The 2025-2026 offseason for the Washington Nationals was a pretty slow one overall. Despite the club being basically a perennial bottom-feeder since winning the World Series in 2019, there has been very little free agent action since their rebuild began.
In fact, the team has only inked 1 player to a multi-year contract, Trevor Williams, while every other signing in free agency has been either a minor league deal or 1-year agreement. This offseason was no different, as the Nationals had spent a lot of their allocated budget to improving the technology within the organization at all levels, an area in which the team was extremely behind the times.
On the player personnel side, only starting pitchers Miles Mikolas and Foster Griffin had been inked to big league contracts, but on Sunday, the Nationals added another quality arm to their new and improved starting rotation. That signing was to bring in 30-year-old righty Zack Littell, who has become a very solid, durable, and reliable starting rotation arm.
RHP Zack Littell and the Washington Nationals are in agreement on a contact, sources tell me and @JeffPassan.
— Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) March 8, 2026
Littell threw 186.2 innings last season with a 3.81 ERA for the Rays and Reds.
Over the past couple seasons, Littell has become a very solid middle of the rotation arm for a couple of contending teams, even being one of the most desired trade chips at last year's deadline, when he was dealt from the Tampa Bay Rays to the Cincinnati Reds. He ended up pitching decently for the Reds down the stretch, but his lone playoff start against the Los Angeles Dodgers was not as favorable.
However, he now figures to slot in near the top of the Nationals' rotation, and should hopefully be a reliable innings-eating presence who can provide some valuable mentorship to some of the Nationals' young pitchers like Cade Cavalli, who himself is fighting to start on Opening Day. In all likelihood, assuming Littell pitches well, he should be a hot commodity near the trade deadline, and hopefully the Nationals can continue to bolster their prospect depth if they do indeed trade him.
If the Nationals get anything similar from Littell to what his career numbers are like a sub-4.00 ERA and WHIP below 1.300, the team will have proven to have made a very valuable signing. It is also encouraging that the last 2 seasons of Littell's career have been by far the two best of his career, and he surely will be looking to pitch as well as possible to secure a multi-year deal next winter.
We will have more to come on the impact of the Zack Littell signing, but the fact the Nationals went out and signed a proven presence to add to their starting rotation should be celebrated by the fanbase.
What do you think of the Nationals signing Zack Littell? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.