Washington Nationals Avoid Arbitration with Promising Catcher Ahead of Deadline
The Washington Nationals and every other team in the league must exchange arbitration figures by Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
They're starting to come in, and according to Robert Murray of FanSided, the Nationals have settled with catcher Riley Adams.
Murray reported that Washington and Adams avoided arbitration and settled at $850,000 for the 2025 campaign.
Adams, 28 years old, has appeared in four big league seasons. In that span, he's played in 180 games.
Joining the Nationals in 2021, the former third-round pick in the 2017 MLB draft has a career slash line of .224/.304/.378 with 13 home runs, 30 doubles, four triples, and 49 RBI in 500 at-bats.
An increased role could do the California native plenty. His numbers haven't been bad in his young career, but with limited action in each campaign, it's tough to get a feel for the player he could be.
His best season came in 2023. He appeared in just 44 games that year but slashed .273/.331/.476 with four home runs, 13 doubles, and a 121 OPS+.
Even if he's a 100 OPS+ bat behind the plate, Adams would be a valuable player for Washington.
Only signing for about $100,000 more than the league minimum, this is a good deal for the Nationals and Adams, who will hope to get more at-bats in 2025.
Adams spent 44 games In Triple-A last year, slashing .285/.385/.528 with nine home runs.
His minor league numbers show he could be a valuable player at the big league level as a backup catcher, slashing .261/.362/.430 in his career.
