The Washington Nationals have had issues with their relief pitching forever, that is no secret. Even when the club was in their prime contention window under previous General Manager Mike Rizzo, the bullpens were always a sore subject when looking back on the failures of some of those previous contending teams.
Fast forward to 2025 under new interim GM Mike DeBartolo, and that is still partially true, although you can't blame DeBartolo for his new strategy. Since coming into the new position, the second Mike to be the GM of the Nationals has utilized the waiver wire multiple times with mixed results.
On Sunday, the team claimed a new reliever, righty Julian Fernandez, off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he has now become the second reliever claimed off the wire from LA this season, with the previous one being Ryan Loutos. The bar to be better than Loutos is not high at all, so hopefully we will get an opportunity to see Fernandez sooner rather than later.
So what are the Nationals getting in their new righty? Fernandez is a tall, 6'6" and 230-pounder with a live right arm that has been able to hit 100 MPH with ease. He does not have much big league experience, with only 7 career games at the highest level under his belt, but he does show some legitimate upside with his strikeout ability.
In 35 games for AAA Oklahoma City, the Dodgers' highest level of minor league ball, Fernandez posted a 3.05 ERA and 1.258 WHIP, while posting an impressive 49 strikeouts in 41.1 innings. This season in the majors for the Dodgers, Fernandez has appeared in just 1 game, where he made it through 2.0 innings and struck out just 1 batter while allowing 2 earned runs. Before 2025, his previous 6 big league appearances were back in 2021 when he was a member of the Colorado Rockies, so this will be now his 3rd big league organization. Fernandez was optioned to AAA Rochester to begin his tenure, but he should get a chance in the near future.
Between Fernandez, lefty PJ Poulin, and Loutos, Mike DeBartolo is doing everything he can to find some hidden gems or potential long-term pieces, which is exactly what he should be doing while he auditions to be the GM for the future. You can't be mad at this strategy of throwing stuff at the wall until something sticks, and hopefully Fernandez can look as solid as Poulin has so far and not as poor as Loutos did in his opportunities.
What do you think of the addition of Julian Fernandez? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.