Washington Nationals

Washington Nationals reliever Jorge López has been suspended for his role in Wednesday's benches-clearing incident against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

MLB announced on Thursday that López received a three-game suspension "for intentionally throwing" at Andrew McCutchen in the seventh inning of Pittsburgh's 6-1 win.

Jorge López has received a three-game suspension and a fine for intentionally throwing at Andrew McCutchen last nightpic.twitter.com/hxeUwgd8rX

— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) April 17, 2025

Nationals manager Davey Martinez was also suspended for one game. He will sit out Thursday's series finale at PNC Park. López is appealing his suspension, meaning he will be eligible to pitch until a decision is rendered.

López was ejected from the game by the home-plate umpire after the pitch went toward McCutchen's head before the Pirates outfielder was able to duck out of the way to avoid being hit.

The situation was part of a series of events between the two teams that started on Tuesday night when Washington third baseman Paul DeJong suffered a fractured nose when he was hit by a pitch from Mitch Keller.

López hit Bryan Reynolds with a pitch one batter prior to McCutchen stepping in the box on Wednesday. The right-handed reliever did issue an apology after the game.

"I apologize for everything," López told reporters. "I didn’t make any pitch [on purpose] right there. … I tried to do my adjustment. I’ve been trying to find my way with my delivery, I tried to find my way through the whole season. And it's really miserable that happened. I regret what just happened."

The Pirates, who led the game 1-0 entering the bottom of the seventh, scored five runs to blow it wide open.

López was charged with four runs on two hits allowed. His ERA is up to 10.57 in 7.2 innings this season.

The Nationals and Pirates will wrap up their four-game series on Thursday afternoon. Washington will travel to Colorado for three games with the Rockies this weekend.

The Washington Nationals unveiled their new Nike "City Connect" uniforms ahead of the 2025 MLB season.

The design is a major departure from the previous iteration, which celebrated Washington, D.C.'s cherry blossoms. According to the Washington Post's Spencer Nusbaum, the "District Blueprint" concept is meant to highlight the city's layout:

all grids lead home pic.twitter.com/v8rOdYOL6S

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) March 23, 2025

THE BLUEPRINT pic.twitter.com/5CbIKs0oYn

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) March 23, 2025

JUST IN: The Nationals have revealed their new City Connect uniforms 🌸 pic.twitter.com/Xbcv8sLqSx

— MLB (@MLB) March 23, 2025

The Nats shared a more in-depth explanation behind each design element. The city grid is woven into the jersey tops. The Capitol dome is outlined in the "W" logo that adorns the hats and jersey sleeves, with cherry blossoms added to either side.

all those copycats, but they’ll never be the blueprint pic.twitter.com/k4dH2iaEt4

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) March 23, 2025

Per Nusbaum, the Nats will don the new City Connects on March 29 and March 30 in their opening series against the Philadelphia Phillies. The uniforms will then be reserved for Friday and Saturday home games.

These are the second City Connects to be confirmed for 2025. The Houston Astros announced theirs earlier in the week.

JUST IN: The Astros have revealed their new City Connect uniforms 🚀 pic.twitter.com/kzS6UM46AF

— MLB (@MLB) March 19, 2025

Six other teams are slated for rollouts: Arizona Diamondbacks, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies, Miami Marlins and San Francisco Giants. In each case, this will be their second City Connect design.

FanGraphs projects the Nationals to win 73 games and have just a 3.1 percent chance of reaching the postseason.

Building for the future remains the goal in Washington with talented young outfielders James Wood and Dylan Crews approaching their first full seasons in the majors. If both can make a breakthrough in 2025, then the Nats might be entering the playoff conversation in 2026.

The Washington Nationals are back in red.

Former second overall pick Dylan Crews showed off a new red jersey featuring the Curly W logo on Saturday ahead of the 2025 season.

red dead redemption pic.twitter.com/h3qIntN9Zc

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) January 25, 2025

The Nationals did not wear red jerseys during the 2024 season, according to Uniform Lineup.

Crews wore the new jersey Saturday during an event speaking with Nationals season ticket holders.

Dylan Crews talks about being a Rookie of the Year candidate. pic.twitter.com/3afcva3FbB

— Talk Nats (@TalkNats) January 26, 2025

There is more Nationals jersey news left to come this season. The Nats will be unveiling new City Connect uniforms after retiring their cherry blossom-themed kits after the 2024 season, MASN's Mark Zuckerman reported in September.

Crews is heading into the 2025 season ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the MLB.

After impressing in the minor leagues, he batted .218 with three home runs and eight RBI in 31 games for the Nationals last season. He's looking to up those numbers during what could be his first full season in the majors.

The Nationals are meanwhile looking to improve their record after finishing two straight seasons with 71 wins. The club will open the 2025 season against the Philadelphia Phillies on March 27.

The third-ever MLB draft lottery favored the Washington Nationals as they earned the first overall pick on Tuesday.

