In case you are new around here and haven't heard or seen us talk a lot about the ramifications of the Juan Soto trade to the San Diego Padres back in 2022, let me give you a light refresher. When Mike Rizzo ultimately decided he had to deal his generational superstar after he knew the odds to re-sign him to a long-term deal were very small after Soto and his camp turned down a $440 million contract extension.
The Nationals received 6 players in the deal, with the irrelevant piece being Luke Voit. Out of those 5 important pieces, who were all set to be part of the Nationals' full rebuild, 3 of them have been the best players on the team in 2025, and a 4th is set to make his big league debut after knocking on the door in spring training. Following his great performance in the Arizona Fall League as well as his tremendous spring, he seemed to regain some of that previous status, and we even ranked him as the 10th-best Nationals prospect coming into 2025.
Following the Nationals' 5-3 win over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night, it was announced that prospect Robert Hassell III, who was once a Top 100 Prospect in all of baseball when he was included in the Juan Soto deal, is headed to Washington to make his big league debut. He will join the other pieces of that deal, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, and James Wood in DC, as the team has now officially brought up 4 of the 5 star prospects they received in that deal.
Now of course, the reason why he is being brought up is a combination of a couple different things that just so happened to break in Hasell's favor. The first is that, out of the 4 Nationals outfielders on the roster, only 1 of them seems to be fully healthy right now, James Wood. The other 3, Dylan Crews, Alex Call, and Jacob Young, are all battling injuries in some capacity, with at least 1 of them likely headed for the Injured List.
While the regression monster has begun to come for Call recently as he fights through a foot injury, he's striking out more while walking less, which was basically his best attribute as a hitter. Young hasn't played since exiting the game over the weekend following his collision with the wall in Baltimore, and Crews exited today's game after his second at-bat against Spencer Strider with what is believed to be either a back or oblique injury.
Regardless, this is an incredible opportunity for Hassell, who should get an opportunity to play every day for the Nationals, and hopefully can establish himself as a guy that should get an extended look. He comes into this promotion on an absolute tear, with a .339/.381/.559 slash line, good for a .940 OPS to go with 4 homers, 14 RBIs, and 2 stolen bases since the calendar turned to May. The talent has always been there for Hassell, it's just been the injuries that have kept him from reaching the big leagues sooner.
The best case scenario for the Nationals is that Hassell plays well enough to show the team that he needs to be a part of the outfield of the future along with James Wood and Dylan Crews, which is what many envisioned when Wood and Hassell came over in the Soto trade and Crews was drafted. If this were to be the case going forward, it would allow the team to shift Jacob Young into more of a 4th outfielder role, where his skillset appears to be best suited. A fully healthy outfield alignment could go Wood-Crews-Hassell III, if everything goes right, but we won't know how it'll shake out until the youngster gets his chance.
How do you think Robert Hassell III will do in his big league debut? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.