When Joey Wiemer was called up to the Brewers in 2023, the 2020 4th-rounder looked like he was bound to be a major league mainstay, if not a star. On Monday evening, he cemented his place in MLB history as a Washington National. Everything in between suggests that should have been impossible.
Assessed a 55 FV in 2023 by MLB Pipeline's Jonathan Mayo and 50 FV by FanGraphs evaluators, the then-24-year-old Wiemer was seen as an exciting power-speed combination that could hold his own in center field. With 48 home runs in his first two professional seasons, Wiemer effectively forced his way onto Milwaukee's big league roster.
It didn't pan out. In a system also featuring Jackson Chourio, Sal Frelick, and Garrett Mitchell at the top of its charts, Wiemer got a full season's worth of run in '23 but despite 13 home runs and 11 stolen bases, struck out in 28.3% of his plate appearances and didn't walk or make quality contact nearly enough to stick long-term. He slashed .204/.283/.362 for a 76 wRC+, 24% worse than a league-average hitter. One appearance as a defensive replacement that Postseason didn't allow him to register a plate appearance.
Things only got worse in 2024 for Wiems. Bouncing back and forth between the Brewers, Triple-A, and the injured list, Joey only managed a .339 OPS in 27 plate appearances at the MLB level before he was sent down for good in late May. At the deadline, he'd be packaged with Jakob Junis in a throwaway trade with Cincinnati for Frankie Montas.
The next year or so was tumultuous for the 26-year-old. He only got into two games with the Reds in the rest of 2024 before being traded again, this time to Kansas City, with Jonathan India for Brady Singer. After the fourth IL stint of his professional career and only managing a wRC+ of 60 at Triple-A Omaha, the Royals designated him at the deadline and he was picked up by Miami. A brief tear at Triple-A Jacksonville in the Marlins system earned him a callback to the bigs, but it was short-lived. The Marlins traded Wiemer to San Francisco for cash in the offseason, who waived him a month later.
Enter the new-look Nationals. Wiemer was claimed by Washington in January after the holiday holdover period for waivers ended, and was ultimately spared from Paul Toboni's waiver carousel. Getting into 21 Grapefruit League games resulted in him hitting just .150, but the team liked what they saw: Wiemer was swinging at pitches in the zone more, chasing out of the zone less, and pulling the ball in the air.
It was the right time, right place for the now 27-year-old. On the heels of a Spring Training where Dylan Crews looked so lost the team decided to start him at Triple-A to collect himself, Wiemer, for the first time as a pro, no longer found himself on the outside looking in. He earned the fourth and final outfield spot on the Opening Day roster, snuck his way into the lineup against left-hander Matthew Boyd, and became undeniable.
Wiemer went 3-for-3 with a walk and a home run on Opening Day. Three days later, he went 3-for-3 with a walk, a triple, and another home run. After beating out an infield single in the first and lining a hit back up the middle on Monday, Wiemer became just the second player in AL/NL history since at least the start of the live ball era, dating back to 1920, to reach base in his first ten straight plate appearances of a season. While a groundout in the 5th broke that streak, he now sits besides Carlos Delgado of the 2002 Blue Jays atop that list.
Initially seen as a small-side platoon bat to sit Luis GarcÃa Jr. against lefties, Wiemer might have forced his way into the everyday lineup, hitting 9th in center field against the right-hander Taijuan Walker on Monday. If the breakout continues, the Nationals' already sneaky good lineup could break into the top half of the league in runs scored in 2026. And even if this does end up being nothing more than the second flash in the pan by a Joey for the Nats this decade, his place in history is well and truly cemented.