would look out for.
Just to be clear, there are not any rumors around a Young trade. This is just something I think could make sense. There are no rumors now, but you could say the same thing about Jose A. Ferrer before he got dealt. Young’s narrow skillset could be more useful for a contender than a rebuilding team.
As we all know, Jacob Young is an elite defender out in center field. Over the past two seasons, Young has compiled 34 outs above average. That is the third most in all of baseball since the start of 2024, only behind Bobby Witt Jr. and Pete Crow-Armstrong. There are no questions about the glove.
Along with grading out very well, Young has a flair for the dramatic. In 2025, Young made some of the craziest catches I have ever seen. His play against the Mets where he kicked the ball into his glove to make the catch was wild. MLB ranked it as the 11th best play of the season. Young had multiple plays inside their top 100.
However, things are not as pretty on the offensive side of the ball. He was not amazing offensively in 2024, but did enough to make him quite valuable. A .256 average and .647 OPS is not great, but thanks to his defense, Young put up 2.7 fWAR in 2024. However, he took a step back in 2025, hitting .231 with a .583 OPS. There were long stretches where Young just felt like an automatic out.
He is a slap hitter, who just put the ball on the ground a ton in 2025. This lackluster offensive profile holds him back from being a true everyday player. To his credit, Young has been working on his offensive game this offseason. He went to Driveline, where he has been working on improving his swing mechanics. Hopefully those hours at the facility pay off, but it is far from a guarantee.
In all honesty, Young is probably more valuable as a role player on a contending team than an everyday starter on a bad team. That is why a trade makes a lot of sense. With James Wood, Dylan Crews, Daylen Lile, Christian Franklin, Robert Hassell and Young, the Nats have a lot of outfielders. They also claimed Joey Wiemer earlier today. This could make Young expendable.
His defensive profile and team control make him an attractive target for teams looking to improve their outfield defense. One team that really stands out to me is the San Francisco Giants. Oracle Park is a big stadium, so a defensive specialist in center field could be attractive to them.
The Giants outfield defense was not good last season, so they could be looking for some improvements. Jung Hoo Lee is the Giants center fielder right now. He is a good player, but I think Young could be a good partner for him.
Lee performed very well against right handed pitching, hitting .276 with a .774 OPS. Meanwhile, Young has been better against left handed pitching in his career. Lee and Young could be an impressive center field platoon in San Francisco.
The Giants also have a pretty deep farm system for the Nats to explore. If the Nats wanted a big league ready arm, they could ask for Blake Tidwell or Carson Whisenhunt. There are also high upside young arms in the system like Jacob Bresnahan, Keyner Martinez and Alberto Laroche.
There are also some offensive pieces I like, such as Parks Harbor and Bo Davidson. If the Nats wanted a big leaguer, guys like Luis Matos or Hayden Birdsong make sense as well. Both of those guys have shown big time flashes, but have not put it all together yet. Birdsong intrigues me because he has all the stuff in the world, but still needs development.
There are a lot of combinations here and a need for the Giants. That is why I like them a lot as a fit. A mock package could be something like Bresnahan and Parks Harbor for Young. The idea of trading Young for Birdsong straight up excites me as well.
Again, the Giants are not the only team that could make a move for Young. There is also a good chance that Jacob Young just does not get traded. I just think this move is more likely than it appears right now. A lot of the Nats offseason moves have just come out of nowhere. This could be the next one.
