Washington Nationals News: Blake Treinen And Chris Heisey Win Final Roster Spots
By Ricky Keeler
It was reported last night that Blake Treinen and Chris Heisey have won the final spots on the Washington Nationals Opening Day roster
After last night’s 4-3 exhibition win over the Minnesota Twins at Nats Park, the wait was on to see who would get the final spots on the Washington Nationals Opening Day roster. In the end, manager Dusty Baker and the organization decided that the last two spots would go to reliever Blake Treinen and outfielder Chris Heisey. James Wagner of The Washington Post and Jerry Crasnick of ESPN were the first to report these moves last night:
Heard Blake Treinen made the Nats bullpen. Tossed 8 2/3 scoreless innings this spring and worked on improvements with Mike Maddux.
— James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) April 2, 2016
Chris Heisey has made the #Nationals Opening Day roster as a reserve outfielder.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) April 2, 2016
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Treinen won the spot over Sean Burnett and Trevor Gott. Gott ended up being optioned to triple-A Syracuse along with outfielder Matt den Dekker. After the game, Burnett told reporters he had not made the team, which means he will opt out of his minor league contract and become a free agent. Burnett did not give up a run in 9.2 innings of work this spring:
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As for Treinen, he did not give up a run in his 8.2 innings of work down in the Grapefruit League while striking out eight batters. Last night, he threw a 1-2-3 eighth inning and struck out one batter in the win. If Treinen can be more consistent against lefties, he can have a strong season in 2016 and get the confidence of the coaching staff to be used in high-leverage situations. Plus, if the Nats had taken Burnett, they would have had three left-handers when you include Oliver Perez and Felipe Rivero.
Last night, after the game, Baker mentioned that Treinen “has tremendous value, especially at the tail end of a ballgame.” (h/t Chase Hughes, CSN Mid Atlantic).
Heisey wasn’t a surprise for that final bench spot because of his familiarity with playing under Dusty Baker from his time with the Reds. This spring, hit .233 with two home runs and ten RBI’s in 43 at-bats. The one stat that helps Heisey is his ability to help the team off the bench.
Back in 2014, the 31-year-old hit .273 with four home runs and 11 RBI’s in 44 at-bats as a pinch-hitter with the Reds (only four pinch-hit AB’s with the Dodgers last year). Those four home runs were the most of any pinch-hitter in the NL and he had the fourth most RBI’s behind Reed Johnson, Ike Davis, and Gaby Sanchez.
The Nationals will play one more exhibition game today (12:05 pm ET, MASN) against the Twins before heading to Atlanta, where they will begin the 2016 season on Monday. All in all, I think the Nats got it right with these roster decisions to begin the season.