When the Washington Nationals selected righty Evan Reifert from the Tampa Bay Rays organization during the Rule 5 Draft back in December, they were thinking that they had gotten a positive contributor to the bullpen, but through 7 games in spring training, he has been anything but that. Could a rocky start to his Nationals tenure result in his time with the club being cut short? According to some recent comments from manager Davey Martinez, it sure sounds like it could at least be a possibility.
I remember being pretty optimistic once I learned more about Reifert. The Rays are pretty notorious for developing pitching talent, and I was pretty sold on him being at least a solid addition given his 70-grade slider, but so far it appears as if his subpar 40-grade control is the tool that stands out the most.
For those of you who have not been following spring training games as closely as I have and might think I am being dramatic about Reifert, let's take a quick glance at his numbers. In 7 relief appearances, Reifert has a 15.63 ERA and 3.00 WHIP in just 6.1 innings, and although he does have 9 strikeouts, his 12 walks issued offset those in a big way. He has allowed 11 earned runs and a .269 average against him thus far, and has basically looked completely undeserving of a roster spot thus far.
Now, the issue with having Reifert not make the Opening Day roster and sending him down to the minors would mean that he would actually be sent back to the Rays organization, since he was a Rule 5 Draft Pick. Similar to Nasim Nuñez last year, who was a bench player the entire season, Reifert would have to spend the entirety of the 2025 season on the Nationals' roster in order to remain apart of the organization long-term.
Rule 5 draftee Evan Reifert, who entered with an 11.12 ERA and 7 walks in 5.2 IP, walked the first batter he faced today and then served up a grand slam on the next pitch.
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) March 13, 2025
According to Washington Post reporter Andrew Golden, Nationals manager Davey Martinez said, "We love his stuff, we love his makeup but it's about him being consistent on throwing strikes. Can't come out of the bullpen and walk guys. You put yourself in a bad situation. And knowing that, if he's going to walk guys, I can't put him in with guys on base. It becomes a problem," which is pretty indicative of his trust level in the young righty.
We saw last season what happens when you have guys that the manager does not trust to be inserted into situations with any leverage such as Tanner Rainey and Jordan Weems, who both struggled mightily at times and were relegated to mop-up duty, and I do not know if the Nationals can afford to do that again this year. When Davey Martinez does not trust you as a reliever, appearances are going to be few and far between, which might not be the best thing for his development at this stage of his career.
Realistically, Reifert is clearly not ready for the big leagues, which makes sense considering he has not yet pitched above the AA level. The downside with losing Reifert would be that you would lose a Top 30 prospect in the organization who definitely has a lot of upside, but unless he shows some sort of improvement before the end of spring training, the team might not be left with a choice.
Do you think the Evan Reifert will crack the Opening Day roster? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.