Washington Nationals Sign Josh Outman To Minor League Deal

Matt Eddy of Baseball America wrote yesterday that the Washington Nationals signed reliever Josh Outman to a minor league deal

The Washington Nationals have been quiet lately when it comes to Major League signings. However, they have making moves in terms of minor league signings. Yesterday, Matt Eddy of Baseball America wrote up the latest minor league transactions across baseball, including the Nats signing left-handed reliever Josh Outman.

It’s been a while since Outman has pitched at the big league level. He hasn’t pitched in the Major Leagues since he appeared in nine games for the New York Yankees in 2014.

After pitching nine games in the Atlanta Braves minor league system in 2015, he started the 2016 season in independent ball with the New Britain Bees before signing with the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 9.

When he was with triple-A Indianapolis last season, Outman was 0-1 with a 4.95 ERA and had 15 strikeouts to three walks in ten games (20 innings). After giving up seven runs in his first outing, he bounced back and gave up runs in three of his final nine outings and had eight strikeouts over his final 5.1 innings.

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Back in 2005, the Phillies drafted Outman in the tenth round of the MLB Draft. Over the course of his Major League career, the now 32-year-old has pitched for the Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians, the Colorado Rockies, and the aforementioned Yankees.

While Outman has had some success at the big league level, he has been a part of two trades during his career with three Major Leaguers. In 2008, he was traded to the A’s from Philadelphia for reliever Joe Blanton. Four years later, Oakland dealt him to Colorado for outfielder Seth Smith. Then, in 2013, he was traded to Cleveland for outfielder Drew Stubbs.

When Outman was with the Yankees and Indians in 2014, his average velocity on his fastball took a major decline. He had an average velocity of 92.4 miles per hour with the Rockies in 2013, but that number dipped to 89.8 miles per hour in 2014 (according to Fangraphs). He also has a slider, a curveball, and a changeup in his pitch arsenal.

Outman didn’t have many strikeouts while he was pitching at independent ball. In 14 games with the Bees, he had 5.8 strikeouts per nine innings. According to Baseball Reference, that was the second lowest of any season in his professional career (5.4 with the A’s in 2011).

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Now that Outman is a pitcher in the Washington Nationals organization, it will be interesting to see if he can become the pitcher that appeared in 61 games with the Rockies back in 2013. Only time will tell.

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