The @Nationals have won the #MLBDraft Lottery and will select first in the 2025 MLB Draft. pic.twitter.com/e5VKOqlrrF

— MLB (@MLB) December 10, 2024

The Nationals had the fourth-best odds of winning the lottery at 10.2 percent. It will be the third time Washington has drafted first overall.

The Colorado Rockies and Miami Marlins had the best odds to get the first overall pick at 22.45 percent each. The Los Angeles Angels, Nationals and Toronto Blue Jays were just behind them followed by the rest of the teams that didn't reach the postseason.

Despite having a historically bad record, the Chicago White Sox were ineligible for a lottery pick because they won a lottery pick last year and are a payor club, which prevents back-to-back seasons with a lottery pick, per MLB.com. The same logic applies to the Oakland Athletics. Those two teams can't get a pick earlier than 10th or 11th.

Here's a look at the complete draft order of the first round.

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2024 MLB Draft (Round 1 Order)

1. Washington Nationals

2. Los Angeles Angels

3. Seattle Mariners

4. Colorado Rockies

5. St. Louis Cardinals

6. Pittsburgh Pirates

7. Miami Marlins

8. Toronto Blue Jays

9. Cincinnati Reds

10. Chicago White Sox

11. Oakland Athletics

12. Texas Rangers

13. San Francisco Giants

14. Tampa Bay Rays

15. Boston Red Sox

16. Minnesota Twins

17. Chicago Cubs

18. Arizona Diamondbacks

19. Baltimore Orioles

20. Milwaukee Brewers

21. Houston Astros

22. Atlanta Braves

23. Kansas City Royals

24. Detroit Tigers

25. San Diego Padres

26. Philadelphia Phillies

27. Cleveland Guardians

28. New York Mets

29. New York Yankees

30. Los Angeles Dodgers

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There are plenty of exciting prospects from the collegiate and high school ranks for the Nationals to choose from, but Ethan Holliday might be the most intriguing.

Holliday is the son of MLB legend Matt Holiday and the younger brother of Jackson Holliday, who went first overall in the 2022 draft to the Baltimore Orioles. Should the Nats take Holliday, it would make him and Jackson the first brothers ever to both go No. 1 in the MLB draft.

Holliday, who currently plays shortstop, stands at 6'4" and 200 pounds which could lead to him moving over to third base upon reaching the majors. That frame gives him both a strong arm and power at the plate, making him hard to pass up for Washington.

Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter and MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo both list Holliday as the top prospect for the 2025 MLB draft.

Jace LaViolette could be the first player off the board from the collegiate ranks. The Texas A&M outfielder had a .305 batting average and 1.175 OPS a season ago, slugging 29 home runs and 78 RBI. He helped lead the Aggies to a College World Series appearance, where they fell to Tennessee.

Lottery teams wanting to draft a pitcher should look no further than Florida State's Jamie Arnold. The lefty starter had a 2.98 ERA in his second year with the Seminoles, posting 159 strikeouts and a 1.098 WHIP on his way to an 11-3 record.

It's never easy identifying which prospect will emerge as the top out of his class, but the Nationals have done well in identifying talent in the past. The first time they had the No. 1 overall pick in 2009 they selected Stephen Strasburg. A year later, they picked Bryce Harper with the top pick.

If Washington has similar success this year, it could mean another star on its roster.

The Washington Nationals are a "widely rumored landing spot" for free agent third baseman Alex Bregman, Kiley McDaniel reported for ESPN.

Bregman, who has played nine seasons and won two World Series with the Houston Astros, batted .260 with an OPS of .768 in 145 appearances in 2024.

The infielder earned a $30.5 million salary in the last season of his previous five-year deal with the Astros. Houston is also making him a "primary target" in free agency, per McDaniel.

Bregman earned the first Gold Glove Award of his career in 2024 after leading AL third basemen with a .972 fielding percentage and 103 putouts.

He also finished the season as a Silver Slugger Award finalist after hitting 30 doubles, 26 home runs and 75 RBI last season.

After joining the Astros as the No. 2 pick in the 2015 draft, Bregman is now heading into free agency for the first time in his career.

The Astros extended a one-year qualifying offer of $21.05 million to Bregman on Monday. Bregman is expected to decline the offer by the deadline of Nov. 19, and should he sign with another team the Astros would receive a draft pick as compensation.

Should Bregman walk, the Astros could decide to promote top third baseman prospect Shay Whitcomb, who appeared in 20 games for the MLB club this season, or seek a replacement in free agency or the trade market.

The Nationals, meanwhile, are looking an upgrade at third base after José Tena recorded a 0.3 WAR, while Trey Lipscomb marked a -0.1 WAR, at the position last season.

Bregman, who marked a WAR of more than four for the third straight season in 2024, would present an upgrade for the Nationals on both offense and defense. But his acquisition will be an expensive proposition for the Nats.

