The Washington Nationals need to get out of the west coast as soon as possible. While the "Late Night Nationals" have typically been known for being relatively successful and fun as their games trickle into the late hours of the night and sometimes even early hours of the morning, their current road trip has been an absolute nightmare the whole way through.
As of today, the Nationals are 0-6 since heading west, and are showing no real signs of coming out of this most recent funk. With a weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels kicking off tomorrow night, hopefully the Nationals can manage to salvage a few games and save a little bit of face.
Wednesday night's game was a bit of a kick in the teeth, but the team did get a good look at several young pitchers who are making their case to be considered part of the future. One of those pitchers was just recalled yesterday, looking to build on a promising rookie season.
Eddy Yean rejoins Nationals in hopes of finishing 2026 on a high note
That pitcher is righty Eddy Yean, who has impressed in limited action this season at the big-league level. The 25-year-old has pitched to a 2.45 ERA and 0.91 WHIP so far in 8 games in the majors with the Nationals, and he has also struck out 7 batters compared to just 2 walks. Yean was recalled in place of righty Zak Kent, who was demoted back to AAA Rochester.
However, Yean had a bit of a subpar outing yesterday for the Nationals in San Diego, as he allowed 3 hits and an earned run in his lone inning of work, although 2 of the 3 hits were only infield singles. One of those was hit by Jackson Merrill, who once upon a time was coveted as part of the return package in the 2022 Juan Soto deal. Of course, the Padres held onto their young star, but did give the Nationals major return pieces like James Wood, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, and Top 100 pitching prospect Jarlin Susana.
But going back to Yean, the righty has a major opportunity at the end of this season to cement himself as part of the Nationals' bullpen heading into the 2027 season. Given the fact that the bullpen just set the all-time blown saves record, no spots are really safe for the time being. If he can string some more solid performances like he has in 6 of his 8 outings this year, he could easily find himself as being a late-inning option for Blake Butera next season.
What are your expectations for Eddy Yean moving forward for the rest of this season? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.
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