Nationals: 7 role players to be thankful for since 2005
This Thanksgiving we look back through the years and give thanks to players who made contributions to the Washington Nationals while flying under the radar.
During this time of year we sit back and think of all the things we are grateful for. Our family, our health, all the meaningful aspects of our lives. On a lesser extent we like to think how lucky we are to have sports to enjoy and favorite players to follow.
In regards to sports, how fun was it to follow the 2019 Washington Nationals. From 19-31 to Game 7 of the World Series, all the ups and downs of the year took us on a roller coaster ride. Much like every season does. I am thankful for how the season ended though, with Howie Kendrick blasting a go-ahead home run and Daniel Hudson throwing his glove towards the dugout in utter joy.
Being a fan of the Nationals for their entire existence in the league has given me the opportunity to follow all the players in team history. Where I do love the big name players and like following the paths of Ryan Zimmerman, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper (while they are in a Nationals uniform of course), there are several other players I am thankful for their time in DC as well.
As I went through the years I jotted down some names of Nationals players who I am thankful for their minor contributions to the team. Where I was a fan of Alfonso Soriano, Adam Dunn, and Livan Hernandez, you won’t find them profiled here. This space is for players who may have flown under the radar more than not.
Rick Short
He was a 33rd round draft pick who spent the majority of his minor league career in the Baltimore Orioles organization. The Washington Nationals were his fourth organization after leaving the O’s. Rick Short played eleven years in the minors, accumulated more than one thousand games and forty-five hundred plate appearances before finally getting a chance at the big leagues.
For a guy who could have given up hope of every playing in the majors, Short stuck with it. Good for the Nationals for promoting Short to the major league roster after he flirted with hitting .400 most of the season at AAA New Orleans, finally settling on .383. He had made three pinch hit appearances earlier in the season, thankfully his story did not end there.
As the over achieving Nationals of 2005 began to slide down the ladder in the National League East, they rewarded the hot hitting, thirty two year-old with a September call up. Short made the most of his limited time at the game’s top level.
In just 17 plate appearances, Short hit two home runs and had an OPS of 1.404. His at-bats may have been meaningless in the outcome of the season for the Nationals, but they were valuable for a first time major leaguer. At the end of the year, Short left for Japan and hit .315 over four seasons playing with Rakuten of the Japan Pacific League.
For all the players who dream about playing in the major leagues, Rick Short was a long shot. He achieved his goal though, and it was neat to follow him those last three weeks of the inaugural season.
Dmitri Young
He played thirteen years in the majors, though only two with the Washington Nationals. He was an All-Star his first year in DC and was forced out early in his second season because of his battle with diabetes. Dmitri Young may have made a name for himself playing for Cincinnati and Detroit, but he endured himself to Nats fans in the short time he was in Washington.
In the two years prior to signing with the Nationals, Young was slotted as the designated hitter more than he played the field. At nearly 300 pounds he seemed like an odd replacement for an injured Nick Johnson at first base, in a league which didn’t feature the DH.
All he did that first year is hit though. He finished 2007 with 147 hits and although he had 38 doubles, my memory says all those hits were singles. Seemed like every time Dmitri came to the plate, you knew he was going to rap out a base hit.
Dmitri Young was slow, clogged up the bases, and made more errors than a first baseman should, but he was fun to watch. He was a grown man (in all meanings of the word) who was comfortable with his abilities. He may have been on the tail end of his career, but that first year with the Nationals, you wouldn’t have known it.
Mike MacDougal
He was a former All-Star closer who had fallen on hard times. He was on a new team. He was no longer the closer. He was battling shoulder issues. His ERA was sitting at 12.46 and then he was unemployed. Mike MacDougal was only without a job for three days before the Washington Nationals signed him.
With Joel Hanrahan unable to secure the job as closer, MacDougal was forced into ninth inning duties and performed well enough to keep the job the rest of the season.
The ninth inning was an adventure most nights when the Nationals had the lead and handed the ball to MacDougal. More times than not he slammed the door shut on the competition.
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MacDougal was tall and lengthy and when he pitched it seemed like he was flailing limbs each and every direction. The 2009 Nationals won just 59 games, and Doogs saved 20 of them. Nothing came easy that year for the Nats, and holding leads fell into this category as well. In just eleven games since taking over as closer, did MacDougal retire the opponents in order. He had a stretch in September where he allowed exactly two hits in eight straight games. Yet he didn’t blow a save during that time while winning a game and saving two.
