The Washington Nationals have an opportunity to continue their march back towards .500 later on today. After taking the series opener from the Colorado Rockies in dominant fashion on Monday night, the team's offense once again fell flat without putting up a major fight as they mustered just a lone run on 5 hits, with the Nationals falling 3-1.
It was just another iteration of the team's bats failing to be anywhere near their performance from the first half of the season, and the team has become a bit of a lottery ticket offensively every night. Hopefully the team can figure it out after the club decided to bring up one of their prized youngsters.
Nationals bringing up offseason acquisition Luis Perales for MLB debut
After drawing the ire of many Nationals fans for being the trade return for rookie lefty Jake Bennett, who has excelled at times during his first year with the Boston Red Sox, Luis Perales is set to prove the doubters wrong. With the Nationals set to bring up one of their top prospects in Perales for his MLB debut, it is safe to say that the team is excited about his future.
Perales is 23 years old and made his way over to the Nationals from the Red Sox in a rare prospect for prospect swap in exchange for Bennett, who was once a 2nd round pick of the Nationals. The righty Perales had been rumored as a potential September call-up, as his recent switch to the bullpen seemed as if it was intentional to help get him up to the majors faster.
We now will get to see him operate primarily as a reliever to begin with, where he has been pitching out of over his last 3 appearances. Since being moved to the bullpen, he has thrown 6.0 innings and has logged 10 strikeouts to just 2 walks, while only allowing 2 hits over that same duration as well. He has always possessed nasty stuff, and perhaps initially pitching out of the bullpen will allow him to hone in on that ability.
Perales is still expected to compete for a potential starting rotation spot eventually, but the club will likely give him a chance to get comfortable and increase his confidence as a reliever for the rest of this season. He should get plenty of work down the stretch this year as he is still just a year removed from a season-ending surgery, so the Nationals will be wanting to slightly limit his innings.
Also of note, righty Jake Bird was optioned to AAA Rochester after last night's game to make room for Perales on the active roster.
What are your expectations for Luis Perales upon him making his MLB debut? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.
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