The Washington Nationals dropped a tough one in extra innings against the New York Mets on Monday night, but you can't say they didn't have their chances. It's not often that you see an extra innings game end up with a score of 16-7, but the Nationals simply ran out of time and arms.
Jorbit Vivas ended up having to pitch for the Nationals in the top of the 12th as the game got out of hand and Paxton Schultz was pushing 30 pitches on his 3rd straight day of work. It ended up being a tough one that saw the Nationals load the bases in the bottom of the 10th, before CJ Abrams struck out to end the threat.
However, perhaps the biggest shock of the night, outside of Dylan Crews finding his way back to the big leagues, was the decision that came out after the game. The news of Crews' call-up came out during the game, but the corresponding move was not one that most people would have seen coming.
The Nationals optioned Brady House to AAA Rochester, abruptly ending the former 1st-rounder's leash on the big league roster, where he had been since winning the Opening Day job out of spring training. He had been viewed as the future at third base before the new front office took over, but it will be interesting to see the roster fallout from this shocking demotion, as he was a popular breakout pick before this season.
Brady House was optioned to Triple-A after tonight's game. Not the move most would've expected to clear a spot for Dylan Crews.
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) May 19, 2026
House had struggled on both sides of the ball early on this season, but his play as of the past few days had actually seen his performance on a bit of an upswing. After a rookie season that saw House look very solid in the field and not as much at the plate, his underlying hitting metrics have increased this year, but are still not where you would like them to be for an everyday player.
However, his defense has cratered so far this season, which was supposed to be his saving grace coming into this season. He slashed just .227/.282/.399 in 44 games, good for just a .681 OPS, while his defense had been valued at -4 OAA at the hot corner, according to Baseball Savant. With just 13 walks compared to 50 strikeouts, House's approach has also reverted to some previous bad habits, the likely reason why they wanted him to get some extra reps similar to the way Crews did.
As a result, the Nationals will now turn to a combination of Jorbit Vivas and Jose Tena at third base while House gets right in AAA, but whether or not the Nationals make another move remains to be seen. Having 5 outfielders while losing another infielder makes the Nationals' predicament an interesting one, and we will be following along in case there are other roster moves made in the coming days.
What do you think of the Nationals demoting Brady House? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.
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