Wednesday, June 18

Welcome to the latest edition of the Nationals Beat newsletter. This is your stop for the latest on and off the field, from news to exclusive player interviews and insights, brought to you by MLB.com club reporter Jessica Camerato.

The Nationals made a flurry of roster moves to start the week, headlined by calling up Brady House for his Major League debut. In total, there were five transactions resulting in two new faces in the Nationals clubhouse, a pair of players returning to the Minor Leagues and one player designated for assignment to clear space on the 40-man roster. 

3B Brady House: Selected from Triple-A Rochester 

OF Daylen Lile: Recalled from Triple-A Rochester

OF Robert Hassell III: Optioned to Triple-A Rochester

INF José Tena: Optioned to Triple-A Rochester

INF Juan Yepez: Designated for assignment

Let’s take a look at the moves:

3B Brady House (Nats' No. 3 prospect, MLB No. 90) 

House, the No. 11 overall pick in the 2021 Draft, earned his big league promotion with a notable performance in Rochester, slashing .304/.353/.519 with 13 home runs and a .872 OPS in 65 games with the Red Wings.

"All the feedback we got, all the games we’ve been watching, he’s playing well,” said manager Dave Martinez. “He’s playing really good defense, he’s hitting the ball really well. We figured now was the time to bring him up here and get him used to playing up here in the Major Leagues, so we’re really excited about that.”

OF Daylen Lile (No. 9 prospect) 

Lile returns for his second stint with the Nationals. He debuted on May 23 and batted .194 with three doubles and a triple in 13 games. Lile then hit .281 (three doubles, one home run, six RBIs) in his eight-game return to Rochester. 

"His at-bats were really good [in the Majors]. I mean, they really were,” said Martinez. “His numbers don't indicate that, but he was very poised, understood the strike zone, had some really good at-bats for us, took his walks when he needed to. That's what I want to do. I told him, ‘Don't worry about your numbers. … At the end of the year, your numbers will be what they are. But just go out there and play hard every day.'"

OF Robert Hassell III (No. 11 prospect)

Hassell made his Major League debut on May 22, and he appeared in 21 games (20 starts). He jumped out to a .270 batting average with six RBIs in nine games that first month, but his production dipped to .171 and two RBIs in 12 games in June.  

"He's very toolsy,” said Martinez. “He's got a good chance to be really good up here. When they're young like that, [I] never really look at the numbers. The biggest thing is to get him not to chase, just understand that he's really good when he hits the ball in the middle of the field and the other way. What I loved about him in Spring Training is he could hit a fastball the other way just about as good as anybody and didn't try to pull everything. 

“I think this first time around, he tried to do a little bit too much -- and that's not who he is. The power is there, it'll come. So we just wanted to just kind of reset him a little bit. He's definitely a big part of our future -- no doubt about it -- and I can see that in him."

INF José Tena

Tena made the Nats' 2025 Opening Day roster and appeared in 44 games with the Nationals this season. He made 38 starts at third base, a position he learned last year when he was acquired from Cleveland. Tena hit .248 with 13 RBIs, though he has hit just .182 in June. 

"He's going to still play some third base, but we want to play some second and short as well,” said Martinez. “The other thing for him is just when he gets the ball up in the zone, he hits the ball really well. A lot of it is, he started getting pull-happy underneath the baseball. So we want to really stay on top of the ball like he was last year when we first saw him, drive the ball the other way. I know he's capable of doing it. As I told him, too, he really got better playing third. … [He’s] another kid that I know is going to go down there and work, and hopefully he works hard enough, he comes back up here and helps us win games as well because he did get better.” 

The Nationals teamed up with the Josh Gibson Foundation to host Negro Leagues Night on Wednesday. Prior to the game, there will be a panel discussion on the impacts of the Negro Leagues in American baseball, open to all ticketed fans. 

The event will include moderator Dr. Daniel Nathan, American Studies faculty at Skidmore College and member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Negro Leagues Researchers and Authors Group; and panelists Sean Gibson, great-grandson of Hall of Famer Josh Gibson and Gibson Foundation President; Dr. Damion Thomas, sports curator for the National Museum of African American History and Culture; and Thennie Freeman, director of the Washington, D.C., Department of Parks and Recreation. 

The panel is scheduled to be held in the Kennedy Conference Room at Nationals Park from 5-6:15 p.m. ET. This is open to all ticketed fans, and the left field gate will open at 4:30 p.m. for those attending. 

Wednesday: Negro Leagues Night -- Josh Gibson Homestead Grays bobblehead giveaway (first 20,000 fans), inaugural Negro Leagues Legacy Panel;  50-50 Raffle benefiting the Josh Gibson Foundation and Nationals Youth Baseball Academy

Thursday: Juneteenth -- pregame and in-game content recognizing key moments from Washington, D.C.’s, Black history (courtesy of National Museum of African American History and Culture)

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