The Athletic's Jim Bowden recently projected that Bregman's next contract will be comparable to Matt Chapman's six-year, $151 million deal with the San Francisco Giants earlier this year or the eight-year, $260 million contract Nolan Arenado signed with the Colorado Rockies in 2019.

Should Bregman express interest in leaving Houston, general manager Mike Rizzo would have to decide if a similar cost is worth it to help the Nationals take another step toward postseason contention in 2025.

Washington Nationals first baseman Joey Gallo and professional dancer Hayden Hopkins announced the birth of their first child together—a baby girl.

Hopkins shared a snap of the their daughter on social media with the caption, "Capulet Lila Gallo. Heaven on earth arrived a few days ago."

MLB's Joey Gallo Welcomes Child With Hayden Hopkins | Click to read more 👇 https://t.co/zOp0bgi55S

— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports) October 28, 2024

TMZ Sports reported that The Cirque Du Soleil dancer and MLB player had planned the pregnancy and were both "excited" to start a family together.

Gallo and the Nationals finished their season 71-91, failing to make a postseason appearance. The new dad posted a .161 batting average, with 10 home runs and 20 RBI over 76 games in his first season with the Nationals.

The Washington Nationals will wear their cherry blossom uniforms for the last time over the weekend.

Per MASN's Mark Zuckerman, MLB and Nike planned for teams to wear their City Connect uniforms for just three seasons before introducing new ones, meaning that after the Nats' series with the Philadelphia Phillies, they will retire the cherry blossom uniforms and unveil new ones before the 2025 season.

https://twitter.com/TalkinBaseball_/status/1508808922026631182

Washington's cherry blossom City Connect jerseys were unveiled before the 2022 season and have been incredibly popular among fans. Though Nationals fans will be excited to see what uniforms are in store for 2025, it will be tough to part with this year's City Connect jerseys.

While Washington's uniforms over the past three years were a success, the Nats haven't found much success on the field. They haven't reached the postseason since they won the World Series in 2019 and they had their worst season in franchise history in 2022.

The Nationals are 69-60 on the season and have been eliminated from the postseason. They will play their final series of the season this weekend against the Phillies where they'll look to end the season on a positive note against their division rivals.

The future is at least somewhat bright for Washington, however. The Nationals have a decent group of prospects highlighted by outfielder Dylan Crews, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 MLB draft.

As Washington enters a new era of uniforms next season, it will also hope to turn the page on its struggles over the last few years.

Despite only having one week remaining in the 2024 MLB season, the Washington Nationals made an interesting move to demote All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams.

Nationals manager Davey Martinez confirmed the move prior to Saturday's game against the Chicago Cubs, noting it wasn't a performance-based move. He didn't provide any additional information.

The Athletic's Britt Ghiroli first reported the Nationals were optioning Abrams to the minors. He will report to the team's spring-training facility in Florida to workout with other members of the Triple-A team in the event they are needed before the end of the season.

General manager Mike Rizzo addressed the rumors that Abrams was at a casino in Chicago until the early morning hours prior to Friday's game that started at 1:20 p.m. local time.

General manager Mike Rizzo, when asked about the tweet on social media referencing Abrams being at a casino in Chicago until 8 am told The Athletic: "We’re all aware of the report but beyond that it’s an internal issue that we will keep in the family."

— Britt Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) September 21, 2024

CJ Abrams was 8 for his last 17...the NL All-Star was optoned today. Why? because according to witnesses he was out until 8 am at Bally Casino before a 1pm game. #Nationals GM/Prez said not on his watch and to the minor leagues he went.

— Jim Bowden⚾️ (@JimBowdenGM) September 21, 2024

Martinez emphasized the move was made due to "an internal issue" and not anything related to Abrams' on-field performance.

Dave Martinez said CJ Abrams will head to Washington, then to West Palm Beach until the end of the season. He won’t play against in the majors.

Martinez: “I just want it to be known it wasn’t performance-based. It’s an internal issue. I’m not going to give specifics.”

— Andrew Golden (@andrewcgolden) September 21, 2024

Abrams is making $752,400 this season as a pre-arbitration player. ESPN's Jesse Rogers reported the demotion will cost him around $30,000, but he would potentially file a grievance through the MLB Players Association for lost pay if he feels the move is unjust.

The Nationals' Triple-A team, based in Rochester, New York, has games on Saturday and Sunday to end its season.

Abrams had a breakout 2024 for the Nationals that resulted in him being named to the NL All-Star team. He hit .268/.343/.489 with 15 homers and 15 stolen bases in 89 appearances before the All-Star break.

In 49 games since the break, Abrams is only hitting .203/.260/.326 with five homers and 16 stolen bases. He was finishing the season strong with a .271/.308/.458 slash line in 52 plate appearances this month.

The Nationals acquired Abrams from the San Diego Padres in August 2022 as part of the Juan Soto trade. He has been their full-time starting shortstop since the deal.

Washington has eight games remaining in the regular season, including Saturday's matchup with the Cubs. The team has already been eliminated from playoff contention with a 68-86 record.