July 5: The Nats have made it official, announcing that they designated Yepez and assigned Gray to the IL for 60 days.
July 4th: The nationals are planning to promote Juan Yepez, according to Andrew Golden of The Washington Post. The first baseman signed a minor league contract with the team last December.
Yepez signed with the Braves as an international free agent in 2014, and three years later, the Braves traded him to the Cardinals. Matt Adams. Another five years after that, Yepez made his MLB debut with the St. Louis in 2022, appearing in 76 games, hitting 12 home runs, and producing a 107 wRC+. He went 2-for-5 with another long ball in the playoffs, driving in two of the three runs the Cardinals managed to beat the Phillies in the Wild Card Series.
Despite his strong outlook, Yepez failed to make the Cardinals' Opening Day roster in 2023. He hit poorly in spring training (60 wRC+), poorly in Triple-A (82 wRC+), and poorly on the short-league team all season (51 wRC+). Louis did not sell him after a year.
The Nationals took a chance on Yepez this past winter, signing him to a minor league deal and extending the 26-year-old an invitation to spring training. He didn't make the big league roster out of camp, but the righty batter had his best spring yet, slashing .382/.405/.559 and striking out just once in 37 trips to the plate. His Triple-A stats aren't that great, but he's continued to limit his strikeouts, and his numbers are much better across the board than last season. He has been hot over his last 14 games, going 21-for-54 (.389) with a 1.070 OPS and 178 wRC+.
Washington selected first baseman/designated hitter Joey Meneses to Triple-A Rochester earlier today. Meneses has struggled all season, slashing .235/.294./.310 (72 wRC+), and apparently, the favor he received with the Nationals during his first season in 2022 has finally worn off. He hit poorly last season as well (96 wRC+), but his numbers this season are worse. Meneses ranks among the bottom five qualified hitters in OPS and wRC+.
In all likelihood, Yepez will see more of his playing time in the early going. The Nationals will hope he can provide the other right fielders they've been wanting to get from Meneses. With Joey Gallo on the injured list again Harold Ramírez hitting as well as Meneses, Washington doesn't have a ton of other options at first. Yepez also played a corner with the Cardinals, but did not play the outfield this year in Triple-A. More importantly, the Nationals don't need any help in the outfield, with Lane Thomas, James Wood, Jacob Youngagain Jesse Winker in the list.
The Nationals did not immediately replace Meneses on the active roster, so there is an open spot for Yepez on the 26-man roster. However, the team will need to make a corresponding transaction to add Yepez to the 40-man roster. The most direct move would be to transfer Josiah Gray from 15-day IL to 60-day IL. Gray has already missed more than 60 days with an elbow injury.
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