After extending Jacob Young this morning, Paul Toboni made another move. He acquired lefty reliever Reiver Sanmartin in exchange for minor league righty reliever Robert Cranz. Sanmartin is now the third player Toboni has acquired from the Giants in the past couple weeks. It is a move I am not particularly inspired by, but we should see Sanmartin in the big leagues next year.
The Nats rotated through
a ton of relievers last year, but there was one archetype that Toboni really seemed to like. Throughout last season, the Nats often had at least one soft tossing lefty who threw from a lower slot on the roster. Richard Lovelady, Tom Cosgrove and PJ Poulin are all examples of that. Sanmartin also fits into that grouping.
Sanmartin throws from a 22 degree arm angle, which is much lower than average. His fastball only averages 91.8 MPH, which is not impressive these days, even for a lefty. That means he has to rely on funk, movement and command to get outs. To be honest, these low slot lefties are not my favorite archetype. They have a low margin for error and are not very high upside.
Robert Cranz, the pitcher who the Nats dealt in this move, is someone I was keeping tabs on as well. The 23 year old was drafted in the 7th round of the 2024 draft, and has a unique arsenal. He averaged 95 MPH while having elite carry on his fastball despite throwing from a lower slot. Stuff models absolutely loved Cranz.
However, that raw stuff did not translate at all, at least in Triple-A. Cranz had a 2.25 ERA in High-A and a 3.42 ERA in Double-A. He also posted elite strikeout numbers at those levels. It was a different story once he got to Rochester though. Cranz had an ERA of 13.11 in 13 appearances before getting sent back to Double-A. That probably caused the Nats to give up on him.
I still do not know about the idea of giving him up for a 30 year old lefty who just got DFA’d. Sanmartin is also out of options, so the Nats have to roster him or risk him getting claimed on waivers. There are things he does well, but overall I am not a huge fan of this move.
Getting to the positives, Sanmartin is excellent at keeping the ball on the ground. He posted an elite 62.9% ground ball rate in 21.1 innings last year. Sanmartin also displayed good control, only walking 2.95 batters per 9 innings. Walks were something that haunted other low slot lefties on the Nats, but it was not a problem for Sanmartin. The 30 year old’s heavy sinker and good control gives him a path to success.
I also wonder if the Nats think they could squeeze out another tick of velocity. If Sanmartin’s sinker could sit at 93, I think that would be a big deal. To go with the sinker, Sanmartin has a slider he throws to lefties and a changeup he throws to righties.
He is a pretty standard sinker-baller, but there are some things to like here. Despite being a ground ball heavy guy, his 10% barrel rate was quite high. Honestly, the Nats might think that is due for some positive regression.
It is not my favorite move, but I at least somewhat see the vision. Hopefully this does not stop us from getting a bigger name lefty reliever. Sanmartin is out of options, so that worries me. We will have to see what the Nats vision is for the lefty though. A bit of an uninspiring move, but let’s see how this plays out.
