The Nats are calling up one of the more intriguing hitters in their system. Yohandy Morales was the Nationals second round pick in the 2023 draft. After grinding his way through minors, the 24 year old is finally going to get his first look at the minor leagues. It is tough to say this call up is not deserved.
Morales was one of the biggest stories in the Nats minor league system to start the season. He looked ready for the big leagues after a red hot start to the season, but the Nats were hesitant to call him up. We will get into some of those reasons later, but first let’s start with the positives.
This year Morales has been highly productive. In 104 games at AAA, Morales ishitting.286 with 25 homers and an .882 OPS. The right handed slugger makes consistent hard contact with an average exit velocity of 91.5 MPH and a hard hit rate of 52.4%. All this hard contact, combined with lower launch angles allows Morales to consistently run high BABIP’s. Despite being a high strikeout guy, Morales is a .285 career hitter in the minors.
While he is a high strikeout guy, those numbers have gotten better this season. In AAA, his K% has gone from over 30% to 24.4% this year. He has also been able to turn his plus raw power into more actual home runs this year as well. Over half of his 47 MILB homers have come this season.
Morales has not done this by pulling the ball in the air though. His pull air numbers are very low and instead he uses the whole field to go yard. A lot of his best swings are to right-center field. This is both a blessing and a curse.
The ability to use the whole field and use it with authority is a rare gift. However, I think part of this might be due to him not being on time enough. Morales has had real trouble with high velocity, and will only see more of it up in the big leagues.
Honestly, Morales’ offensive profile reminds me quite a bit of Brady House. We saw how House struggled when he first came up. Morales might face similar growing pains. However, it is tough to tell how much he will even play down the stretch.
As a first baseman and third baseman, there is not an obvious spot in the lineup for him. Andres Chaparro, Abimelec Ortiz, Jorbit Vivas and Brady House are all fighting for reps in those positions. We could see him some at DH, but I think he could be more of a part time player.
I am still very interested to see what Morales can do. His profile feels like it should not work, yet to this point he has been a highly productive hitter. He hits a lot of ground balls, chases, whiffs and doesn’t pull the ball. Yet, he has 25 homers on the season and has made it to the big leagues.
With the lockout looming, it feels like some prospects are being held back. However, Morales had to be put on the 40-man roster anyways at the end of the season. That likely played a role in his call-up. Yo-Yo is an intriguing and somewhat divisive prospect. I am curious to see how this first exposure to the big leagues goes for him.
