The Washington Nationals rebounded nicely on Saturday afternoon with a nice victory after coming off a pathetic back-to-back game stretch that saw them lose both contests. Of course, the loss to the Giants on Wednesday night was awful, with multiple relievers proving they don't belong on the team moving forward, and Friday's loss was just a case of being outplayed.
But on Saturday, the team notched an impressive victory that saw righty ace Cade Cavalli overcome some late struggles to notch an 8-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners. However, the Nationals also were busy making some roster moves that included shuffling around some arms on their 40-man roster.
Nationals claim righty reliever prospect off waivers from Braves
The roster move the Nationals made was to claim righty Jhancarlos Lara off waivers from the Atlanta Braves, designating righty Julian Fernandez for assignment. A fellow waiver claim by the organization from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Fernandez has struggled when given consistent runway as a reliever in the majors, and now finds himself in limbo while figuring out his options for his future.
During his career in the big leagues, Fernandez owns a 6.89 ERA with a 1.47 WHIP, having notched just 12 strikeouts compared to 8 walks in 15.2 innings, not exactly the kind of swing-and-miss stuff you want from an imposing righty coming out of the bullpen. He did appear in 3 games for the Nationals this year, striking out 3 in 4.0 innings with an ERA of just 2.25 in those appearances.
But back to Lara, who now joins the Nationals' organization as a bit of an intriguing prospect and project for the new front office. He had been on the Braves' 40-man roster since last year, and was ranked within the organization's top 25 prospects according to all of FanGraphs, MLB.com, and Baseball America due to his intriguing pitch mix and velocity.
MLB Pipeline grades him with a 55-grade fastball and 60-grade slider, making him a potentially lethal bullpen option if he can learn to harness his pitches, which has been his issue so far in 2026. In 15 games at the AA level for the Braves, he owns an 8.22 ERA to go with an absurd 2.61 WHIP, and has somehow walked 29 batters compared to striking out just 21 in 15.1 innings.
The stuff is clearly there, but it's safe to say that Paul Toboni's new player development infrastructure will be getting a real test to see if Lara can turn into anything more than an intriguing waiver claim at this point.
What do you think of the Nationals' decision to waive Julian Fernandez for Jhancarlos Lara? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.
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