Four Washington Nationals Players To Receive Pre-Arbitration Performance Bonuses
The Washington Nationals have an impressive young core that they are looking to upgrade around this offseason.
Despite winning only 71 games in 2024, the same amount they won in 2023, the future is incredibly bright. They had several players who aren’t even arbitration-eligible yet playing at a high level, earning some extra money in the process.
As part of the collective bargaining agreement, there is a $50 million pool that is divided up amongst players who outperform their experience levels but cannot cash in yet on an arbitration hearing.
As shared by Mark Zukerman of Masn, “Anyone who finishes in the top five in voting for the MVP or Cy Young awards, first or second for Rookie of the Year or is named to the all-MLB first or second team receives a bonus ranging from $500,000 to $2.5 million.”
Any of the leftover money is divided up amongst players based on a formula using WAR.
The Nationals didn’t have any players qualify based on the awards, but there are four of them who will be receiving performance bonuses for the 2025 season because of how they played this past year.
Center fielder Jacob Young will be receiving the largest bonus at $333,239. On top of his rookie salary of $740,000, he will now earn $1,073,239 next campaign.
Not even on the Opening Day roster, he was called up when Victor Robles went on the injured list and the rest if history. He didn’t cede the starting job for the remainder of his rookie season, being named one of the Gold Glove Award finalists.
Starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore was the next Washington player on the list, bumping his 2025 salary up to $1,049,617 with a performance bonus of $300,017.
His performance faltered during the summer but looked the part of an ace out of the gate and down the stretch. He had arguably the best season by a starting pitcher for the Nationals since 2019.
All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams made the pre-arbitration performance bonus list for the second consecutive year. His 2025 earnings will be $993,802, which includes a $241,402 bonus.
That number could have been significantly higher had his first and second-half splits not been so severe. Also, a late-season demotion cost him eight more games, which he could have used to bolster his WAR numbers even more.
Last but not least is starting pitcher Jake Irvin. He is a first-time qualifier for the bonus pool, earning a $239,663 bonus on top of his $745,600 base salary.
His bonus was earned on the back of a league-high tying 33 starts, as he went 10-14 with a 4.41 ERA and 1.199 WHIP.
