Fastball

Here's Who the Washington Nationals Acquired in Trade For Jesse Winker

The Washington Nationals officially dealt outfielder Jesse Winker to the New York Mets on Sunday. In the return, they received prospect Tyler Stuart, a former sixth-round draft pick.

Brady Farkas

New York Mets starting pitcher Tyler Stuart (19) throws a pitch against the New York Yankees in the first inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field in 2024.
New York Mets starting pitcher Tyler Stuart (19) throws a pitch against the New York Yankees in the first inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field in 2024. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
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On Sunday, the Washington Nationals officially traded away outfielder Jesse Winker to the New York Mets. The return? Pitching prospect Tyler Stuart.

First off, the Winker move is a perfect example of how you hope things will work out when a rebuilding team signs a player. The Nationals signed Winker to a $2 million deal and he out-performed that, hitting 11 homers and playing to a .257 average. He certainly did his part to keep the Nationals respectable this season, and then they were able to flip him to a contending team for a prospect under team control for six years.

That's general-managing 101 right there.

As for Stuart, he was a sixth-round pick in the 2022 draft out of Southern Miss. He has spent the entire year at Double-A Binghamton, going 3-7 in 17 starts with a 3.96 ERA. He's struck out 90 batters in 84.0 innings, flashing the kind of swing-and-miss stuff that teams salivate over these days.

He had been ranked as the No. 17 prospect in the Mets organization, per MLB.com, though rankings are not altered much in-season. He likely would rank higher at this point.

The following comes from a portion of his MLB.com prospect profile:

Standing 6-foot-9 (yes, 6-foot-9), Stuart tends to start with his low-80s slider, which he threw roughly half the time in 2023, and for good reason. The pitch can show good two-plane break and sweep, leading to above-average whiff rates especially when it’s located on the edges of the zone. But it can hang in the zone at other times and get appropriately thumped. His 91-94 mph fastball shows sink and run in the other direction and can be tough to square up from his low three-quarters arm slot, giving him two potentially above-average pitches. Stuart’s changeup remains a distant third option. 

The Nationals enter play on Sunday at 46-56 and in fourth place in the National League East. The Mets are 55-49 and in third, but they are just 0.5 games back of the Atlanta Braves.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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