Bounceback Campaign Not Enough for Nationals First Baseman to Crack Power Rankings
The Washington Nationals needed three different players to serve as their first baseman in 2024 to get them through the season as they continue to climb out of their rebuild and back into contention.
While none of the three tallied more than 300 at-bats, the best of the three was easily Juan Yepez in his first year with the club.
Yepez signed with the Nationals in free agency ahead of the 2024 campaign and entered his tenure with the club with a career line of .240/.286/.419 with 14 home runs, 32 RBI, and a 97 OPS+ across 339 plate appearances in 104 games between 2022 and 2023.
The first baseman had a breakout (albeit a small one) campaign in 2024, however, batting .283/.335/.429 with six home runs, 26 RBI, and a 116 OPS+ across 249 plate appearances in 62 games.
Even with the solid production at the plate, it was not enough for Yepez to land inside the top 25 of the last first base power rankings of 2024 from Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report, though the first baseman earned an honorable mention.
Yepez served as a defacto veteran on the club, being one of the oldest position players on the roster, though he will only be 27 on his next birthday.
The offensive production that he provided the Nationals should have been more than enough to keep the batter on the roster and in a prominent role moving forward, though the team has been rumored to seek out an upgrade at first base through a big-name free agent signing this winter to help kick start their contention.
Defensively, Yepez leaves Washington wanting more, as he carries a career total of -3 Outs Above Average at first base per Baseball Savant, with the entirety of that total coming in 2024.
You do not necessarily need a Gold Glove-winning first baseman, but when your infield also consists of CJ Abrams, the player with the worst Outs Above Average total in Major League Baseball for 2024 (-17), it can certainly help.
The path moving forward for the Nationals and Yepez is not as clear as it should be with the team reportedly seeking an upgrade at the position, though Yepez will remain on the roster and could find time serving in another role for the team in the coming years, something that his production in 2024 was more than capable of buying him.
