Two Nationals Players Who Deserve September Call-Ups

Many parts of the 2024 Nationals season have gone as expected. The team's young stars have shown flashes of brilliance, and the team's veterans have mostly underwhelmed. The Nats have hardly sniffed any postseason dreams and have focused on getting their young players experience for the future. The team's .453 winning percentage is right about where they were expected, but the team has seized a few opportunities to develop and demonstrate value within the roster. James Wood has led the way for Nats rookies looking to assert themselves as future stars.

This Nationals rookie class is highlighted by Wood, and he should be joined soon by fellow top outfield prospect Dylan Crews, who we expect to be poured his first cup of coffee in the Major Leagues before the season's end. The team knows they have future full-time players in that pair, and other top rookies Jacob Young, Mitchell Parker, and DJ Herz have made strong cases to stick in the big leagues for years to come. Looking past those players and the more advanced members of the team's young core, there are plenty of unclaimed roster spots to be fought for.

While this phase of the regular season will feature no must-win games for the Nationals, it is a crucial period for evaluating the abilities of players with team control. Last year, we saw Jacob Young appear out of thin air to solidify himself as a talented player who deserved a look in the majors, and that previewed his evolution into a full-time center fielder this season. This year, the same process is happening with trade acquisitions Jose Tena and Andres Chaparro, who are making early cases for 2025 roster spots. Bullpen turnover has also allowed for players like Eduardo Salazar and Orlando Ribalta to try to stick in the majors: Salazar has been good so far, and Ribalta has already been demoted.

MLB teams can carry two additional players on the active roster in September. Here, I want to highlight two minor-league players who deserve the call-up in to prove they can contribute in 2025.

Drew Millas

Drew Millas has been the third catcher for the team for quite some time now, but his chances have been limited due to the relative durability of top duo Keibert Ruiz and Riley Adams. I have seen fans clamoring for Millas to start in the majors several times during this season, and for good reason. There's an easy argument to be made for Millas: Ruiz has been the 3rd-worst hitter among catchers with at least 300 plate appearances, Riley Adams has been just as bad and an even worse defender, while Millas has been one of AAA's best catchers. In September, many teams opt to roster three catchers, but the team could just as easily option Riley Adams and allow Millas to play a significant role in the bigs.

There's more upside in Millas than your typical third-string catcher. He has solid all-around skills, he's a switch-hitter, and he is even fast enough to swipe a few bags. We've seen a few strong games from Millas in the big leagues over the last two seasons, and he's looked excellent in the minors this year. His .312/.360/.523 line at AAA is impressive for a player at any position, and with 9 home runs in just 59 games, he has out-slugged both Ruiz and Adams by a wide margin. Moreover, Millas grades as a solid defender with a solid arm, and while Keibert Ruiz has improved behind the plate a little bit, he remains a bad defender with one of the slowest pop times in the league. The more I look at Millas, the more obvious it is that he should get a chance.

There's risk for Millas, as there is for any player, that he can't handle MLB pitching over an extended period, and he has never played 100 games in a season before. He's not going to be a superstar, but there's legitimate bat-to-ball skills, with enough power, speed, and defense to make a good major league contributor. Riley Adams, meanwhile, strikes out more, plays bad defense, and runs like a typical catcher. Adams' signature skill is lefty-mashing, but this season he's done nothing against lefties, batting .163 with no homers compared to last season's .333 with 3 homers. Adams is the oldest of the three, and there's little point to keeping him if he isn't hitting lefties with power. Millas and Ruiz are both switch hitters, Ruiz has a miniscule platoon split over his career, and Millas can provide a defensive boost and better contact skills as a backup.

Looking ahead, the Nationals clearly intend to keep Ruiz stationed as their starting catcher - his extension can go as far as the 2032 season. He's been pretty bad over his last 200 games, but there's enough talent there to keep the 25-year-old in place. In this year's draft, the team selected a pair of college catchers on day one: Caleb Lomavita with the 39th overall pick and Kevin Bazzell in the 3rd round. The team clearly wanted to address their organizational catching depth, but each of those players are several years away from the majors. Drew Millas is the team's 2nd-best catcher right now, and he should be the favorite to be the team's backup in 2025 and 2026. If Ruiz ever gets hurt, we might be seeing a lot of Millas. He absolutely should be called up to play down the stretch.

Update: Drew Millas was recalled from AAA Rochester to replace Alex Call, who went on the Injured List.

Zach Brzykcy

Zach Brzykcy has been the leverage reliever of the Nationals future for several seasons now. In 2022, he was a lights-out closer who rocketed all the way to AAA at age 22 in his second pro season. He had major-league fastball velocity, and that predictably led to Tommy John surgery. Now that he's healthy again, Brzykcy has been eased back in, making stops at four minor league levels and he's recently made it back up to AAA. He still has his strikeout stuff, which is almost entirely fastball-curveball, though his velocity isn't quite as high as it was pre-surgery.

Brzykcy has been dominant in 27 minor league appearances this year, and he is on the 40-man roster ready to be called up at any time. Players like Joan Adon, Joe La Sorsa, and Orlando Ribalta have all seen major league time, all of whom are decidedly less likely to turn into a leverage reliever. Brzykcy hasn't yet debuted, but he's got the talent to be the team's setup man right now. That doesn't say much, because this is the post-deadline Nationals bullpen, but that means there's opportunity to go around.

Other 40-man relievers Orlando Ribalta and Amos Willingham have each done well enough to fit into the extra roster spot in September, too, but Brzykcy easily has the highest potential to be a closer type. His minor league stats resemble Kyle Finnegan's, who was a power-pitching closer for Oakland's AA and AAA teams before quickly becoming the Nationals closer. Bullpen tryouts take place for every non-competitive team in September, and there's always names emerging at baseball's most ephemeral position. This could go either way - if the team wants to manage Brzykcy's workload they might opt to keep him at AAA and have him compete for a spot next spring. There's no replacement for MLB reps and experience, though, and I would be excited to see Brzycky debut this year. You can never have enough power relievers.