Washington Nationals News: Nats Add Three Players To 40-Man Roster

As the Major League Baseball calendar gets closer to the Winter Meetings, it also means we get closer to the annual Rule 5 Draft. That draft will take place on Thursday, December 10 at the Winter Meetings. All 30 teams have until 11:59 PM ET today to put players on their 40-man roster to save them from being selected in that draft. Yesterday, the Washington Nationals chose to put second baseman Chris Bostick, catcher Spencer Kieboom, and left-handed reliever Nick Lee on their 40-man roster:

The #Nats have selected the contracts of INF Chris Bostick, C Spencer Kieboom and LHP Nick Lee, adding them to the team’s 40-man roster.
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) November 19, 2015

At some point during this season, all three players were teammates under Tripp Keister at low-A Potomac. Plus, they all played in the Arizona Fall League this offseason for the Salt River Rafters, also managed by Keister. Down in Arizona, Bostick hit .268 with four home runs and 12 RBI’s in 20 games, Kieboom hit .238 with two home runs and seven RBI’s in 13 games, and Lee was 0-1 with a 4.05 ERA in six relief appearances (five strikeouts to four walks).

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Out of these three players, Bostick and Lee advanced the farthest in the system in 2015 as he got the chance to play games up at double-A Harrisburg. Bostick played 75 games for the Senators and hit .247 with eight home runs and 40 RBI’s. Over the final 48 games of his double-A season, the 22-year-old right-hander drove in 29 runs. The Nats acquired Bostick along with reliever Abel De Los Santos last offseason in the trade with the Texas Rangers for Ross Detwiler. Bostick is the 23rd ranked prospect in the system (according to MLB Pipeline).