After sending Harry Ford to Triple-A yesterday, the Nats sent a couple more big names to Rochester. This morning, the team announced that Josiah Gray, Robert Hassell III and Julian Fernandez had been sent to Triple-A, while Zach Penrod has been reassigned to minor league camp. Obviously, Hassell and Gray are the biggest names here, and we will break down why they are starting the season in Rochester.
While Hassell’s demotion will be a surprise to some, it was not a huge shock to me. The Nats have a very deep pool of outfielders, and Hassell was on the outside looking in. There are a lot of mouths to feed between James Wood, Daylen Lile, Dylan Crews, Jacob Young, Hassell, Christian Franklin and even Joey Wiemer.
The fact that Hassell is left handed may have hurt him. With Wood and Lile being lefties, the Nats may have wanted a right handed bench outfielder. Christian Franklin and Joey Wiemer are both good against left handed pitching, so that may have given them the edge. Hassell also struggled pretty heavily in his first taste of big league action, with a .572 OPS.
Hassell was better than Dylan Crews this spring, but still only posted a .631 OPS despite a .286 average. Hopefully Hassell can either tap into more power or cut down his strikeouts in AAA. Right now, Hassell feels like a guy who is fairly well rounded, but does not have one thing he excels at.
Despite the demotion, I think we will see Hassell at some point this season. If Dylan Crews continues to struggle and Hassell excels in the minors, he could take that spot. However, in a crowded outfield room, Hassell is going to need to stand out to get playing time.
As for Josiah Gray, this demotion feels like a way to buy time. The former All-Star has missed most of the last two seasons due to Tommy John Surgery and needs to make up for lost time. While he is healthy now, Gray could use some time to ramp up.
This gives the Nats a set rotation of Cade Cavalli, Zack Littell, Foster Griffin, Miles Mikolas and Jake Irvin. If either of those last two guys struggle, Gray will be able to take their place. Both Mikolas and Irvin should be on short leashes entering the season given the starting pitching depth.
Gray’s lack of velocity is another reason why they sent him down. In his first inning of spring, he was sitting at 94, but after that he was living more in the 90-92 range. Hopefully more velocity comes back as he gets further removed from the surgery.
Even if it does not come back, Gray is mostly a breaking ball pitcher now anyway. The velocity on his slider and curve were more in line with pre-surgery numbers. This trip to the minors allows Gray to get his feet wet and re-establish himself.
If he can get back to his 2023 ways, Gray can be a valuable, if frustrating piece of the rotation. The Nats new pitching philosophy is all about cutting fastball usage if you don’t have a good fastball, and that is right up Gray’s alley. He was already doing that, but now he can take that to the extreme.
Hassell and Gray are both likely to get their shot at some point this season, but it will not be on Opening Day. With more cuts to make, Paul Toboni and Blake Butera still have big decisions to make. However, we are getting closer to seeing what that Opening Day roster looks like.
