Former Washington Nationals Reliever Tanner Rainey Signs with Pirates
Former Washington Nationals reliever Tanner Rainey signed a minor-league deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates this weekend, according to Just Baseball.
The Pirates also signed another reliever, Hunter Stratton.
Rainey’s MLB page was not updated with the agreement and the Pirates did not make a formal announcement. Minor-league deals tend not to be formally announced as readily as Major League deals, especially during the offseason. Rainey’s deal comes with an invitation to Major League spring training.
The Nationals opted not to tender Rainey a contract at the roster deadline, making him a free agent. Washington did the same thing with their closer, Kyle Finnegan.
He spent nearly his entire Major League career with the Nationals after he was a competitive balance pick out of West Alabama in the 2015 MLB draft, as selected by the Cincinnati Reds.
The Reds shipped Rainey to the Nationals in the 2018-19 offseason for Tanner Roark. He pitched seven Major League innings for the Reds.
Starting with the Nationals’ World Series season in 2019 he was a fixture in the Nationals’ bullpen. He made 190 appearances with Washington, going 5-10 with a 4.49 ERA, with 15 saves and 29 holds.
During that World Series season he was 2-3 with a 3.91 ERA in 52 games, with 74 strikeouts and 38 walks.
His career derailed in 2023 when he missed nearly the entire season recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Last season he was not quite the same reliever he was pre-surgery. He appeared in 50 games but didn’t factor in a decision, as he finished with a 4.76 ERA. He struck out 44 and walked 29.
The 31-year-old right-hander’s strikeout rate is sure to intrigue the Pirates, as he strikes out nearly 12 hitters per nine innings. But his control and walk rate have to come down. His career 5.9 walks per nine innings is too high and likely contributed to the Nationals letting him walk with some team control left on his rights.
Rainey was one of the last ties the Nationals had to the World Series team and now it feels like the entire franchise is in the midst of a fresh start, especially with a crop of some of the best young players in baseball.
The Nationals head to Dallas for the winter meetings, which start on Monday, with a focus on finding some power hitters that can play the corner infield and adding a veteran starter that can go with its young rotation.
