About 9 days ago, I wrote an article about Paul DeJong, and gave my thoughts about whether or not the Nationals should go after him. My verdict was that bringing in a guy like DeJong would be a low-risk, high-reward signing that should offer a solid floor over the relatively unknown commodity that we have on the roster currently in Jose Tena.
Not to toot my own horn, but this is the 3rd time I've written about a guy being a likely target for the Nationals after Josh Bell and Nathaniel Lowe, that the club has gone out and brought in. Maybe I should set my sights a bit higher in the future and say the Nationals should trade for Shohei Ohtani (sarcasm). Anyways, now that he is officially a Washington National, let's identify his fit and role on this team.
For starters, when I look at DeJong's profile, it is really hard not to get similar vibes to Nick Senzel out of my head. Now, to DeJong's credit, he is a much better player than Senzel ever was, and has also accomplished a lot more than the Nationals' previous bargain bin attempt at the hot corner. But what they are both known for is having very legitimate power, and DeJong should offer some solid defense as well. Of course, we know that Senzel was a terrible addition, and was released after just 64 games. Given that DeJong is a former All-Star and hit 24 homers last year, he should be given a bit longer of a leash than Senzel had.
My first thought when the announcement came through this morning from Bob Nightengale was that I believed the right-handed swinging DeJong could be a platoon fit with the lefty bat in Jose Tena, but upon looking at DeJong's career numbers, it appears I was pretty far off in my thinking. In fact, DeJong has pretty significant reverse splits, although the sample size against righties is obviously a lot larger than it is against lefties. Still, the numbers speak for themselves.
Veteran infielder Paul DeJong, who hit 24 HRs last year, agrees to 1 year, $1 million contract with the Washington Nationals
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) February 16, 2025
In 2,525 plate appearances against righties, DeJong has 116 career homers and a .731 OPS, which are solid numbers, but nothing that especially jumps off the page. However, in comparison, in just 767 plate appearances against lefties, DeJong has only 24 homers and a .658 OPS, which is not encouraging. Truly at this point, what I am assuming is that DeJong will be given the first opportunity to start, and there is a chance Tena could be sent down to the minors to begin the year. The one thing I am unsure of, however, is where he would play down in AAA, as Brady House is likely to begin the season in Rochester, and needs all the reps he can get at third base.
I personally think that Tena needs as many at-bats and reps at third base as possible to get more comfortable with the position, and while I would love to see him get those opportunities at the big league level, this signing certainly clouds that decision. Additionally, there is a chance that Tena earns the starting job out of camp or soon into the season, and DeJong can be cut for almost no cost, given that his deal is worth just $1 million with potentially up to $600K in incentives.
For what it's worth, I think this signing is going to be eerily reminiscent of how the Nationals and Davey Martinez used Ildemaro Vargas over the last few years, in that he will give DeJong and Tena both a lot of rotating opportunities at third base to begin the year, similar to how he would play Vargas and Luis Garcia Jr. at second base, although that was more for matchup purposes. Overall, while DeJong will not be mistaken for Alex Bregman and that type of impact that he could have had at this position for the club, there is a chance that the Nationals strike gold again in the low-risk, high-reward type contracts that have become a staple of the rebuild, but also a chance that DeJong does not even make it to the summer on the big league club. We will just have to wait and see at this point.
What do you think of the Paul DeJong signing? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.