Washington Nationals Sign Intriguing Prospect to Minor-League Deal: Report
The Washington Nationals have reportedly signed Junior Santos to a minor-league contract, according to MiLB Central.
The terms of the deals were not disclosed and the Nationals did not formally announce the deal. It had not posted to MiLB.com’s daily transactions page.
In Santos, the Nationals will be getting a long-time New York Mets farmhand who has been in professional baseball since 2018. He elected for free agency in November.
The Mets signed him in June of 2018 as an international free agent and he was in their system for six seasons, not including the cancellation of the 2020 minor league season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 6-7 right-hander has never had a winning season on the mound, but his most productive season was in 2022 with High-A Brooklyn, when he went 8-13 with a 4.47 ERA in 26 games (23 starts), with 105 strikeouts and 44 walks in a career-best 116.2 innings.
For his minor-league career he is 23-34 with a 4.71 ERA with 375 strikeouts and 180 walks in 452.2 innings.
He pitched with Double-A Binghamton last season, where he went 4-1 with a 4.99 ERA in 31 games, but only one start. It appears the Mets were intending to turn Santos into a reliever. He had 45 strikeouts and 26 walks in 52.1 innings.
Ernest Dove, who covers the Mets’ minor league system, including the St. Lucie Mets, said to Nats Report that converting him to a reliever may be his best path to the Majors. He also said that Santos needs to develop more “swing-and-miss” stuff.
So, he’s unlikely an option for the Nationals’ bullpen in 2025, but there could be an opportunity for him in 2026, especially if he can progress and earn a promotion to Triple-A.
The Nationals won 71 games in 2024, marking the second straight season they finished with 71 victories. It also marked Washington's fifth straight losing season since it won the 2019 World Series, which was the first championship in franchise history.
Washington now has one of the best young rosters in baseball, one it hopes gets the team over .500 in 2025.
Several of the players that the Nationals received in the Juan Soto trade in 2022 are in the Majors, including James Wood. Washington's 2023 first-round pick, Dylan Crews, is expected to be the opening-day right fielder after making his debut last year.
The Nationals also have budding young stars in Jacob Young, shortstop C.J. Abrams and second baseman Luis Garcia Jr., along with catcher Keibert Ruiz. The expected starting rotation is led by young pitchers like MacKenzie Gore and D.J. Herz.
