The Nationals have announced that they are looking for a right-hander Eduardo Salazar was waived by the Mariners and optioned him to Triple-A Rochester. The Mariners designated him for active duty earlier this week. The Nats had two openings on their 40-man roster, which is now 39 years old.
Salazar, 26, signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers at the start of the season. That club added him to their 40-man roster in mid-April but designated him for assignment more than a month later. The Mariners made an offer at the time but it was more than two weeks before he was designated for assignment again, now with his third team of the year.
With that deal, he made just one appearance in the majors this year, throwing two scoreless innings against the Dodgers back on May 15. He started seven games for Triple-A Oklahoma City while in the Dodgers system with a 5.61 earned run average. The Mariners kept him active in their Triple-A club, prompting Salazar to pitch 3 1/3 innings with four strikeouts, allowing two earned runs.
Not much will be made of that sample, but the Nats had a few roster spots to use. Last month, they nominated both Victor Robles again Matt Barnes by assignment, to open several places for their 40 men.
The Nats may be hurt by Salazar's ability to produce ground balls. He did so at a 58.6% clip with OKC and his 5.61 ERA may not have been entirely his fault as he had a .389 batting average in balls in play during that time. For reference, the major league average BABIP is .288 this season. He also hit grounders over 54% of the time with the Reds last year, both in Double-A and Triple-A. He threw 12 1/3 innings in the majors with the Reds last year, with a 51.1% grounder rate during that span. In his short time in the majors here in 2024, his sinker averaged 93.9 miles per hour.
Whether the Nationals see Salazar as a starter or reliever remains to be seen, but he has a few options. That means he could be kept in the minors for one more year and one more season as they try to find a better way for him to move forward. If things click, he has less than a year of service left so he could be a long-term piece for the Nats.
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