2026 Annual Minor League Bullpen Watch
By forensicane
2026 has been a refreshing year for the Washington Nationals minor league system. TalkNats has closely followed a number of high-profile prospects, including the celebrated success and quick promotion of Ronny Cruz, the emerging all-around talent of 18-year-old Eli Willits, and the early left-handed hitting returns of another trade return, Devin Fitz-Gerald. All the way up and down the system, the minor league teams are winning for the first time in over a decade.
Closer scrutiny of the minor league teams reveals a host of less publicized developments that warrant watching. These are no small matters, and soon enough will be affecting the big club.
The Nationals’ perennial bullpen watch is no different this year. The gauze pad that was Kyle Finnegan, and before him Hunter Harvey, are long gone. The replacement we thought we had for Finnegan, Jose A. Ferrer, is long gone. The minor leagues have teased us for several years with late-inning hopefuls who handled hi-lev in AA or AAA and ultimately disappointed, broke down, disappeared, or more than one of the above. Pitchers with promise unfulfilled included Amos Willingham, Nash Walters, Matt Cronin, Marquis Grissom, Jr., Jordan Weems, Michael Cuevas, Mason Thompson, Carlos Romero, Tyler Schoff, Holden Powell, Zach Bryckzy, and others. Now, what?
Clayton Beeter, Brad Lord, Gus Varland, PJ Poulin, Richard Lovelady and more recently, Orlando Ribalta have shouldered the hi lev load for the big club. Mitchell Parker, (rumors of his demise being somewhat overstated) has given multi-inning work with occasional lev. Four of those pitchers were not even in the system a year ago, three of them had been cast away from their rosters. Somehow, the Nationals are around .500 with that bunch.
Where do the minor league reinforcements fit in? Will reliever Paxton Schultz or Orlando Ribalta graduate to key major league roles? Schultz showed early promise beyond a AAAA warm body, but has been struggling. Should we expect regression from one or more of the non-Lords? Varland, Lovelady and Parker gave us a taste of that recently.
Lower down, though, there aren’t many who grab attention, even as the teams are winning and winning. Rochester is on a tear like nothing in recent memory, and in first place, a further testament to the rostering on the minor leagues. But a dominant late inning arm is not the reason why. Eddie Yean is handling the closing at Rochester, has always kept the ball in the ballpark which is nice, and has been pretty decent over his last ten outings, but is far from dominating. Zac Penrod still walks too many to be let out of the house. Luke Young was recently promoted to AAA after posting a 2.04 ERA and opponents’ batting average of only .161 in his second turn at Harrisburg. But Young still himself walks too many to position himself as a viable solution at this point. He’s put up a few effective outings during the Red Wings’ run but has not been tested in high leverage situations at AAA. Seth Shuman, Erik Tolman, and Jack Sinclair have contributed some effective outings but their overall body of work does not generate optimism for helping at the big league level. Luis Perales, recently injured, is looking more and more like he is being groomed to be a starter.
The Nationals are aggressively responding to the empty cupboard, even as Cole Henry works is way back. Alex Young, a lefthander who has produced when healthy enough to get on the field, surfaced in the Nationals system after a long layoff rehabilitating an arm injury. Shawn Dubin, signed only a few weeks ago and assigned to AAA, was quickly released. Zak Kent got the call from the waiver wire with hopes of being more than a warm body, but he was quickly moved back to Rochester and .
Harrisburg is enjoying a good season as well. They, too, lacked a dominant arm that looks ready for a close up in DC. Jared Simpson wows with big strikeout numbers but all too frequently walks his way into trouble. Erik Mejia continues his conversion to pitching with excellent success. He, too, has to ripen his command in the crucible of AAA before being a reliable major league option.
In a month or so, we may be talking about righthander Robert Cranz, who was promoted from his late inning role at Wilmington after overmatching A+ hitters following a return from injury. He’s just turned 23, is a graduate of Oklahoma State, and continues to produce swing-and-miss at a level , and now, excellent control where one can size up whether he’s worth dreaming on. On the veteran-laden Senators staff, Cranz is pitching high-leverage as Harrisburg continues to play winning baseball.
Whom do you have your eyes on?
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