Trevor Gott hasn't had the best career; however, he is looking to bounce back with his former team, the Nationals, with whom he spent parts of the 2016 through 2018 seasons. Gott has struggled with injuries his whole career and spent all of last season in the Seattle Mariners' farm system. He wants to make it back to the Show, a place where he hasn't pitched since 2023, when playing for the New York Mets.
Gott's contract included an invitation to Spring Training. If he does make the team, this could be good for the Nationals, maybe not in terms of preventing runs, but in terms of having a veteran presence in the clubhouse. The Nationals are an extremely young team. They have great young talent, but an experienced veteran, who has bounced between the big leagues and minors his whole career, and in between teams too, will help with mental approaches to the game. Even having him on the Spring Training roster will significantly boost the team's mentality and resilience as the season approaches, regardless of whether Gott makes the big-league roster.
I love seeing a great bounce back to the Majors. Gott has spent parts of 10 seasons in the minors of various teams, and parts of 8 seasons in the majors with multiple teams. He missed the entire 2024 season, and last season he posted across the Mariners' AAA and Rookie League affiliates. Not good at all.
The Nationals front office definitely had some belief in him to sign him to a deal, albeit, a low-risk deal, but whether that belief is for him to be a veteran presence and mentality to the team, or their belief that they can redevelop him to excel in either the minor or major leagues, is not seen by me.
Hopefully for the Nationals, Gott can prove capable as a reliever for the team more than he did in his first stint with the organization, which was pretty much a disaster, pitching to a 7.39 ERA and 1.857 WHIP in parts of 3 seasons. For a guy who has not appeared in the majors since 2023, Gott will have an uphill battle to make the roster, but anything is possible with the way the 2026 Nationals are trending to look.
One thing I do believe is that the Nationals need more experienced ballplayers who have been around the game for years, and Gott will bring his experience to a team that desperately needs veteran mentality support.