Washington Nationals: Josh Harrison re-signed, like it, don’t love it
After a short audition with the Washington Nationals, Josh Harrison will be back in the fold for the 2021 season.
General manager Mike Rizzo loves bringing in veteran type players and manager Davey Martinez likes having players on his roster who can play multiple positions. For this reason, utility man Josh Harrison has been re-signed by the Washington Nationals.
Harrison is a former All-Star with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who has a career batting average of .273 during the ten years he has been in the league.
An awful 2019 where he hit .175 with an OPS of .480 with the Detroit Tigers left him without a team heading into 2020. The Philadelphia Phillies signed him, but cut him loose prior to the beginning of the season.
The Nationals pounced, as they do with veteran, multi-position players (see Mark Reynolds, Stephen Drew, Brock Holt) and Harrison played five different positions over the course of 33 games this year.
He hit .278, with three home runs, and one great home-run dance.
This was enough for the Nationals to bring him back on a one-year major league contract, rather than allowing him to shop his services to other teams in free agency.
https://twitter.com/Nationals/status/1319278035409854466
I like the move, as Harrison is a versatile player who brings a lot of energy to the club. What I don’t like is the Nationals are coming off a season where they were the oldest team in the league. Harrison turns 34 mid-season next year. Harrison has battled injuries the latter part of his career. A shoulder strain and hamstring strain limited him to just 36 games in 2019.
He will not be a full-time player, yet a spot starter and potential late inning defensive replacement. Where he does come cheap, surely there will be someone on the market with a similar skill set who has a little more pop. For his career Harrison averages one home run every fifty-three at-bats.
Like I said, I like this move, don’t love it. One person who definitely doesn’t love it is Brock Holt, as this means he is most likely headed for free agency. There was a small chance he could have found his way back onto this team prior to this move.
Next. A run at Jake Odorizzi in free agency is a possibility. dark
With the news several pitchers as well as Michael A. Taylor have been jettisoned from the team, and this signing of Harrison, the Nationals are full throttle on 2021 roster reconstruction.