Photo by Kevin Barrett/Nats.Talk
Before Sunday’s game, the Washington Nationals sent a bullpen pitcher packing and brought up a position player. That is something you don’t see often in MLB baseball because teams do not normally go below the maximum threshold of 13 pitchers on the roster. But this was going to be a 1-day maneuver before the All-Star break.
Before Sunday’s game, reliever Matt Krook was DFA’d and DH/1B Abimelec Ortiz was called-up. That was short-lived as Ortiz was sent back to Triple-A after Sunday’s game as expected. Today, the team announced official moves of reliever Max Kranick called up, and catcher Drew Millas to the 10-day IL with a fractured finger. More on that later. We broke the news that Harry Ford was being called-up to make his Nats’ debut at some point. There are no games until Friday when the All-Star break ends.
With Kranick called up, he gets the pitcher’s roster back to the maximum of 13. With Ortiz and Millas off the roster, the position player roster is back to 13 from the 14 on Sunday.
The Triple-A logjam will now have an opening, and as Brooke Tunstall points out in the tweet below, that should allow the Nats to promote some catchers up the line. One of catcher Caleb Lomavita or Max Romero should be on the move to Triple-A Rochester, and Kevin Bazzell should be on the move to Double-A Harrisburg.
On Tuesday and due to the All-Star break, Kranick flew to West Palm Beach, Florida to pitch 2.0 innings in the Florida Complex League. He was mostly facing first year minor leaguers but also a rehabbing Mike Tauchman. And Kranick walked Tauchman and gave up a homer to one of those young minor leaguers for a quick two earnies and a long inning that limited him to 1 1/3 innings. That didn’t dissuade the Nats from calling up Kranick for Friday.
With Millas, his woes started last season on August 28 when he was called for catcher’s interference as a batter extended his swing with force into his mitt and broke his left index finger that included a dislocation. Source told us that part of the surgery included a small plate inserted on the bone for stability. That same finger has been an issue all season for Millas per our source, and today they put him on the 10-day IL with a fracture of that same finger.
Basically when Millas bats, he has the surgically repaired finger with a plate, and a secondary splint and packing around the finger when he was batting as you could see in the photo.
What Millas will do per our source is that he will be consulting with a hand specialist to give him his options. He could take time-off and let it heal on its own, or have a surgeon re-repair it. Is there a Plan C?
In the meantime, Ford has had an up and down season. Rumors that he hurt his shoulder seemed to backup that something was wrong. He didn’t have a good Spring Training, and was sent to Triple-A to start the season. Ford managed to only hit .200 in April with a .531 OPS. The month of May was better for Ford with a .234 batting average and a .716 OPS. June was even better, and July has been great with a .292 batting average and a 1.028 OPS. Even with the rumors of an aching shoulder, we all know that most of the Triple-A batters were having a hard time in April in the frigid cold Siberian weather with the exception of Yohandy Morales who raked in April while batting .341 with a .924 OPS.
Most people chalked up Ford’s slow start to the frigid weather. He’s from Hawaii. He went from 80°F Spring Training weather in West Palm Beach to 28°F March weather in Rochester, New York. The good news is month over month, Ford’s numbers have improved. He was acquired by the Nationals in December in a trade for Nats’ closer Jose A. Ferrer. Before the new draft prospects are seeded into the new rankings, Ford is the Nats’ №7 prospect on MLB Pipeline. A good chance he drops a spot when Chris Hacopian is added into the rankings.
Ford, 23, made his MLB debut last year in September for the Seattle Mariners. He will now get a golden opportunity with the Washington Nationals while Millas is on the mend. By the way, Millas is the first position player for the Nats to go on the IL during the season — as well as the oldest at the ripe old age of 28½. Get well soon.
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