After the year MacDougal was cut loose by the Nats, and he would pitch three more years for two different teams before calling it quits. He wasn’t the best closer in team history, not even close. Mike MacDougal was entertaining nonetheless.
Craig Stammen
Craig Stammen should have a special place in the hearts of a lot of Nationals fans. He was a 12th round pick in the inaugural draft class, made his debut in 2009, and pitched for the bad Nationals teams before they became good.
Stammen made 38 starts before moving to the bullpen where he remade himself as a solid, right handed reliever.
When the Nationals won the division for the first time in team history, Stammen was a driving force in relief. He pitched in 59 games with a record of 6-1 and a 2.34 earned run average. Stammen didn’t do as well in the Divisional Series, though without his contributions during the year, the bullpen may not have been so stable.
The following year he was called on almost as much as was just as reliable. For six years Stammen was a solid presence for the Nationals.
Unfortunately, injuries derailed his time in DC. Two torn flexor tendons put an end to his 2015 season and his missed all of 2016. He has found a home with the San Diego Padres, spending the past four years on the West Coast. Regardless of his results there, he’ll always be remembered for his time with the Nats.
Tyler Moore
After the rookie year Tyler Moore had, boy were Washington Nationals fans licking their chops. And then the post season happened, and the future was looking even brighter. Unfortunately, Moore never got the playing time needed to continue to develop and he never matched the performance from that first year.
In just 156 at-bats his first year, Moore hit ten home runs and had nine doubles. Coming off the bench as a right-handed power hitter, he played himself onto the postseason roster when the Nationals won their first division title in 2012.
In the eighth inning of the first game against St. Louis, Moore was summoned to pinch hit with two runners in scoring position and the Nationals trailing by a run.
On a 2-2 pitch, the clean shaven, baby-faced Moore guided the ball to right field to give the Nationals the lead, in a game they eventually won (and a series they eventually lost).
It would be his only appearance of the series and the only time he appeared in the postseason in his career. Moore would play three more years for the Nationals and not replicate the success he had at the plate during his rookie campaign.
His clutch hit in the Nationals first ever playoff game still reins supreme for many Washington fans.
Aaron Barrett
I was very pleased to see Aaron Barrett had signed a minor league contract to return to the Washington Nationals for the 2021 season. No, I don’t believe he’ll be a difference maker coming out of the bullpen for the Nats this year. I’m just glad to have this guy as a part of the organization I cheer for.
You may know Barrett from his emotional return to the big leagues following three-plus seasons out of it as he was rehabbing a couple gruesome arm injuries. His work in 2019 consisted of 2.1 innings, though regardless of how he fared, he was back. Barrett made a cameo mid-September of 2020 as well.
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Prior to suffering the injuries and having Tommy John surgery, Barrett was a force out of the bullpen on the 2014 division winning team. He was 3-0 with a 2.66 earned run average and struck out 49 batters in just over 40 innings pitched.
Barrett worked his way into the hearts of Nationals fans first with his pitching, then with his determination. He had the storied history, a guy drafted four times by four different teams, who worked his way to the majors. Two years into his career it was all taken from him and he was left wondering if he would ever make it back. He has, and I’m thankful he’s still fighting.
Asdrubal Cabrera
I would be remiss if I did not include someone from the 2019 World Series team. I have always been a closet Asdrubal Cabrera fan and was happy to see him return for a second tour of duty last year.
Cabrera hit from the moment he joined the Nationals after the Texas Rangers dumped him in early August. In 38 games after being acquired, Cabrera hit .323 and drove in 40 runs. His OPS was nearly .200 points higher than Brian Dozier, the guy he ended of taking the job from at second base.
The postseason numbers for Cabrera were not stellar, though he made an appearance in all seven World Series games. The two he did not start at second base, he was so trusted as a pinch hitter, he made late inning cameos.
Brought back the following year to be a reserve infielder, Cabrera ended up being the starting first baseman most of the year and filling in at third base while Carter Kieboom worked out his struggles. On the defensive side, Cabrera only committed one error going back and forth between the two corner positions.
On the offensive side he finished second on the team in hits, runs, home runs, and runs batted in. Asdrubal Cabrera isn’t flashy and not a big name, though he contributed as if he was.
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Odds are he won’t be back to the Nationals again, as the team strives to get younger on the infield, though if they were to bring him back in a reserve role, I wouldn’t be upset.